Escape from Slavery

Francis Bok was only seven years old when he and ten other Sudanese children of the Dinka ethnic group were taken at gunpoint by Arab gunmen from the north. Forced into slavery, he spent ten years enduring beatings and living on scraps from his captor's meals. His third attempt to escape was successful, but after reaching Khartoum, he was forced by police to work as a stable boy and later imprisoned for speaking out against the government. Bok was eventually granted UN refugee status and came to the United States, where he joined the American Anti-Slavery Group. He was the first Sudanese escaped slave to testify before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and has met with President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Madeleine Albright, and other important leaders. His book, Escape From Slavery, is considered an important record of the experience of contemporary slavery. Part of the Network against Human Trafficking Conference.