 "Photo: By Rachel Connor")
When Daoud Hari stepped up to the Convocation podium, he began his speech simply with, “I am here today to talk about Darfur.” And for the next half hour, the students and faculty of Mars Hill College heard Hari’s horrific first-hand account.
Hari’s address merely chronicled his life but a dramatically-filled life at that. Over the course of more than half a decade, he endured torture, imprisonment, exile, hostle gunfire attacks and lack of food and water. He also lost a brother in an attack on his village. On more than one occassion, he thought he, too, would die. However, he said he experienced more than one miracle during his ordeal.
In the 1980s, Hari started school in Darfar; he was the only one of nine siblings that was privileged enough to be educated. In class, Hari mentioned that the children were only permitted to speak Arabic, and if they spoke one word another language, they would be punished.
Hari attended high school during the mid 1990s; it was his first time to live in a city, El Fasher, see automobiles and watch television. In 1997, he left Darfur to work in Egypt so that he could send money back to his family, while also continuing his education more affordably.
But Muslims and Christians began disputing, and their conflict spread to Hari’s homeland, Darfur, located in the western part of Sudan and about the size of Texas. When he started to hear of the trouble, he had already been away from home several years.
Hari tried to enter Israel to make more money for his schooling and to send home, but Hari was arrested. He was sent to an Egyptian prison, where he was held for several months. Hari said, “I would read about Darfur – wondering, ‘How is my family?’”
Finally, Hari was released and returned home, after being away for six years. Upon his homecoming, Hari said, “At any moment you could hear guns shooting.”
The “guns” did not spare Hari’s village; during an attack he endured at his home, 9-10 of the villagers were killed, one of whom was his brother. However, Hari and several other men succeeded in escaping with the women and children of the village.
Their escape plan was to make it the neighboring country of Chad, where Darfur victims were pouring into the refugee camps. More than two million refugees still remain there.
“We took families around the valley with donkeys and continued two weeks to Chad. In desert, it is very hard to find water. Donkeys only last three days,” Hari remembered.
The villagers also faced the problem of strong winds sweeping through every 5-10 minutes and of “everyone crying, children lying down because of lack of food.” Sometimes, they would not find food for 3-4 days.
From October to September of 2003, over 200,000 people crossed over to Chad, seeking safety. Hari commented that his village survived by splitting up into small groups. Each group found their own food, if there was any to be found. If one group was caught, it was only those people who were at risk, not the entire village. Approximately 90 percent of Hari’s group made it.
For a while, Hari served as a translator in the camp, because he knew Arabic, Zaghawa and English. Soon after, he began to translate for the foreign newspapers and embassies that were inquiring about the situation in Darfur. Journalists poured in from the U.S., Germany, Chad, Britain and many other countries.
For three years, Hari risked his life traveling with the journalists because “they were innocent; they don’t know the inside of Darfur.”
"Keeping them alive was very dangerous,” he said. Hari had to deal with the rebels from Sudan and Chad and often bribed them with cigarettes and alcohol, so that they would keep him informed of the safe roads throughout the land.
Hari came close to death numerable times during those three years; in 2006, he was captured.
"I thought that would be the end,” he said, saying to God, “You give me three years to get the word out; it’s ok – it’s over.”
However, Hari was released five days later because the journalist had superiors from the United States talk to the rebel leaders.
The final time that Hari was captured, the government tortured him for 3-4 days, but Hari would give no information. Several organizations aided in Hari’s release from prison.
On March 15, 2007, Hari came to the United States, where he resides in Baltimore. Since arriving, Hari has written the book, The Translator, accounting the horror of the genocide that he has witnessed. He has also been able to travel to over 40 states to spread his story.
“If you and me are willing to help these people, these people will go back home,” he said.
As simply as he began, Hari ended his address with the resounding challenge to “let you and me be hope and together do something to help these people.”
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