Slave: My True Story

by Mende Nazer and Damien Lewis

Book Overview

Mende Nazer lost her childhood at age twelve, when she was sold into slavery. It all began one horrific night in 1993, when Arab raiders swept through her Nuba village, murdering the adults and rounding up thirty-one children, including Mende.

Mende was sold to a wealthy Arab family who lived in Sudan's capital city, Khartoum. So began her dark years of enslavement. Her Arab owners called her "Yebit," or "black slave." She called them "master."...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1586483188
• ISBN13: 9781586483180
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Must read

This book is so very easy to read that one could easily finish it in two days, really. It is shocking and hardcore but real. It is very good that not only does she describe her capture and how she was treated as a slave, but her life before-hand as well. A life which was so very different to how most of us live that we cannot truly imagine and so it is important for people to share with us. Her village, her family, was important. and a point to note is that it was the 'uncivilized' (so called 'superior') that showed compassion and love, while the 'civilised' (so called 'inferior') were the ones who raided her village, raped and abducted her and so many others. Who tore her family apart and that of many others.

Great book

Great book

A great book about a horrible nightmare

I read this book a few months ago and have been thinking about it ever since. Mende's story is not one that will soon leave you. From the official review here, as well as the customer reviews, you know the basic outline of the book already, so I won't go into that. One of the things that has most stuck with me about this book is Mende's gentle tone. Given what she has lived through, she could be furious and hate the world and no one could blame her, but she doesn't seem to be that way at all. Even after all she has felt and seen, she seems to have an innocence about her. Mende's life has been a nightmare, but there were a few times in this book where she says stuff that is really funny. I never thought I'd be reading this book and burst out laughing. It's quite a testament to her spirit and who she is. I cannot even begin to imagine living through the events of her life, much less coming through them and retaining her magical spirit and sense of humor. She is certainly a better person than I. Many of the generalities of her story weren't new to me since I've read on the subject of today's slavery in Sudan before... but still. The details, and her way with words will haunt you. I was in tears at least ten times throughout my reading this book. Also, if you really pay attention to this book, you realize it's not over. It's a masterfully crafted, circular way of telling the true stories of these remarkably strong, tortured women. Mende's story is not directly related to the Darfur atrocities happening now, just in that it is a different region of Sudan. A couple of the motivations are different, but many/most of the horrific acts being perpetrated against Black Africans in Darfur are the same as what Mende and her region (Nuba Mountains) have been experiencing for a long time now. It's impossible to hear these stories, or Mende's specifically, and not be infuriated by the United States' government's lack of caring. While yes "we" did recently label these events as genocide, that same resolution also went out of its way to say that it was not recommending any action be taken. How lovely of us. We're happy to write down on a worthless piece of paper that yes it's genocide, but being that it doesn't negatively affect us economically or politically, we can't be bothered with it. I'm sure that piece of paper really means alot to the thousands of people everyday who are having their homes destroyed, having their families murdered right in front of them, being gangraped, getting infectious diseases in cramped refugee camps, etc...

Modern Sudan through the eyes of a young Nuba girl

Sudan is in the headlines these days. This book provides a very personal glimpse into the story behind those headlines. The book tells the story of Mende Nazer in three basic parts: her early life in the Nuba mountains; her capture and life as a domestic slave in Khartoum and London, and her escape from slavery and attempts to establish asylum. Her life in the Nuba tribes of southern Sudan reveals much about the culture and values of these people. Mende Nazer portrays the Nuba as simple farmers with a proud culture who are at the mercy of the Arab Sudanese of the north. Although slavery is technically against the law, there seems to be a lively black market which the Nuba appear helpless to stop. The family that buys Mende when she is 12 takes great caution to hide her condition from officials while they brag about their slave to family and friends. Mende's perspective as a child wrenched from her tight family structure and seeking to comprehend the world through the eyes of a slave, makes for compelling reading. Reading this book is a great way to put a human face on what is happening in Sudan. Highly recommended.

Erases the Reader's Sense of Denial That Slavery Lives

You may think you don't need to read this book . . . but you really do. In the back pages of better newspapers and at forums of those looking into human rights abuses, tales of slavery in Africa are told. When you read or hear those stories, it's hard to fathom . . . almost in the same way that tales of Africans brutally uprooted from their families in the 1700s and 1800s to be brought to the United States are hard to fathom. Somehow that sense of psychological distance keeps a person from being as outraged as by exploitation of children in factories in the third world to make athletic shoes that well for $150. If you read Slave, your sense of distance will be removed. And your outrage will be enormous. I hope you will read this book . . . and find ways to help solve the problem it describes.Slave is the autobiography of Ms. Mende Nazer, a black Moslem from Sudan. She grew up in a typical rural village where cattle and farming provide the livelihood, much as they have done for hundreds of years. Her tribe had only recently stopped using ceremonial scarring to "enhance" the beauty of the men and women. The tribe still practiced witchcraft along with the Moslem religion. Female circumcism is still practiced there (another important subject for human rights supporters).At around age 12 (for her people keep no track of birth dates), her village was attacked by Arab raiders who slaughtered many people and took away the young people between ages 8 and 12. In the process, the raiders sexually abused the captives before taking them to be sold. After being resold, Ms. Nazer found herself on the way to Khartoum where she was bought to be a domestic slave for a wealthy Arab family. The abuse continued in the home. Ms. Nazer was treated with contempt and beaten for any reason that the woman in the household chose to employ. One of the beatings was so bad that it was life-threatening. She was denied the ability to practice her religion (which requires prayers five times a day) despite the fact that it was the same religion as her owners follow. She worked from dawn until the week hours of the morning, with no time off. Ms. Nazer feared for her life if she did not follow orders, and was really too young and inexperienced to know what else to do.At that point, the owners' relatives in London arranged to have Ms. Nazer shipped there to serve as a slave for that family . . . doing the same kind of work for a family of five. Although she was not beaten in the same way, she was worked even harder here. Finally, she was able to spend some time on her own, met a Sudanese man and got help in escaping (while taking out the trash).At that point, it became very difficult for Ms. Nazer to obtain asylum in the U.K. Officials there felt they could send her back to the Sudan and all would be well. But, there are a few complications. The slavers who took her originally seemed to have some relationship to the army in Sudan. The U.K. family included the

My eyes are now open

I was completely appalled to find that slavery is still thriving in this world. Mende's story is horrific, and as soon as I started reading I could not put it down until I read about her getting her freedom. Unfortunately her life of slavery is not unique, and I now want to know how I can contribute to stopping this horrible injustice going on. I will research this but I hope her story becomes more publicly acknowledged here in the US. I want everyone to know that slavery does indeed exist in this world today. Thank you Mende for sharing your story with the world, I hope this will help to lead to a better life for the people whose lives have been affected by slavery.

'My life as a modern-day slave'

By Joseph Winter BBC News Online On the surface, Mende Nazer is a bright, bubbly, confident young woman, quick to break into a beautiful infectious smile, which lights up her whole face. Nothing to suggest that she spent eight years of her life as a slave after being captured from her village in Sudan's Nuba Mountains. But the smile soon disappears when she talks about her past and her eyes start to well up with tears. "I still have nightmares," she told BBC News Online in London three years after she managed to escape to freedom. She was just 12 when one night her village was targeted by Arab slave raiders, who snatched her away from her loving family to be a slave in far away Khartoum. The story of her capture and life in servitude, published in her book Slave, reads like something from the Middle Ages but it happened in the early 1990s and she says this is still the lot of many young girls from southern Sudan.She worked from first thing in the morning until late at night, washing, cleaning and ironing, without any pay or days off, sleeping in a locked shed in the garden. At first, her mistress thought she was unclean and diseased, so she wouldn't let Mende touch the children. But after a while, looking after the children and cooking for the family were added to her list of duties. She only ate the scraps left by her mistress' family - "like an animal," she said. Eating these leftovers on her own in the kitchen was particularly demeaning for her, as sharing food is a central part of her Nuba culture, where no-one eats alone. She was often beaten and on one occasion, after preparing fried eggs instead of poached eggs, her mistress "seized the ladle out of the frying pan, and thrust the burning hot metal against my forearm. "I cried out in agony, as she ground it, sizzling, into my skin," she wrote. Her left arm is still badly scarred. 'Terrified' This is the life she was leading at the start of the 21st century. Then, a train of events began which would eventually lead to her freedom.Her mistress's sister, married to a Sudanese diplomat in London, had twins, so she was "given" to her to help her out. "Well, it's easy for us to get you another abda [slave]... whereas I understand it's impossible for people to find one in London," the wife of a slave-dealer told her mistress. Her new "owners" returned on holiday to Sudan, leaving her in the custody of some colleagues and she realised this was her chance to escape. But she spoke no English and had no concept of claiming asylum or how to survive in a bustling city of eight million people. She went up to anyone she saw on London's streets who looked like they could be from southern Sudan and greeted them in Arabic. After receiving endless quizzical looks and dismissals, she found someone working in a garage from Sudan and who knew someone from the Nuba Mountains. A few days later, they waited for her outside her owner's house and told her to run away. What was that first taste of freedom like? "I was