Customer Reviews

Tears of the Desert: A Memoir of Survival in Darfur

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Tears in the Desert is a memoir of genocide in the Sudan, Muslim against Muslim over skin color. Halima Bashir is a black African raised in the Zaghawa tribe in a family of comparative wealth. The Zaghawa men are proud of their history as fierce warriors who protect their village territory and their families from invaders. Halima is proud of her heritage and her intellectual gifts, particularly mathematics. Her gifts and her family's wealth allow her to attend a private school for girls and later university in Khartoum.

The history of tribal pride has led to competition in Darfur and throughout the Sudan for land and prestige. But there is more than tribal rivalry. The Khartoum government is run by white "Arab" Muslims whose proud heritage causes the people to despise the black tribal Africans. Although Halima's advantages paid off in education, her M.D. degree is fully useful to her only if all Sudanese are treated equally. Of course, in the Sudan they are not.

After being mistreated for many years, African tribes attacked Arabs and regrouped in the hills. Government attacks on villages were carried out leaving few surviving men and a great many women and children. For the survivors like Halima, brutal female circumcision, rape, and mayhem were perpetuated by the Arab Muslims in the rationalization of jihad. Halima survived, but barely. Many others died or left their villages to stay in large refugee centers.

The memoir is written like a novel with the help of Damien Lewis, a BBC reporter and writer who has covered conflicts in Africa for many years. Halima and Lewis have produced an exciting and important work that will give the reader great insight into activity in Darfur and explain why humanitarian activists have demanded that the United Nations and specific countries like the U.S. intervene and stop the genocide. China has blocked this intervention because of reliance on Sudanese oil.

Interesting parallels are drawn between Darfur and the holocaust in Nazi Germany. Do the people of the world claim ignorance of the situation in Darfur as German citizens claimed ignorance of Buchenwald and Auschwitz? The book suggests that irrational cultural pride provides an excuse for domination and extermination of perceived rivals.

This is a fascinating book that will inform, shock, and perhaps drive the reader to some action. The graphic descriptions of mutilation and assault are disturbing and the story puts hope for the future in some doubt. Is this an inevitable human condition in which individual misery is irrelevant? Halima is attempting to fight back by publishing this memoir at some risk to her and her family's safety.

Dr. Halima Bashir's autobiography is a testament to the tragedy taking place in Darfur as well as a picture of her life. She begins with her happy childhood in her village - although the chapter of her "cutting time", when she underwent the gruesome ritual of Female Genital Mutiliaton, is wrenching, and progresses to her work as a medical doctor.

Targeted just for speaking out against the violence, and for serving her people, Dr. Bashir is kidnapped and viciously tortured and raped, then released as the ultimate punishment since rape victims are shunned in her society. She could have suffered in silence, as so many women of her culture do, or at least kept her torment private to heal. No one would have blamed her. Instead she bravely speaks out about her ordeal in an attempt to both help her violated country, and to help other victims of sexual assault.

I'm delighted that she has found joy in her marriage and child, and has been granted asylum in England, but as of publication, the fate of her other family members is unknown. I will not close my eyes at night without a prayer for her relatives and the people of Darfur, which also raises the question: WHERE IS THE WORLD??? Why is my USA, as well as the other countries who cried "never again!" after the Holocaust of the last century, so strangely silent? Dr. Bashir chose to become a voice for her oppressed people. The remainder of humanity has a moral obligation to join theirs to hers.

I welcome a wake-up call. It is so easy to unconsciously become cocooned in my protected life on the West Coast of the United States, where daily issues end up being hunting for the best price for gasoline for my car, battling the crowded freeways and looking for a parking place, discussing the what to fix for dinner that night. I try to stay abreast of the global situation by watching the nightly News Hour on our local PBS station, but it is easy to glaze over or become anesthetized by the onslaught of words from talking heads, figures and maps so that the news takes on a element of the unreal. So when something happens to hit my radar in a way that makes me say, "I didn't know that!" or that says to me, "Open your eyes!" I am grateful and I feel a little more connected to reality.

The book, "Tears of the Desert" was slipped inside my screendoor, an advance review copy I was sent to read. I looked at the cover, the title word "Desert", the subtitle word "Darfur" and thought to myself, "I am going to read something I know very little about." I had heard of the cries of genocide in the Sudan, seen pictures of streams of refugees, and read of the outcry of protestors during the summer Olympics in China, but I didn't understand the conflict and it felt very impersonal to me.

However, when I began to read the book I entered a new world and culture, the life of Halima Bashir in a Zaghawa tribal village in South Darfur. The first part of the book described the tribal life, the traditions and practices as seen through the eyes of a child. Her descriptions of her family members brought the characters to life and her portrayals were so personal that when events involved them later in the book, I felt a personal sorrow and outrage. Because of her father's dreams and encouragement, Halima was able to gain an education and go on to the University to study medicine, rather than marry and settle down to have children like most of the girls in her tribe. The first glimpses the conflict between the Arabs and Africans were presented in the chapters covering the school years when Halima leaves her village to attend a school for girls in the city. Here she finds herself in a mixed population of city Arab girls and rural African girls. The incidents that occur here are but a omen of what is to come in the remainder of the book.

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After listening to it, I could hear the lyrical cadence of her speech as I read the rest of the memoir. I choose not to go into the remainder of the story in my review. To fully appreciate it, the reader has to be guided gently through the passage of time, page by page. Be aware that it is not an easy read. Some passages of the cultural rituals or the atrocities inflicted by militants affected my "protected sensibilities." But I considered it a small price to pay for having my awareness heightened to the reality of the situation affecting so many innocent victims in the Sudan.

I gave the book a 5 rating, the highest possible, not for the writing craft, which is not as polished as some, but for the content. The writing style is simple and direct...which makes the story all the more haunting. Halima's courage, strength and will to survive amidst overwhelming odds is gripping. To realize that so many people are having an experience of life under the most horrific circumstances is important. Hers is a story that needs to told and needs to be heard. Brava to Halima Bashir for speaking out. Bravo to Damien Lewis for participating in the telling. And bravo to Random House for publishing it. For me, now behind the headlines, numbers and statistics, there are faces.

Dr. Bashir writes an incredible story of joy, pain, suffering, accomplishment, respect and above all, love for her fellow man. This book truly makes for a smaller world. Suddenly you are inside the heart of a small girl that grew up in the African bush and suffered severely simply because of where she happened to be born. I cried often as I read this book. The characters are, on the face of it, as different from me as I could possibly imagine..African, poor, Muslim, etc. In reality, they are no different. These are men, women, and children just like you and me. This is a heartbreaking story that I highly recommend.

Tears of the Desert: A Memoir of Survival in Darfur by Halima Bashir is a very emotional and riveting book. I found this book very painful to read at times, yet I couldn't put it down, even though I was sobbing at some points. I was lucky enough to receive this Random House publication from the Library Thing Early Reviewer Program.

It seemed that Halima Bashir was born lucky. She is from Darfur, a region of Sudan, and a member of the Zaghawa tribe, and was born into a family that was wealthier than most. For the most part, she had a happy childhood. She was the oldest child of an enlightened and progressive father. He recognized her intelligence early and had big dreams for her. She was sent to a city school because the village schools were not very good. It was there that she faced prejudices and social injustices for the first time . Even so, she excelled at school and went on to university and became a medical doctor.

It was after she was finished with school that violence really took over her beloved country. Janjaweed, armed by the Sudanese government began attacking black Africans. Rebel groups were formed to fight back. Halima's willingness to treat these rebels got her in trouble with the government. She was forced to escape from her country and is fighting the injustice from afar.

The terror and destruction these people have to live with is unimaginable. You need to read this book in order to comprehend it. One thing that struck me is the role that China has played and continues to play in the genocide that is taking place in Darfur. That gives me one more reason to avoid buying Chinese made products.

I can't recommend this book enough. It's not for the faint of heart and there are no happy endings for many suffering in Darfur but it opens your eyes.

This book allowed you into the life of her African tribe, their day to day rituals and even though they are a world and culture away, you see the love of family. Children even in Africa create simple neighborhood games, family and friends celebrate with food and gatherings. Their tribe was all about family. And you see the similarties even in our lives in the usa.

And then you're shown the ugly part of this world we live in. A world where animals feel they are better. Animals who justify rape, murder and savagery. You feel first hand the suffering, feel the fear and the despair when people are hunted down like animals.

This would make a fantastic movie and would bring attention to the atrocities in this world that are going on as we speak.

Highly recommend.

The author does a spectacular job sharing the joy, sadness, challenge and yes, the horrors of her world in this book. Much of the time I felt as though I was right there with her, participating in her experiences. I laughed and cried with her and I felt her pain and humiliation deep in my soul. One cannot help but grow as one reads this book. It is more than a good read... it is an education about an ancient, exotic culture and a lesson on empathy, love, compassion and fear. Those who follow events that reveal man's inhumanity to man (and women) are aware that the author showed great courage by placing her personal safety at considerable risk with this book. By refusing to remain a victim and telling her story she has pointed the finger of guilt at her aggressors. They are fearful and striking back with accusations and threats but the world knows the truth of their inhumanity now, so try as they may, their efforts will fall on deaf ears.

Michael James Jaquish
Author: Beyond Courage: Tales of a Country Cop in AfricaThe Buddha And The Badge: A Journey of Personal DiscoveryA Monk Without A Monastery: An Examination of Self-Discovery

This memoir is fascinating, and heart-wrenching. A powerful testament to the power of will and the deeply profound need for justice in our world.

1. I recently read another book on the Darfur genocide (Devil Came on Horseback) and was so frustrated with that book that I decided to read another book on the same subject.

2. This book is a radical departure from the above tome in so many respects: it's personal, it is very well written, it actually has a story (beginning--> end), one learns various aspects about the culture, and as noted in the other reviews--> the story is tragic and gripping.

3. 100% highly to all.

I'd give this book ten stars if I could. Most reviewers write mainly about the horrible civil war between the dominant Arabs and the subserviant black tribes of southern Sudan, reported first hand by the author in the latter part of the book. Yes, that's important to document. But, the first half of the book will probably remind you more of "Anne of Green Gables" or "The Yearling", as it documents the well drawn contrasting characters in the young life of Halima, a tribal black girl, as she progresses through her physical growing years. Who can forget her irascible Grandma, or Grandma's frequent ally:Halima's younger brother, Omer, who prides himself in his belligerent rejection of authority, indifference to pain and his bullying of others. Who can forget Halima's own unprecedented resistance to being treated as a second class citizen when sent to a school of spoiled urban Arab girls and poor village black girls. You will be shocked at Halima's detailed description of her own genital mutilation, as a traditional practice of her tribe, as well as many other Muslim cultures. You will be reminded of the periodic devistation wrought by locust swarms that often consume household items after the crops are gone. When it come to weddings, "if a wedding goes ahead without any fighting, people don't really enjoy it". Of course, Grandma usually leads the fight for her extended family at such occasions. You will be amused at the importance given to her single sport white eyelash in explaining her superior academic talents and in predicting her future importance to the tribe. You can't help but admire her father for his liberated attitude in encouraging and financing her further education rather than those of her not-so-talented brothers. You will wish Halima's mother and Grandma had heeded her father's plea that they move to Chad before a bloody civil war broke out that would consume their village. You may even come away with a grudging acknowledgement that there may be some substance to black vs. white magic and "the evil eye", which Halima, despite all her scientific education, still believes in. Finally, you may become aware that China has become a major indirect supporter of the continued turmoil in this country by trading arms for oil with the central government and by obstructing UN attempts to quell the violence by government-supported forces.