In 2006, over 700 first-year students and many employees at Niagara University read Escape From Slavery by Francis Bok. After reading this harrowing account of a seven-year-old Sudanese boy captured into slavery, Bok – now a poised 27-year-old man – spoke on our campus, moving us with his story, his resiliency, his intelligence, and his strength (http://www.niagara.edu/care/archives/2006/niagarareads.htm).

If you read Escape From Slavery, you’ll also want to read Slave: My True Story, a similarly shocking account. In 1993, Mende was captured by Arab raiders and sold into slavery when she was about twelve years old. As a girl, however, her life took a different path: she became a house slave for a wealthy Arab family. Like Francis Bok, she suffered terrible emotional and physical trauma. But she also endured an added layer of horror – sexual abuse.

After being enslaved and abused for seven long years, she was sent to London to work for another master. There she managed to connect with some Sudanese immigrants who helped her escape. However, by this time she had lost much of her childhood and adolescence.

Incredible as it may seem, slavery is not just history; this shocking reality still exists today. Although Mende’s riveting story is heartbreakingly difficult to read, one finishes Slave with a tremendous sense of hope - that even the most abused person can survive. Twenty-first century slavery won’t end until the world knows about it. By bravely recounting her story, Mende Nazer gives us awareness, which is the first step toward change.

Slave: My True Story by Mende Nazer with Damien Lewis is shelved on the second floor of the Library at call number HT1384.K48 N39 2003.

Sharon Green, Reading Coordinator in the Office of Academic Support, wrote this Monthly Book Spotlight.