Overview

Halima Bashir was born into the remote western deserts of Sudan. She grew up in a wonderfully rich environment and later went on to study medicine. At the age of twenty-four she returned to her tribe and began practising as their first ever qualified doctor. But then a dark cloud descended upon her people...Janjaweed Arab militias began savagely assaulting her people. At first, Halima tried not to get involved. But in January 2004 they attacked people in her village. Halima treated the traumatised victims and was sickened by what she saw. She decided to speak out in a Sudanese newspaper and to the UN charities. Then the secret police came for her. For days Halima was interrogated and subjected to unspeakable torture. She finally escaped but the nightmare just seemed to follow her... This inspiring story tells of one woman's determination to survive and her passion to defend her people. For the first time, we can truly understand the personal horrors of Darfur from someone who lived through it.

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9780340963579

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Reviews

'This is a brave book ... [Halima] leaves us with hope and awe in the face of her courage.' -- Mia Farrow 'The genocide in Darfur has found its Anne Frank ... TEARS OF THE DESERT is a searingly frank testimonial of a war crime that deserves all our attention.' -- Tim Butcher, author of Blood River 'vivid, poignant and brutally candid' -- Washington Post 'A harrowing and beautifully written tale of a rich life, untold suffering and impossible hope told from the heart of a fellow African sister.' -- Mende Nazer, author of Slave and Freedom 'This memoir helps keep the Darfur tragedy open as a wound not yet healed.' -- Elie Wiesel 'A rare glimpse behind the statistics into the personal horror of Darfur. TV news too easily turns the whole nation into anonymous victims; Damien and Halima remind us they are people.' -- David Loyn, BBC Foreign Correspondent 'Halima's story is fantastic and exhausting ... I can see and hear and feel the people and places she describes.' -- Lisa Blaker, author of Heart of Darfur 'Halima Bashir has bared her soul to help stop the bleeding of her people in Darfur. Attention must be paid.' -- John Prendergast, co-chair of the ENOUGH Project and co-author of Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond

This is a brave book . . . [Halima] leaves us with hope and awe in the face of her courage. - Mia Farrow 'The genocide in Darfur has found its Anne Frank . . . TEARS OF THE DESERT is a searingly frank testimonial of a war crime that deserves all our attention.' - Tim Butcher, author of Blood River vivid, poignant and brutally candid - Washington Post A harrowing and beautifully written tale of a rich life, untold suffering and impossible hope told from the heart of a fellow African sister. - Mende Nazer, author of Slave and Freedom This memoir helps keep the Darfur tragedy open as a wound not yet healed. - Elie Wiesel A rare glimpse behind the statistics into the personal horror of Darfur. TV news too easily turns the whole nation into anonymous victims; Damien and Halima remind us they are people. - David Loyn, BBC Foreign Correspondent Halima's story is fantastic and exhausting . . . I can see and hear and feel the people and places she describes. - Lisa Blaker, author of Heart of Darfur Halima Bashir has bared her soul to help stop the bleeding of her people in Darfur. Attention must be paid. - John Prendergast, co-chair of the ENOUGH Project and co-author of Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond

Eyewitness account of the systematic genocide inflicted on the black African tribes of Darfur province by Sudan's Arab government.Assisted by British broadcast journalist Lewis (co-author: Slave: My True Story, 2004), Bashir begins with her mostly happy childhood in a small village in the western desert. She does not whitewash the past, however: As a young girl she resisted the ritual facial scarification that was customary in her Zaghawa tribe, but could not escape genital mutilation (described in horrific detail). She was the daughter of a cattle herder prosperous enough to send her away to secondary school and to medical school in Khartoum, where she endured (and defied) Arab scorn and mistreatment. While the initial chapters charm with their fascinating portrait of tribal desert life, those that follow are grim. When government officials learned of the young doctor's determination to treat the wounded from both sides of the conflict destroying Darfur, Bashir was at first threatened and then detained and gang-raped. Following the burning of her village and the rape and slaughter of its inhabitants, she fled south and after some months was able, with the help of a paid agent, to board a plane leaving Sudan. The memoir's final portion recounts her life in England, where she entered a marriage arranged long-distance by her father. Bashir and her husband (a cousin from her village) repeatedly attempted to gain asylum as refugees, but they were nearly deported; thanks to publicity drummed up by the Aegis Trust, an NGO active in efforts to end the Darfur crisis, they were able to remain in England. Bashir still has no knowledge of the fate or whereabouts of her family in Sudan. An epilogue provides statistics about the extent of the killing and devastation in Darfur, the failed attempts of the international community to halt it and the enabling role of China, a major importer of Sudanese oil and principal supplier of its arms.Both heartrending and chilling. (Kirkus Reviews)

This is a brave book ... [Halima] leaves us with hope and awe in the face of her courage. Mia Farrow 'The genocide in Darfur has found its Anne Frank ... TEARS OF THE DESERT is a searingly frank testimonial of a war crime that deserves all our attention.' Tim Butcher, author of Blood River vivid, poignant and brutally candid Washington Post A harrowing and beautifully written tale of a rich life, untold suffering and impossible hope told from the heart of a fellow African sister. Mende Nazer, author of Slave and Freedom This memoir helps keep the Darfur tragedy open as a wound not yet healed. Elie Wiesel A rare glimpse behind the statistics into the personal horror of Darfur. TV news too easily turns the whole nation into anonymous victims; Damien and Halima remind us they are people. David Loyn, BBC Foreign Correspondent Halima's story is fantastic and exhausting ... I can see and hear and feel the people and places she describes. Lisa Blaker, author of Heart of Darfur Halima Bashir has bared her soul to help stop the bleeding of her people in Darfur. Attention must be paid. John Prendergast, co-chair of the ENOUGH Project and co-author of Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond

'This is a brave book ... [Halima] leaves us with hope and awe in the face of her courage.' -- Mia Farrow 'The genocide in Darfur has found its Anne Frank ... TEARS OF THE DESERT is a searingly frank testimonial of a war crime that deserves all our attention.' -- Tim Butcher, author of Blood River 'A harrowing and beautifully written tale of a rich life, untold suffering and impossible hope told from the heart of a fellow African sister.' -- Mende Nazer, author of Slave and Freedom 'This memoir helps keep the Darfur tragedy open as a wound not yet healed.' -- Elie Wiesel 'A rare glimpse behind the statistics into the personal horror of Darfur. TV news too easily turns the whole nation into anonymous victims; Damien and Halima remind us they are people.' -- David Loyn, BBC Foreign Correspondent 'Halima's story is fantastic and exhausting ... I can see and hear and feel the people and places she describes.' -- Lisa Blaker, author of Heart of Darfur 'Halima Bashir has bared her soul to help stop the bleeding of her people in Darfur. Attention must be paid.' -- John Prendergast, co-chair of the ENOUGH Project and co-author of Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond

Author Information

Halima Bashir grew up in the remote deserts of Darfur, Sudan, in a loving family that was part of the black African Zaghawa tribe. She proved herself to be academically gifted and went on to be the first person in her village to qualify as a medical doctor. But then war broke out and her life sprialled into an unimaginably dark nightmare. In 2005 she finally sought asylum in the UK where she continues to speak out about the violence in Sudan. In October 2008 she won the Victor Gollancz Human Rights Prize. Halima still lives in the UK with her husband and two sons and thwy were all granted UK citizenship in 2008.

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