Escape from Slavery Francis Bok (with Edward Tivman) St.
Martin's Press 2003 284 pages $24.95 Francis Bok was seven years
old when Muslim raiders from northern Sudan stormed the small
Dinka village where Bok was selling eggs for his mother. They
murdered all the men and kidnapped the womenand children to
serve as slaves for wealthy Muslim farmers. Bok was enslaved for
ten years finally escaping the clutches of his master in 1996.
He immigrated to the United States about one year later. In
"Escape from Slavery" Bok writes that he was one of thousands of
enslaved Dinka children. The war against the Dinka tribes by the
Muslims of northern Sudan has caused the death of two million
southerners and displaced four million more - many of them
forced into slavery. Raiders routinely kidnapped children as
young as seven often brutalizing and torturing them including
cutting off an arm or leg if they tried to escape. One ten year
old had nails driven through his knees. Bok was sometimes beaten
and fed little more than ga