Tears of the Desert: Survivor tales from Darfur genocide

Tears of the Desert is a misery-lit book, a survival memoir of Halima Bashir who was gang-raped, defied odds to be a doctor but had to watch seven-year-old girls carry the scars of sexual molestation. She grew up with a ruthless grandmother and her story evokes empathy.

The book, co-authored with Damien Lewis, gives account of the horrors that Halima faced during the Darfur genocide that started in 2003. The UN reported that 300,000 people were killed during the ethnic cleansing genocide.

The story begins on a light note, where she takes time to explain how she was growing up with her extended family that included the ever dramatic grandmother in a desert village —Zaghawa.

As the first born daughter, she had a warm relationship with her father. She is a hardworker and is not easily manipulated. Halima learnt of the animosity between the non-Arabs and Arabs elite while in school.

The blacks were regarded as slaves only good at tilling farms and doing menial jobs. They were loathed by the Arabs. The animosity was the precedent of the war that followed years later.

While her village mates got married, Halima joined university to study medicine. That marked the beginning of her woes. As a doctor, she worked in many hospitals — but it is the treating of soldiers that put her in the spotlight.  

The government full of Arabs and backed by the Janjaweed militias did not want her treating the Zaghawa and other non-Arabs men. Rumours spread that she was treating non-Arab ‘soldiers’.

Beaten and raped

She was transferred from Hashma town area to Mazkhabad village North of Darfur, far from her village. But her popularity spread, and still non-Arabs sought her help. War broke out and Janjaweed Arab militias started assaulting the people living in the villages — to drive them out of their land.

Janjaweed Arab militias visited a school and raped girls as young as seven. Halima treated these girls.

She got news the government would arrest her for talking to the UN officials about the war, and sneaked back to her village for safety.

The war spread to her village and her father was killed and family separated. She got captured, beaten and raped for days, left for dead to serve as a warning to those who would defy the government.

Halima fled and landed in London, where she faced more problems and the risk of deportation.