The Lost Boys of Sudan were over 40,000 boys of the Nuer and Dinka ethnic groups who were displaced or orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005); about 2 million were killed and millions were displaced. The name "Lost Boys of Sudan" was colloquially used by aid workers in the refugee camps where the boys resided in Africa. The term was revived, as children fled the post-independence violence of South Sudan with Sudan during 2011-13.
Video Lost Boys of Sudan
History
Roots of the Conflict
The conflict in Sudan between the northern and southern regions had existed since Sudan's independence from Britain in the year 1956. It was rooted in economic, cultural, and religious disparities between the north and south. The northern region of the country was primarily Muslim, which contrasted ideologically with the Christian and animist religions that were more prevalent in the south. Although the north had more of the urban centers of the nation, they depended heavily on the natural resources such as oil and minerals that were found in the southern region. The interests of northern business in extracting these resources contrasted the interests of southern farmers to protect and own their own land for agriculture
In 1983, the conflicting division of the population that had led to riots, massacres, protests, resulted in the formation of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA). Civil war began between the SPLA and the existent Sudanese government, which led to numerous attacks on civilians as well as military groups. In many southern rural villages, troops from both sides would wage massive raids, stealing food and killing as many inhabitants as they could. One of the worst instances of this was the Bor massacre, in which 2,000 people were killed.
Effects on children
Most of the boys were orphans separated from their families as a result of the systematic attacks in the southern part of the country. Many avoided capture or death because they were away from their villages tending cattle at the cattle camps (grazing land located near bodies of water where cattle were taken and tended largely by the village children during the dry season) and were able to flee and hide in the dense African bush. Some of the unaccompanied male minors were conscripted by the Southern rebel forces and used as soldiers in the rebel army, while others were handed over to the government by their own families to ensure protection, for food, and under a false impression the child would be attending school.
Flight of the Lost Boys
Motivated by the loss of their parents and their need to find food and safety from the soldiers, an estimated 20,000 boys and girls from rural southern Sudan fled to bordering Ethiopia and Kenya. Most of this travel took place in large groups by foot, and the journeys could be up to thousands of miles on average to the nearest camps. Travel ranged from a span of weeks to two or more years. Often the children traveled with no possessions besides the clothes on their backs. The Boys often depended on the charity of villages as they passed for food, necessities, and treatment of the sick, but most of their travel was in isolated regions with very little infrastructure. Groups of Boys were often organized and led by the oldest boy in the group, who could be an adolescent or young adult but sometimes was as young as ten or twelve years old.
The Lost Boys on this migration were on average extremely malnourished, as food was sourced through donations from villages encountered along the way, hunting, and theft. They were also vulnerable to heat exhaustion, pneumonia, malaria, and other diseases to which they had little means of prevention or treatment. Additionally, attacks on the children by lions, snakes and other wild animals were not uncommon. It is estimated that over half of the young migrants died along their epic journey, due to starvation, dehydration, sickness and disease and attack by wild animals and enemy soldiers. Conditions were made even more dangerous by the SPLA soldiers often attacking boys or forcibly recruiting some as child soldiers. The SPLA estimated that 1,200 boys were recruited from groups of displaced children, although they deny forcing any of them into conflict. Experts say the Lost Boys are the most badly war-traumatized children ever examined.
Arrival at refugee camps
The arrival of the Lost Boys and Girls to the refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya was welcomed to various degrees. Providing sufficient food to the camps as hundreds of Boys would arrive together on a regular basis was extremely difficult, and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and involved non-governmental organizations were often constrained to meet the needs of the population. A problem unique to the story of the Lost Boys is how the age and family structure dynamics of the camps changed with the influx of young people. The Lost Boys came to the camps without guardians or adult supervision. They immediately required housing and schooling, which changed the allocation of resources in the camps. With some of the Boys arriving in the camps at ages as young as 6 or 7, many of the Boys spent the majority of their childhood and adolescence being raised in the camps.
Maps Lost Boys of Sudan
Current status and resettlement
From 1992 to 1996, UNICEF had reunited almost 1200 Lost Boys with their families. However, about 17,000 were still in camps in the area as of 1996.
In 2001, as part of a program established by the United States Government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), approximately 3800 Lost Boys were allowed to resettle in the United States. They are now scattered over at least 38 cities. Halted after 9/11 for security reasons, the program restarted in 2004. As of 2006, the largest population of Sudanese refugees in the United States is in Omaha, Nebraska, which hosts about 7,000 people. Numerous resettlement agencies, such as Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services, the IRC (International Rescue Committee), World Relief and others assisted in the resettlement process. A variety of programs have been initiated to help these displaced people, in areas of education, medical assistance, reconnecting with families in South Sudan and in rebuilding efforts and providing humanitarian aid in Southern Sudan.
Despite the programs intended to facilitate assimilation, many of the Lost Boys still face difficulties in adapting to life in The United States, Canada, or any of the European countries that offered refugee resettlement. Posttraumatic stress, separation from loved ones, cultural isolation, and racism and discrimination against the refugees made assimilation extremely difficult. Studies have discussed a common condition among the Lost Boys of ambiguous loss, which occurs when a person experiences the loss of a family member if they are missing or have been separated, but without the closure of death which allows for mourning and then moving forward. Resettlement to the US made it easier for many of the Lost Boys to reconnect with family members, although it was often difficult to reunite if the Boys were already in the US and the families remained in camps. North and South of Sudan allowing free access to Lost Boys/ Girls and Sudanese Diaspora from around the world to return to their homeland. As a result, many are now returning to South Sudan to pay it forward and help in the rebuilding of their war-torn country and to provide humanitarian aid and support. In January 2011, 99.47% of South Sudanese voted to separate from the north and become an independent nation. Some American former Lost Boys and Girls now hold positions in the current Government of South Sudan.
The Lost Girls
Inequalities between the Lost Boys and Lost Girls was manifested partially in cultural practices of the Dinka and Nuer people. Not unlike many parts of Africa, women were viewed as subordinate to men in families and villages. Male children inherited their parents wealth after their death, and so parents strongly desired having male children, often at the expense of the care of the females. Men were allowed to have multiple wives, and polygamy was expected if the father had no sons by his other wives.
When conflict reached the rural parts of southern Sudan, it impacted girls too. When villages were attacked, girls were raped, and women and small children (boys and girls) were taken to the north to be sold as slaves. When the women and children were trafficked it was extremely difficult for family members to relocate them.
When arriving in the camps in Ethiopia, the boys were placed in boys-only areas of the camp, but according to Sudanese culture, the girls could not be left alone and were placed with surviving family members or adopted by other Sudanese families. Although these family placement practices provided security for the young women, families often exploited the extra pair of hands at home, and the Girls were expected to fulfill numerous domestic responsibilities that were often very tasking or even dangerous. The expectations of domestic work were often preventative of women being able to attend school while in the camps, and even when allowed to attend their housework often kept them behind their male classmates, who had time to study. Girls were abused by their host families, raped by other refugees during activities such as fetching water or food rations, and even occasionally sold as brides for profit.
When the resettlement program to the US was initiated in 1999, one of the requirements was that the children must be orphans. Because these girls had been living in these family units for up to 9-14 years, they were no longer considered orphans, and therefore were not eligible for the resettlement program. As a result, relatively few of the Lost Girls were deemed eligible for the resettlement program to the US. Of the 4,000 Sudanese refugees approved in 2000 to resettle in the US, only 89 were women.
Books, films and plays
There have been a number of books, films and plays about the Lost Boys, including:
- 2016: Walking Boys: The Perilous Road to South Sudan Independence, a memoir by Awak Malith.
- 2016: How Fast Can You Run, a novel based on life of Lost Boy Michael Majok Kuch by Harriet Levin Millan
- 2016: God's Refugee: The Story of a Lost Boy Pastor by Rev. John Chol Daau
- 2014: The Good Lie, a film about four Lost Boys who resettle in America.
- 2013: Struggle between Despair and Life: From Sudan's Marshland Village, Child Soldiering, Refugee Camp and America by Mayak Deng Aruei
- 2013: Unspeakable: My Journey as a Lost Boy of Sudan, by John Reng Ajak Gieu.
- 2012: Running for My Life, by Lopez Lomong and Mark Tabb. Autobiography of the U.S. Olympian and former Lost Boy.
- 2011: Machine Gun Preacher, a film about Sam Childers, based on his book Another Man's War, concerning Childers work with Sudanese war orphans in Africa.
- 2010: A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. A fictional novel about Sudan that includes the real-life story of lost boy Salva Dut.
- 2010: A Hare in the Elephant's Trunk, by Jan L. Coates. A novel based on the life of Jacob Deng, now living in Nova Scotia, Canada.
- 2010: NCIS: Los Angeles, episode "Breach", (season 1, first aired January 5, 2010).
- 2009: Rebuilding Hope, a documentary directed by Jen Marlowe following three Lost Boys, Gabriel Bol Deng, Koor Garang and Garang Mayuol, as they return to South Sudan.
- 2009: The Lost Boy: The true story of a young boy's flight from Sudan to South Africa, by Aher Arop Bol. The story of Lost Boy Aher Arp Bol journey from Sudan to South Africa.
- 2008: War Child, a documentary by C. Karim Chrobog about musician and former child soldier Emmanuel Jal.
- 2008: Courageous Journey: Walking the Lost Boys Path from the Sudan to America, by Barbara Youree, Ayuel Leek and Beny Ngor.
- 2007: The Lost Boys of Sudan, a play about the subject, written by Lonnie Carter. Open at The Children's Theater Company in Minneapolis. A 2010 production at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago.
- 2007: Without A Trace episode "Lost Boy" (season 6, first aired September 27, 2007), featured two Lost Boys as fictional supporting characters.
- 2007: God Grew Tired of Us: A Memoir, by John Bul Dau and Michael Sweeney. The life story of John Dau, who was also chronicled in the 2006 documentary God Grew Tired of Us.
- 2007: Not Just Child's Play: Emerging Tradition and the Lost Boys of Sudan, by Felicia R. McMahon. An analysis of the music, dance, and folklore of the DiDinga community living around Syracuse, New York.
- 2006: What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, by Dave Eggers. An autobiographical novel based on the story of Valentino Achak Deng, now living in the US.
- 2006: God Grew Tired of Us, a documentary directed by Christopher Dillon Quinn about John Dau, Akim Bunny, Daniel Pach and Panther Bior, now living in New York City.
- 2005: They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys of Sudan, by Benson Deng, Alephonsion Deng, Benjamin Ajak, and Judy A. Bernstein. The true story in their own words of the 14-year journey of three Lost Boys who came to the United States in 2001 before 9/11.
- 2005: The Lost Boys of Sudan: An American Story of the Refugee Experience, by Mark Bixler, a nonfiction book about "Lost Boys" resettled in the United States.
- 2005: The Journey of the Lost Boys, by Joan Hecht.
- 2005: Brothers in Hope, a children's story of the lost boys of Sudan, by Mary Williams; illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. New York, NY: Lee & Low Books. ISBN 978-1-58430-232-2
- 2005: Dinka Diaries, a documentary by Filmon Mebrahtu about Lost Boys in Philadelphia.
- 2004: Alliance for the Lost Boys of Sudan, written by Joan Hecht about Alliance for the Lost Boys.
- 2004: I Heart Huckabees, a film that mentions the Sudanese War; former Lost Boy Ger Duany acts in the movie.
- 2004: Lost Boy No More: A True Story of Survival and Salvation, by Abraham Nhial and DiAnn Mills. Autobiography of Abraham Nhial, who fled to Ethiopia from Sudan.
- 2004: 7th Heaven episode "Lost and Found" (season 8, first aired May 3, 2004), depicted two Lost Boys.
- 2003: Lost Boys of Sudan, a documentary film about two Lost Boys, Santino Majok Chuor and Peter Nyarol Dut, who came to the United States. Aired on P.O.V..
- 2003: A Great Wonder: Lost Children of Sudan Resettling in America, a documentary about three Lost Boys who immigrate to Seattle, Washington.
- 2002: Benjamin and His Brother, a documentary by the late Arthur Howes about Benjamin and William Deng, brothers in a Kenyan refugee camp who are separated when only one is accepted by a U.S. resettlement program.
- 2002: Kakuma Turkana: Dueling Struggles: Africa's Forgotten Peoples by Daniel Cheng Yang, a photographic journal of Kakuma Refugee Camp and the indigenous Turkana peoples of northwest Kenya.
See also
- Nuer White Army
- Francis Bok
References
External links
NGOs
- Sudan Development Foundation - SUDEF is a non-profit working in South Sudan in partnership with rural villages to improve their quality of life. Founded in 2007 in Burlington, VT by Lost Boys Abraham Awolich and Peter Keny, their community based approach recognizes the resilience, the shared responsibility and the ongoing commitment necessary to establish self-reliant, healthy communities that build lasting peace.
- The Hope of Sudan is a united alliance of all proven Sudanese-led nonprofit organizations in the United States that share a common mission -- to provide the foundation for stable communities and empower our Sudanese brothers and sisters to transform their villages socially and economically.
- Wadeng Wings of Hope A Canadian-Revenue-Agency approved charity founded by Jacob Deng, featured in the book, A Hare in the Elephant's Trunk. Its mission is to construct schoolrooms to improve education for all children in South Sudan.
- The Sudanese Education Fund, a 501(c)3 nonprofit serving the South Sudanese refugee population in Massachusetts
- HELPSudan International, founded by Lost Boys living in Chicago who are determined to better communities in southern Sudan by establishing schools and providing health resources and clean water
- Sudan Aid, a foundation founded by former Lost Boy Awak Malith and dedicated to transforming education across South Sudan.
- John Dau Foundation, (also John Dau Sudan Foundation), a Foundation founded by Lost Boy John Dau and dedicated to transforming healthcare in Southern Sudan
- The Valentino Achak Deng Foundation
- Alliance For The Lost Boys
- Sudanese Lost Boys Association of Australia
- Ayual Community Development Association
- Gabriel's Dream A charity dedicated to securing education and dental care for the lost boys.
- Pongborong Primary School - In 2004, Peter Magai Bul and the ACDA established Pongborong Primary School, which served 300 students. With the support of ACDA, the school has grown to serve approximately 800 students in grades one through seven.
- South Sudan Village Care Foundation - South Sudan Village Care Foundation is a not for profit organization formed in Rochester, NY, founded by Palath Thonchar, one of the Lost Boys & Girls of South Sudan. Their mission is to build and maintain a medical clinic in Palath's home village of Panrieng.
- Hope for Ariang, Lost Boy Gabriel Bol Deng's project to build a primary school in the Bhar El Ghazal region
- Water for Sudan, founded by Lost Boy Salva Dut to provide clean water to Southern Sudan
- Southern Sudan Health Care Organization, founded by Lost Boys Jacob Atem and Lual Awan, to build a clinic in Southern Sudan
- 4 South Sudan, founded by US Olympian and Lost Boy Lopez Lomong to meet the needs of the South Sudanese people by improving access to clean water, healthcare, education, and nutrition
Photographs and articles
- Photojournalist's Account - Images of Sudan's displaced
- Between Two Worlds: A Personal Journey, Photographs by Eli Reed of the Lost Boys of Sudan
- Sudanese Stories, An oral history project recording the migration journeys and settlement experiences of southern Sudanese refugees now living in Blacktown, Western Sydney, Australia
- "Lost Boys find their way in Rochester", story on Lost Boys relocating to the US
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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