REASEARCH LESSONS: Top Ten Lessons From Slave: My True Story

1. You must resist Temptation. Mende is doing work and she sees a
strange black box with little people inside (describing a television). I
couldnt understand how they got inside, but I could see them moving
around inside and talking it was so hard to carry on cleaning and not
watch. To me, it seemed completely magical. But I knew if Rehab
caught me looking, she would be angry. (Nazer 144). Mende had to
resist her temptation to look at the TV, because she knew that if she
did, she would be beaten.
2. Sometimes you have to deal with things you cant control.
Mende has just arrived at her first house to work as a servant. One day
she hears some very bad news that she will be going to a new owner.
I know Its difficult. Im sorry. But theres nothing any of us can do
about it. (Nazer 132). This is what a very old slave, named Asha, told
Mende after Mende was told she would be taken away. Mende was very
young and was deeply saddened about this.
3. Learn From Mistakes. While Mende was being taken away by the
Arabs in a large truck, they let her stop to go pee. But an Arab man
snuck up behind her and sexually assaulted her. A while later the girls
were offered to take showers, but they knew better. It was such a
wonderful thought, the idea of getting ourselves clean. But we were
scared it might be a trick (Nazer 107). Since they have been
assaulted before, they knew that it could happen again, especially
since theyre getting naked.
4. People arent always as they seem at first. When Mende got off
the bit truck with all the Arab men, another Arab man came and talking
to all the little kids on the truck. hello and welcome children he said
quietly, as he came over to the car. He had a very kind face, I
thought. (Nazer 117). But as she would learn, this man would sell her
off to a life of beatings and hard work.
5. Dont talk back to superiors. After Mende was asked to take a
shower by her master, she said she was too tired and that shell take
one tomorrow, her master did not take that well. She hit her and told
her to never talk back to her ever. Then a veteran slave Asha explained
to Mende what she did wrong. You must obey her. If she tells you to
take a shower you have to have one. Thats the end of it. Or d you
want her to beat you.
6. Its the little things that mean the most. When Mende was at
home in the Nuba Mountains, she had a cat called Uran. She loved that
cat dearly and missed her. One Day when she was cleaning her
masters house, she stumbled across a stuffed animal. To me, it looked
just like my cat Uran. Without thinking, I scooped it up and hit it under
my skirt. Every night after that, I would cuddle up to this toy and talk
to it as if it were Uran. (Nazer 173). This stuffed animal seemed like a
meaningless thing to most, but it reminded Mende of home which
made her love it a lot

REASEARCH LESSONS: Top Ten Lessons From Slave: My True Story

7. Realizing your fate is hard. One night Mende was just sleeping in
her shed thinking hard about what she had just been told. She was told
that she was being sold again to another owner. She realized her fate
soon after. I couldnt believe this was my fate: that I had been sold as
a slave and would remain a slave for the rest of my life. (Nazer 210).
She prayed to God, or Allah, that she would be rescued and wouldnt
have to live like this.
8. Freedom is sweet. After Mende had been a slave at Rehabs house
for a while, Rehab had started to give Mende some freedoms that
Mende cherished. I treasured these little moments of freedom so
much that I didnt want to jeopardize them. Just to leave the house and
walk down the street was a joy in itself. (Nazer 211). Mende was
allowed to go to the shops, but had to have supervision from one of
Rehabs children.
9. Hard times can bring hopelessness. One night as Mende was just
laying there, she started to realize that she was changing. Her main
goal was to get out and see her family, but after years of failure, she
had given up all hope. As I lay there in the darkness I realized that I
had givin up my real family for dead. I had become used to not
thinking about them. This realization rocked me to the core. (Nazer
218). After this realization, she had very bad flasshbacks of what had
happened to her tribe and how she had been sexually abused and
beaten.
10.
Good news can bring rejuvenation and hope. One day when
Mende was at the shops, she met a Nuba man named Shadal. After a
while, she realized that she knew him, he was in her tribe from the
Nuba Mountains! Then he told me he had news of your family too.
Theyre alive, Mende. They (Mendes parents) survived the raid.
(Nazer 222). Mende was so excited because of this news, she felt like
she had something to live for. Without my family to go back to, what
was the point of being free? (Nazer 223). After this news, she started
to think of ways to escape this life of slavery, and she succeeded.

Nazer, Mende, and Damien Lewis. Slave: My True Story. New York:
Public
Affairs, 2003. Print.