“How many of you have ever actually talked to a former slave?” asked Francis Bok, a former slave from southern Sudan to an audience of 20 students in the College of Arts and Sciences on Thursday.
Hosted by the Boston University College Democrats, Bok, a 32-year-old resident of Boston, said he lived as a slave for 10 years until he was 17.
Bok’s speech at BU was part of a tour across the United States that aims to spread awareness of inhumanity in Sudan.
Bok said his once peaceful and prosperous village was invaded and destroyed by militia members from northern Sudan. He had been sent to the market place at the time of the attack and said that his parents were killed and he never saw his siblings following the attack.
Although he only touched very briefly on his actual experience in captivity, Bok compared his experiences to a movie about the Rwandan genocide, “Hotel Rwanda.”
“This is the same movie that I was in when I was a very little boy in 1986,” Bok said.
Once in captivity, the captors forced all the slaves to convert to Islam and gave them Islamic names, Bok said. However, he never accepted Islam in his heart, did not respond to his new name and remained a strong Christian.
Bok said he tried to escape captivity three times and in 1996 he fled to Egypt. In 1999 he made his way to America. Inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr., Bok said he wanted to create a movement to help the Sudanese.
“The sea has not opened for them yet. Now it is actually about to, and my people will be free, and we’ll be free at last,” Bok said.
Since coming to America, Bok said he has written his autobiography and traveled to spread his message that slavery still exists in the 21st century. He said he works closely with the American Anti-Slavery Group.
BU College Democrats hosted the lecturer to spur discussion on slavery, a topic beneficial for the public and had much human interest, said College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Emily Keller, a communication director.
CAS senior Hope Gee, College Democrats’ president, said she was very happy with how the event unfolded.
“As an American, you think slavery was a time period,” Gee said.
Bok ended his speech by speaking about his goal of creating a school in his village and his challenge to people everywhere to help prevent slavery.
“It’s not about being inspired by what is happening next,” he said. “It’s about what we can do as individuals. What’s the use of what you have if you don’t use it?”
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