When Gerald L. "Jay" Williams '03 first came upon a clearing where hundreds of newly freed Sudanese slaves sat under trees with emasculated bodies and tattered clothes, he did not cry.

Williams had cried before, many times, thinking about the 27 million people who remain enslaved throughout the world.

But when the Mather House sophomore traveled to Sudan earlier this month as part of a rescue group to liberate and record the testimony of thousands of slaves, he did not break down.

He did not cry as a 12-year-old boy told of having his fingers cut off by a slave master. He did not cry as a 32-year-old woman talked about how her baby son had been ripped out of her arms as she was forced into bondage.

He did not cry because they did not cry. Instead, he took notes. He listened, became their witness.

And now, back at Harvard, he says he has pledged his life to telling their story.

Williams, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., began working as an intern with the Boston-based American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG) last school year.

He first learned about the organization in December while attending a gospel concert at First Baptist Church. The concert was a fundraiser to benefit the AASG, which works to raise awareness about modern slavery.