If God must break your leg He will at least teach you to limp"--so it is said in Africa. This book is my poor limping, a modest account that cannot tell every story that deserves telling. I have seen and heard many things in Darfur that have broken my heart. I bring the stories to you because I know most people want others to have good lives,and, when they understand the situation, they will do what they can to steer the world back toward kindness.This is when human beings, I believe, are most admirable.

If you know where Egypt is on the map, you can go down from there and find Sudan. The western side of Sudan is called Darfur, which is about the size of France or Texas. Darfur is mostly flat; it has a few mountains but many endless plains of little trees, scratchy bushes, and sandy streambeds.

Introduction ix

1. A Call from the Road 3

2. We Are Here 11

3. The Dead Nile 21

4. A Bad Time to Go Home 28

5. My Sister's Village 38

6. The End of the World 43

7. Homecoming 48

8. The Seven of Us 62

9. The Translator 68

10. Sticks for Shade 71

11. Two and a Half Million Stories 77

12. Connections 86

13. Nicholas Kristof and Ann Curry Reporting 92

14. Once More Home 99

15. Waking Up in N'Djamena 106

16. A Strange Forest 111

17. The Sixth Trip ,4

18. What Can Change in Twenty-four Hours? 12o

19. Some Boys Up Ahead with a Kalashnikov 125

20. Our Bad Situation Gets a Little Worse 132

21. Blindfolds, Please t36

22. We Came to Rescue You Guys 142

23. We Can't Think of Anything to Say 146

24. The Rules of Hospitality 151

25. Open House at the Torture Center 161

26. The Hawalya 168

27. My One Percent Chance t76

Acknowledgments 183

Appendix 1: A Darfur Primer 185

Appendix 2: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 195