Escape from slavery / Bok, Francis

Francis Bok describes his experiences after being kidnapped in 1986 at age seven from his village in southern Sudan and taken to live as a slave for wealthy Muslim farmers, and tells about his escape ten years later, his attempts to discover what happened to his family, and his eventual move to America.

Seven-year old Francis Bok was selling eggs and peanuts near his village in southern Sudan when Arab raiders burst into the quiet marketplace, murdering all the men and gathering women and young children into a group. Strapped to horses and donkeys, they were taken north to lives of slavery under wealthy Muslim farmers. At age seventeen he finally escaped and made his way through prison and refugee camps for three more years before United Nations officials granted passage to America.