Decades of conflicts and persecution have driven millions from their homes in all parts of the northeast African country of Sudan. Many thousands more have been enslaved as human spoils of war. In their own words, the narrators of Out of Exile recount their lives before their displacement, the reasons for their flight, and their hopes to someday return home.
Included are the stories of:
ABUK: a native of South Sudan now living in Boston, who survived ten years as a slave after being captured by an Arab militia.
MARCY and ROSE: best friends, who have spent the vast majority of their lives in a refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya. They remember almost nothing of their former homes in Sudan.
MATHOK: who struggled to find opportunities as a refugee in Cairo, but eventually fell into a world of gangs and violence.
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Many of those who do survive escape with nothing but their story, something this essential collection of oral testimony records and, in a realistic way, celebrates… Time and again in this book, lives balance precariously between extraordinary acts of cruelty and lifesaving gestures of kindness.” —John Freeman for SFGate
“By telling the stories of a few of the millions of southern Sudanese refugees in their own words, and taking the time to get to know these people instead of portraying them as sad faces in a CNN video clip, editor Craig Walzer succeeded in bring these refugees’ often harrowing stories to light in a realistic, nuanced way.” —Maggie Fick for the Enough Project
“This riveting collection of 17 narratives puts a human face on the human-rights tragedy of Sudan. Students of global studies and international relations will find an abundance of research information in the excellent appendices, but the heart and soul of the book is most certainly in the heart-wrenching narratives of these people.” —Paula Dacker for School Library Journal