Issue date: 4/8/08 Section: Campus

Even after rebels in Darfur killed his brother, translator Daoud Hari continued to take journalists, United Nations officials and aid workers through the war-torn Sudanese region and into refugee camps in neighboring Chad, risking expulsion and imprisonment to bring stories from Darfur to the world.

He told some of those stories of his life as a translator to an audience of students, professors and community members Monday night at the Owen L. Coon Forum in the Kellogg School of Management.

"Since I have to work this job, (I know) I'll be one day killed," said Hari, the author of "The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur." "I choose this way to work because I have to get word out to the international community."

Hari was interviewed by Megan McKenna, his co-author on "The Translator," about his experiences in Darfur, his dangerous task as a translator and his kidnapping by rebel groups.

Genocide has devastated Darfur as violence between rebel groups and the Janjaweed, a government-backed militia, has killed at least 200,000 people and displaced 2.5 million more since 2003.

The Janjaweed attacked Hari's village, killing his brother and forcing the Darfur-born Zaghawa tribesman to flee his country.

During his time in Chad, Hari said he realized that informing the international community through foreign journalists is one of best ways to end the violence in his country.

"The journalists need to (see) something in their eyes … so they want to go inside Sudan," Hari said. "It's very dangerous. I help them to survive, and I keep my journalists alive, and they write a lot of stories for the international community."

Hari started translating for journalists and U.N. members visiting Darfur, as well as aid workers at the refugee camps in Chad. His familiarity with the land and language helped journalists see firsthand what was happening in an area that seemed so removed from the rest of the world, McKenna said.

Continued...

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