Do They Hear You When You Cry [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Fauziya Kassindja (Author), Layli Miller Bashir (Author), Sheryl Lee Ralph (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 9, 1998

Fauziya Kassindja's harrowing story begins in Togo, Africa, where she enjoyed a sheltered childhood, shielded by her progressive father from the tribal practice of polygamy and genital mutilation.  But when her father died in 1993, Fauziya's life changed dramatically.  At age seventeen Fauziya was forced to marry a man she barely knew who already had three wives, and prepare for the tribal ritual of female genital mutilation--a practice that is performed without painkillers or antibiotics.  But hours before the ritual was to take place, Fauziya's sister helped her escape to Germany, and from there she traveled to the United States seeking asylum--and freedom.  Instead, she was stripped, shackled, and locked up in various INS detention facilities for sixteen months.

Enter Layli Miller Bashir, a driven twenty-three-year-old law student who took on Fauziya's case.  When the two women met, Layli found an emotionally broken, emaciated girl with whom she forged an extraordinary friendship.  Putting her heart and soul into Fauziya's case, Layli enlisted help from the American University International Human Rights Clinic.  The clinic's acting director, Karen Musalo, an expert in refugee law, assembled a team to fight on Fauziya's behalf.  Ultimately, in a landmark decision that has given hope to many seeking asylum on the grounds of gender-based persecution, Fauziya was granted asylum on June 13, 1996.

Here, for the first time, is Fauziya's dramatic personal story, told in her own words, vividly detailing her life as a young woman in Togo and her nightmarish day-to-day existence in U.S.  prisons.  It is a story of faith and freedom, courage and inspiration--one that
you will not soon forget.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Just hours before her impending and much feared circumcision and days before her marriage to a polygamist, 17-year-old Fauziya Kassindja flees an oppressive life in Togo, seeking political asylum in the United States. But her troubles are far from over once Kassindja arrives in the place where she hopes to find her freedom. The harrowing tale of Do They Hear You When You Cry? depicts the agonizing months spent behind bars waiting for her release.

Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph (Sister Act II, Distinguished Gentleman, Designing Women) delivers the audio version of this passionate and vivid story. Using a variety of accents, intonations, and diction, she develops distinct voices for the dozens of people who come into contact with the young woman. Through her creative, melodic performance, Ralph provides the biography with energy and enthusiasm. Listeners are quickly drawn into Kassindja's frightening world and the ordeal surrounding her desperate fight for freedom. Do They Hear You When You Cry? is a profoundly moving story of strength and perseverance. (Running time: six hours, four cassettes) --Gina Kaysen

From Library Journal

Kassindja was at the center of the landmark U.S. case that legitimized giving asylum to a woman who flees her country to avoid ritual genital mutilation. This is her story?and that of her lawyer, Bashir?who took up her cause after Kassindja was imprisoned by the INS upon arriving here from Togo.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Random House Audio (March 9, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553478540
• ISBN-13: 978-0553478549
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #795,573 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > Books on Cassette > Biographies & Memoirs > Women
  • #52 in Books > Books on Cassette > Biographies & Memoirs > General

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing, inspiring, touching yet horrifying journey..., January 4, 2002

By 

E. M. Carey "LGW" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Do They Hear You When You Cry (Paperback)

There are some books that are so wonderful, so intense, that I simply get lost in them for the few days it takes me to finish them, and once I'm done, I want to share it with the world. This is one of those books, a truly moving, inspiring, fascinating, terrifying, heart-breaking and rewarding tale.

Fauziya Kassindja is a Muslim African woman raised by a father she adored who did not adhere to many of the more restrictive Islamic customs relating to women. Upon his death, however, Fauziya is faced with a forced marriage and forced female circumcision and flees first to Germany and then to the United States, where she is promptly locked away in prision, initially denied asylum and kept imprisoned for an unbelievable amount of time.

The story itself is both fascinating and heart-breaking, but Fauziya tells it with such detail and brutal honesty that it becomes even more powerful. She creates a beautiful picture of her childhood in Africa and life with her beloved father and family, and she conveys clearly and easily her naivete about laws and customs as she went first to the strange land and then to the literal and figurative prison of America. Her ambivalence about America - as the land of hope and escape turned jail - is understandable and she describes why a return to the horrors that awaited her at home suddenly seemed better than remaining in the series of prisons to which she was assigned.

What makes Fauziya such a compelling figure - a real heroine - is her honesty and her struggle to stand up for her beliefs. She personifies the adage that courage is being scared but 'doing it anyway.' I grew angrier and angrier at the way in which women are treated here and around the world, that forced mutilation is not 'political' nor grounds for asylum, that gender has such an impact on how people are treated. Her faith in her religion, her love of her family, her wish to give in despite the horror that would greet her return to Africa all made her such a human, touching figure. This is not a book to be missed - everyone should read it - but for those concerned about the treatment of women and female circumcision - and far too many women have to deal with the brutality of it - this book is absolutely essential. When I finished, I wanted to learn more about Fauziya and what happened to her. I certainly hope that she has found the happiness and peace that she so deserves.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful, March 31, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Do They Hear You When You Cry? (Hardcover)

The beautiful yet shocking true story of a young woman who ran from her home in Togo to escape genital mutilation. She came to the United States hoping to gain asylum but because she did not have the proper papers and because at the time FGM was not grounds for political asylum she spent over a year locked up with other people trying to enter the country without legal reason. This book will make you angry at the injustices people face in the United States when trying to escape persecution in their own countries, but will help restore your faith in humanity when you read about all the people who were willing to work so hard to get Fauziya Kassindja citizenship here so she wouldn't be returned to Togo to face being genitally mutilated.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sad story with a hopeful message, October 4, 2000

By 

"neeterskeeter27" (http://www.neeterskeeter.com/new) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Do They Hear You When You Cry? (Hardcover)

"My father was a modern man in a traditional culture who neither repudiated that culture nor let himself be bound by it. He embraced some parts of it, rejected others, and never stopped reevaluating his beliefs about good and bad, right and wrong. He also never deviated from his Muslim faith. We, his daughters, were the same- part modern, part traditional, and Muslim throughout". ~Fauziya Kassindja, Do They Hear You When You Cry, "Muslim Girl"

This book is the true life story of Fauziya Kassindja, who lived in Togo, West Africa, for the first sixteen years of her life. Her father, an influencial man in her small town society, had always protected her from the dangers that most girls faced as part of her culture. However, when he died, his property (the house where she lived with her mother and sisters) was given to her aunt and uncle, who were very traditional. She was pledged to be married to a man three times her age who already had three wives, whom she was expected to serve. She was also being prepared to undergo what is none in Togo as Female Circumsism and what is known in the U.S. as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Fauziya was afraid of having her sacred, female parts destroyed and did not want to live with this man and his wives. A friend told her she could come to America, which helps victims from other country find safety, and he got her a passport. She was young and didn't know what was going on, and when she got to the U.S., she was put in jail. In this maximum-security ward, the illegal immigrants were treated worse than the prisoners convicted of major crimes. She was in this jail for a very long time before a passionate lawyer discovered her story and fought for crimes committed against women )gender-based persecution) to be included in the law that lets foreigners become U.S. citizens because they are fleeing persecuation in their country and seeking safety in ours.

This story was utterly fascinating and inspiring; it kept me interested and rooting for Fauziya's case the whole way through. I found Fauziya to be a strong, perservering woman, and her lawyer was an inspiration to me as well.

This is an educational and enlightening story.