Do they hear you when you cry

Format:

Book

Title:

Do they hear you when you cry

Author:

Kassindja, Fauziya, 1977-

ISBN:

9780385318327

9780385319942

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

x, 518 pages ; 25 cm

Contents:

Prison -- Home -- Yaya and Amariya -- Daily life -- Favorite -- Muslim family life -- Muslim girl -- Weddings -- Strife -- Tragedy -- Nightmare -- Marriage -- Flight -- Germany -- Charlie -- Sister's keepers -- America -- Esmor -- Bowman -- Prison life -- Layli -- Riot! -- York -- Lehigh -- Hearing -- Beijing -- In position -- Battles -- Desperation -- Crisis -- April 24th -- Freedom -- Epilogue -- Acknowledgments -- For more information.

Summary:

"A true story of persecution, friendship, and ultimate triumph, Do They Hear You When You Cry chronicles the struggles of two extraordinary women: Fauziya Kassindja, who fled her African homeland to escape female genital mutilation only to be locked up in American prisons for sixteen months; and Layli Miller Bashir, a driven young law student who fought for Fauziya's freedom." "Here, for the first time, is Fauziya's dramatic personal story, told in her own words, vividly detailing her life as a young woman in Togo and her nightmarish day-to-day existence in U.S. prisons. It is a story of faith and freedom, courage and inspiration."--Jacket.

Personal Subject:

Kassindja, Fauziya, 1977-

Subject(s):

Political refugees -- United States -- Biography.

Muslim women -- Togo -- Biography.

Asylum, Right of -- United States.

Female genital mutilation -- Togo.

Geographic Term:

Togo

United States

Genre:

autobiographies (literary works)

Autobiographies

Biographies

Autobiographies.

Added Author:

Bashir, Layli Miller.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... West Salem Branch Library	921 Kassindja, Fauziya 1998	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

A true story of persecution, friendship, and ultimate triumph,Do They Hear You When You Crychronicles the struggles of two extraordinary women: Fauziya Kassindja, who fled her African homeland to escape female genital mutilation only to be locked up in American prisons for sixteen months; and Layli Miller Bashir, a driven young law student who fought for Fauziya's freedom. Fauziya Kassindja's harrowing story begins in Togo, Africa, where she enjoyed a sheltered childhood, shielded by her progressive father from the tribal practice of polygamy and genital mutilation. But when her father died in 1993, Fauziya's life changed dramatically. At age seventeen Fauziya was forced to marry a man she barely knew who already had three wives, and prepare for the tribal ritual of female genital mutilation--a practice that is performed without painkillers or antibiotics. But hours before the ritual was to take place, Fauziya's sister helped her escape to Germany, and from there she traveled to the United States seeking asylum--and freedom. Instead, she was stripped, shackled, and locked up in various INS detention facilities for sixteen months. Enter Layli Miller Bashir, a driven twenty-three-year-old law student who took on Fauziya's case. When the two women met, Layli found an emotionally broken, emaciated girl with whom she forged an extraordinary friendship. Putting her heart and soul into Fauziya's case, Layli enlisted help from the American University International Human Rights Clinic. The clinic's acting director, Karen Musalo, an expert in refugee law, devoted her own considerable efforts to the case, and assembled a team to fight with her on Fauziya's behalf. Ultimately, in a landmark decision that has given hope to many seeking asylum on the grounds of gender-based persecution, Fauziya was granted asylum on June 13, 1996. Here, for the first time, is Fauziya's dramatic personal story, told in her own words, vividly detailing her life as a young woman in Togo and her nightmarish day-to-day existence in U.S. prisons. It is a story of faith and freedom, courage and inspiration--one that you will not soon forget.

Reviews (3)

Kirkus Review

The harrowing and by now well-publicized story of a young West African girl fleeing the much-debated ritual of female circumcision and seeking asylum in the US. This worm's-eye view of her torturous incarceration at the hands of the INS is so well told that, even knowing the outcome in advance, you are held in suspense by the sheer horror of her ordeal. Seventeen-year-old Kassindja fled her native logo the night before her circumcision and arranged marriage were to take place. Still in her wedding clothes, with only $3,000 of her sister's money, a fake passport, and the covert guidance of a refugee smuggler, she flew to D†sseldorf, Germany. There she befriended a German woman in the airport lounge and went home with her. Within a few weeks, she met a young Nigerian who offered her yet another passport and ticket, this time to Newark, N.J., where she had family and felt sure she could find refuge from the mutilation and possible death that awaited her back in Togo. Instead, she found herself in Esmor prison in Elizabeth, N.J., and, over the course of nearly two years, a series of similar jails where abuse, humiliation, malnutrition, filth, and human rights violations were the norm. In deceptively plain English, rich with fear, pain, and unflinching detail, Kassindja, a devout Muslim, takes the reader on an unforgettable religious pilgrimage into the many-tiered Inferno of the INS penal system. Through the Herculean efforts of a devoted legal team who took her case pro bono (one lawyer, Bashir, is her coauthor), Kassindja was finally granted asylum on appeal, and now resides in Arlington, Va. Readers will find themselves testing their naivetÆ¿ by how many times they stop to remind themselves that this story takes place in the mid-1990s in America. A Midnight Express in New Jersey--this book will make one by turns, angry, afraid, and ashamed of one's complacency. Copyright Â©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Alone, afraid, and naive--but hopeful--17-year-old Fauziya Kassindja, a refugee from her native Togo, arrived in the U.S. seeking asylum in December 1994. Fleeing a forced polygamous marriage at the hands of her recently deceased father's relatives, she would have been forced to undergo "cleansing," the horrifying ritual of female genital mutilation (FGM), a practice resulting in painful suffering, and occasionally death, for women and girls in many parts of the world. Fauziya, in her innocence, did not anticipate the harsh cruelties she would endure upon her arrival in the U.S.: inhumane conditions and abusive guards in four prisons where she was detained for more than 16 months; callous Immigration and Naturalization Service personnel; lack of urgently needed medical attention and a deep depression that threatened to destroy her very spirit. Nor could she have anticipated the wealth of support that would come to her through the deeply committed women and men on her legal team, from other detainees with whom she forged an unbreakable bond, and through her own unshakable religious beliefs. Coauthored by Fauziya's key provider of legal and moral support, this is an intense and suspenseful account of the roller coaster of hope and despair during the arduous process of winning asylum. A fast-paced, can't-put-it-down book--shocking, heartbreaking, and inspiring. --Grace Fill

Library Journal Review

Kassindja was at the center of the landmark U.S. case that legitimized giving asylum to a woman who flees her country to avoid ritual genital mutilation. This is her storyand that of her lawyer, Bashirwho took up her cause after Kassindja was imprisoned by the INS upon arriving here from Togo. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.