From being a young man on the adventurous pursuit of life to being a translator for major news organizations like the BBC, NBC and New York Times. Fate? Perhaps. Or is it that some people are built to thrive in chaos- and in the ease of normality, they are unremarkable rebels?
Daoud is a simple man with a simple profile. A red apple in a basket of greens. A square peg in a round hole. A metaphorical nomad. Either books made him that or his nomadic spirit found home in them. Then war broke in his village-one of a thousand other closely knit villages in Darfur where everyone knows everyone. The shake up squares the rounded edges of the hole and he falls in suddenly, fitting tightly and dangerously in his place as a translator for UN aid workers, journalists and news reporters.
In English, Arabic and Zaghawa, Daoud becomes a powerful force through whom stories pass from Darfur to the world and from the world to Darfur. The story of the war in Darfur was a story of People and Survival; of Good and evil; Senseless Evil. Yet Daoud translates all these into a beautifully woven story of hope, human resilience, goodness, laughter and growth. Because that is who he is: The Translator.
A delightful read.
