Tears of the Desert

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 <i>Blood River</i> * vivid, poignant and brutally candid * <i>Washington Post</i> * 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 <i>Slave</i> and <i>Freedom</i> * 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 <i>Heart of Darfur</i> * 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 <i>Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond</i> *

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 spiralled 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 they were all granted UK citizenship in 2008.