Francis Bok - Escape

Escape

Francis Bok waited three years, until 1996, before he tried to escape again. During the intervening three years he tended to the herds and regained Giemma's trust. Giemma regularly praised Bok's work with the animals yet still forced him to live a life of slavery.

Bok finally escaped from Giemma when he was 17 years old by walking through the forest to the nearby market town of Mutari. Bok went to the local police department to seek help, and asked the police to help him find his people. Instead of helping him, the Muslim police made him their slave for two months. Bok escaped from the police by simply taking their donkeys to the well, tying them, and leaving them behind as he walked into the crowded marketplace.

Bok asked a man with a truck to give him a ride out of Mutari. The man, a Muslim named Abdah, agreed to help him. Abdah thought that slavery was wrong and agreed to transport Bok to the town of Ed-Da'Ein in the back of his truck amongst his cargo of grain and onions. Bok stayed with Abdah, his wife and two sons for two months while Abdah tried to find a way to take Bok to Khartoum, the capital city of Sudan. When he could not find a friend to provide passage to Khartoum, Abdah bought a bus ticket to Khartoum for Bok. After being enslaved for 10 years, he was freed by a Muslim who believed that what some of his fellow Muslims in Northern Sudan were doing was wrong. Francis Bok arrived in Khartoum with no money, no place to go, and did not know where to turn. Fortunately for Francis, another stranger helped him find his way to his fellow Dinka tribespeople in Khartoum in the Jabarona settlement.

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