Deng Dut Amaat (Liberated March 2015)

Age: 28

Enslaved: 1995

Liberated: March 2015

I was in slavery for twenty years – since I was a young
boy. I had gone to visit my aunt with my father, when we heard the Arabs coming.
My father and I both ran, and we were separated. The Arabs were on horses, and
I couldn’t outrun them. Many other men, women and girls were captured at the
same time. They forced us all to walk to the North. If the men even looked at
the Arabs, they were beaten.

In the North, I had to live with a man named Mohammad Ali.
He had five children, but they were not allowed to play with me, or even drink
from the same cup as me. I always ate alone. The other children called me “dirty
slave.” I had to look after Mohammad Ali’s goats. If I ever came home with them
late, he would beat me with wood. He forced me to be a Muslim. I suffered a
lot.

When I heard about the Arab man coming to take Dinka people
home, I ran away to the nearby village and found him. He put me on a truck, and
drove me to where he had gathered to other freed slaves. Then we all walked
home together.

I do not know anyone in South Sudan, but I am
happy. No one will beat me again.

Deng was freed through the generous donations of ordinary people. You can help us rescue more people from slavery in North Sudan: www.csi-usa.org/slavery/