Out of Exile
Craig Walzer
Book of the month – April 2009
Sudan saw a long and devastating civil war that officially ended when a cease-fire was signed in 2005. Despite this official agreement country will have to grapple with the social consequences of the war for years to come. One of the most egregious humanitarian abuses of the war was the displacement of millions southern Sudanese. Many fled to escape violence, while others were forced to move away from their homes as slaves.
Here in this collection of interviews, in their own words, men and women recount life before their displacement and the reasons for their flight, as well as their incredible struggles to reach and survive in the major stations of the "refugee railroads" — the desert camps of Khartoum, the underground communities of Cairo, the humanitarian metropolis of Kakuma refugee camp, and the still-growing internally displaced persons camps in Darfur.
These first-person narratives stay with the reader for a long time and should be read by students, policy-makers or anyone who wants to know more about lives and struggles of people who, somewhere in another part of our planet, are forced to run from their homes across countries or continents.
