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The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur | 
| Author: Daoud Hari
Publisher: Random House
Category: Book
List Price: $23.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 8837
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.8 x 1
ISBN: 1400067448
Dewey Decimal Number: 962.4043092
EAN: 9781400067442
ASIN: 1400067448
Publication Date: March 18, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: B20080721215920T
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Product Description
I am the translator who has taken journalists into dangerous Darfur. It is my intention now to take you there in this book, if you have the courage to come with me.
The young life of Daoud Hari–his friends call him David–has been one of bravery and mesmerizing adventure. He is a living witness to the brutal genocide under way in Darfur.
The Translator is a suspenseful, harrowing, and deeply moving memoir of how one person has made a difference in the world–an on-the-ground account of one of the biggest stories of our time. Using his high school knowledge of languages as his weapon–while others around him were taking up arms–Daoud Hari has helped inform the world about Darfur.
Hari, a Zaghawa tribesman, grew up in a village in the Darfur region of Sudan. As a child he saw colorful weddings, raced his camels across the desert, and played games in the moonlight after his work was done. In 2003, this traditional life was shattered when helicopter gunships appeared over Darfur’s villages, followed by Sudanese-government-backed militia groups attacking on horseback, raping and murdering citizens and burning villages. Ancient hatreds and greed for natural resources had collided, and the conflagration spread.
Though Hari’s village was attacked and destroyedhis family decimated and dispersed, he himself escaped. Roaming the battlefield deserts on camels, he and a group of his friends helped survivors find food, water, and the way to safety. When international aid groups and reporters arrived, Hari offered his services as a translator and guide. In doing so, he risked his life again and again, for the government of Sudan had outlawed journalists in the region, and death was the punishment for those who aided the “foreign spies.” And then, inevitably, his luck ran out and he was captured. . . .
The Translator tells the remarkable story of a man who came face-to-face with genocide– time and again risking his own life to fight injustice and save his people.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 Heart Wrenching July 22, 2008
RATING:4 out of 5
This was an extremely difficult book for me to finish. I would pick it up and read and I would become so agitated that I would have to put it down. It was so hard to understand why someone that had endured so much strife in trying to escape from the Sudanese Army that took away the only life he had ever knew would then risk his life to return to a country that was still so hostile. I have read several memoirs written by those who have left their homeland for various reasons, and have been unable to return but have worked untiringly to bring peace to their homeland from afar, many of them with hopes of someday returning. But for Daoud, he was going back into a country that had not changed, and where his brethren were dying daily, yet he still felt some obligation to get the story out by going back in. Daoud did not wait for peace, but jumped right back in with foreign journalists in hopes that the international community would hear their cries before all of his people were dead.
It is a bravery that is uncommon, and his story should be required reading for all high school students in this country. They should take this injustice on as a community project. A project to make this a better world, where we all respond immediately to the needs of a community no matter how far away.
 The Power of Story July 22, 2008
The story of Daoud Hari or David is captivating tale of how one person can choose to make a different. Dauod was raised in the Darfur region of Sudan and lived a very traditional lifestyle until his village was attacked in 2003. Daoud describes in detail the impact of murder, rape and pillaging as his country was torn apart by different warring factions.
After escaping and helping others to leave safely, he looked for opportunites to serve as a translator. David used his gift with languages and courage to guide reporters into Darfur to allow the stories of his people to be shared with the world.
The power comes from the truth of David who is living with the danger of returning repeatedly to Darfur and the conviction to serve as a translator, which will make a difference for his people.
Don't miss this amazing story.
Small Voice, Powerful Message... July 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I wasn't sure I wanted to read this book. I was dreading the horrible stories, the Rwanda-like massacres, the neverending awfulness that would make me want to weep if I wasn't so numb from hearing it all day every day from the CNN loop. At some point the numbers get so large, it's impossible for to comprehend and I just shut down. I really didn't want to read it. But I'm tremendously glad that I did.
Part war memoir, part genocidal survival guide, part humanitarian challenge, Daoud Hari's slim book is a triumph. I have no idea how one can endure what he has endured and still remain so human, let alone exhibit the tremendous spirit Hari shows here. Along with the horror stories I was dreading so much (ashamed as I am to say that), are the testimonies to our individual and collective strength as human beings. Over and over again, Hari challenges us to put ourselves in his shoes, to relate as if it were our town, our home, our sisters, daughters, fathers, cousins. What if it happened to us? Would we be so brave? Would we be destroyed or keep going? Would we do everything we could knowing we could die in the next minute? Would we rage at God or renew our faith?
My favorite chapter is a small one. Nestled in tiny Chapter 10, Hari describes the refugee camps in detail for the first time, a sea of bright colored fabrics from the clothing and makeshift decorating of the women and girls, all sweltering amid the temporary shelters made out of canvas and plastic tarps. And there it is. "Canvas and plastic make very hot shelters in a desert, and these were what the world had sent - exactly the wrong thing and not nearly enough of it." I couldn't believe it. It's so obvious! What were we thinking? What had we done? Did we just send scraps of material we didn't need? Was it intentionally ridiculous or just some horribly embarrassing mistake? There's no way of knowing, but it again drove home the point that paying attention to the details of life's necessities can make the largest difference. If just one of the brilliant architects competing to build the next mall in Dubai would instead focus their energy on building practical, portable, sustainable refugee housing that could be deployed at a moment's notice anywhere from Darfur to Palestine, we could start to alleviate the suffering of millions of the displaced.
For those that have suffered so much, the least we can do is shine a spotlight on their stories. I'm ashamed for delaying my reading; I'm trying to make up for it by telling everyone I can about Hari's book and, by engaging in meaningful dialogue about the crisis in Darfur, determining if there's maybe one more thing I might do to help.
Survival in a Tragedy July 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
How does anyone survive? Nothing is hospitable neither the inhumane climate nor the "human" society.
Daoud had a short adult life before this war. He got an education and saw some of the world through restaurant work. He spent some time in the prison systems which was merely prologue for what was to come.
Most teenage males are recruited by one army or another, and they join for a meal. For those with skills like driving, mechanics or languages, choices are more complex. They can join an army, a government, an aid organization or the press... but the end result is most likely the same.
When you think of the combination of skill, luck and outside intervention that resulted in Daoud's survival, you have to mourn for all the others. What is the best probable future for the 14 year old soldiers he encounters or the 2+ million people in the refugee camps? What changes and what resources are needed to give this large a population a shot at a decent life?
This book is a fast read, but before you start, its best to read the synopsis of this war at the end of the book. It's only a sketch, but a starting point to understand the no-win situation the people of this region are in.
Another Rwanda June 30, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Daoud Hari is indeed a blessed man to have survived capture and imprisonment- risking his life to tell the world of the human tragedy called Darfur. This book speaks volumes of his profound courage and of the brave reporters and others who ventured right into the line of fire so that the world will know. The heartbreaking descriptions of the carnage is hard to read at times, but I am most haunted by the child sitting in the grass who stopped crying and waved goodbye as Daoud and the news crew had to run for their lives. This is one man's tale of survival on a tragic journey and his willingness to fight injustice. He is blessed because there are those who must survive to tell the world. We can each make a difference.
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