Darfur tribesman Hari to speak at Colorado Mountain College campuses
Community members from across the Colorado Mountain College district are invited to join the third annual Common Reader program to read the deeply moving book “The Translator: A Tribesman’s Memoir of Darfur.”
The Common Reader program is designed to promote learning conversations in the college district. Some 2,000 copies of the book have been ordered for distribution to CMC students, faculty, staff and community members.
“This program underscores the fact that the learner, not the academic discipline, is the organizing principle of education at Colorado Mountain College,” said Jane Szucs, division director at the college’s Roaring Fork Campus and coordinator of the Common Reader program. “It allows us to offer an active awareness of
important connections across different academic disciplines.
“By encouraging a broad spectrum of people to read and talk about the same book, we want to invite discussion through multiple perspectives,” she added.
This is the first year that all seven Colorado Mountain College campuses have participated in the program. Among the Common Reader books that individual campuses have selected in the past are “Three Cups of Tea,” “Plenty,” “Natural Capitalism,” “Farewell, My Subaru” and “Desert Solitaire.”
“The Translator” was written by Daoud Hari, a Zaghawa tribesman who grew up in a village in the Darfur region of Sudan. In 2003, Hari’s traditional life was shattered when helicopter gunships appeared over the village, followed by brutal militia attacks.
Although his village was destroyed, Hari escaped and led survivors to safety. When international aid groups and reporters arrived, he risked his life by offering his services as a translator and guide. The Sudanese government outlawed journalists in the region, and aiding the “foreign spies” was punishable by death. Hari’s luck later ran out and he was captured.
Hari will tell his story to students and the public during his Nov. 2-6 visit to Colorado Mountain College campuses and sites in Rifle, Aspen, Glenwood Springs, Breckenridge, Steamboat Springs and Edwards.
At no cost, anyone who has a valid student ID or local community library card can check out an audio version of the book via the college’s virtual library. To download the book, visit the Virtual Library.
For advice on where to buy a copy of the book, help with obtaining a local community library card or information on upcoming author talks, please contact Colorado Mountain College at 1-800-621-8559.