Would You Have the Strength To Do What Halima Bashir Did?

Would you have the strength to do what she did?:

Dr. Halima Bashir, now 29, was working at a clinic in a remote African village [in Darfur] when the government-backed Janjaweed - Arabic for "devil on horseback"- surrounded a girl's school and systematically raped dozens of students as young as eight, as well as their teachers.

The injured were brought to the clinic for care, and Bashir treated their horrible wounds....

The powers that be in Darfur punished her for actions, she says. Soldiers came for her and took her away. "The three of them took turns raping me," she writes. "And while doing so they burned me with their cigarettes, and cut me with their blades. They raped me until I lost consciousness. When I came to . . . I wished I were dead. There was nothing more that anyone could do to me. My life was over."

After escaping the soldiers, Bashir - still bleeding from her wounds -- made a cross-country journey by camel back to her home village. Her father, who had always nurtured Bashir's intelligence and abilities, refused to attach any shame or blame to her for her rape, a common practice in village culture.

Within a few months, the Janjaweed attacked the village, destroying every trace of the life she had known. Her father died in the fight. In the chaos, Bashir was separated from her mother, sisters, and brother and made a desperate flight to England. She still does not know where they are, or even if they are alive.

She travels the world, speaking about Darfur and the horrors perpetrated there against women and children. "When I am doing this and I find that people moving and responding, I am happy," she said. "I feel as if my father, now he is sitting there and proud of me and what I am doing for the people."

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