The extraordinary story of a young Sudanese girl sold into slavery and how she survived a lost childhood and finally escaped to freedom.
Mende Nazer grew up in the remote Nuba Mountains of Sudan. Her happy childhood was cruelly cut short when raiders on horseback swept into her village. The Mujahidin hacked down terrified villagers, raped the women and abducted the children. Twelve-year-old Mende was one of them.
Sold to an Arab lady in Khartoum, she was stripped of her name and her freedom. Called "abid" or "black slave", Mende was kept prisoner in the house where she had to carry out domestic duties without pay or any days off. Her bed was the floor of the garden shed and family leftovers provided her meals. For seven years she endured this harsh and lonely life without knowing whether her family was alive or dead.
In the spring of 2000 Mende was passed on to a relative in London and eventually managed to make contact with her other Huba exiles, with British journalist and filmmaker Damien Lewis, helped her escape to freedom.
