Each year, Cazenovia College’s first year students are assigned a significant book to read prior to their arrival at the College in the fall. God Grew Tired of Us is this year’s selection, John Dau’s riveting story of how he and other ‘Lost Boys’ of the Sudan fled their country and eventually came to America. A discussion of God Grew Tired of Us will be held during the First Week Orientation Program. Look for other events during the fall term about the ‘Lost Boys’. God Grew Tired of Us is available at the Cazenovia College Bookstore or online at Cazenovia College First Year Summer Reading

As a ‘Lost Boy’, Dau wandered hundreds of miles and faced disease, starvation, and violence, until arriving in Kenya. After several years in another refugee camp, he came to the United States in Dau has earned an Associates degree at Onondaga Community College and is pursuing a degree at Syracuse University. Additionally, Dau founded The Sudanese Lost Boys Foundation of Central New York and helped organize the American Care for Sudan Foundation, which has raised over $150,000 for a medical clinic in southern Sudan. He has also been named the Director of the Sudan Project at Direct Change, raising funds for health and education projects in southern Sudan. Dau’s move to the United States and early experiences in the country are the subject of the film God Grew Tired of Us, which won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. His memoir, also entitled God Grew Tired of Us, was released in January 2007 by National Geographic Press. (Source: ) About the author … John Bul Dau was born in war-torn Sudan, and in 1987, his village was attacked by government troops … The violence scattered his family, and Dau was forced to travel on foot for three months until reaching Ethiopia. Dau stayed there in a refugee camp for four years but he was once against forced to flee when civil war broke out.

Cazenovia College First Year Summer Reading Discussion questions on God Grew Tired of Us 1.What would you consider to be an ideal childhood? John Dau says that he had an ideal childhood while growing up in Sudan. Discuss the differences and similarities between Sudanese and American versions of childhood. 2.What tensions existed between Northern and Southern Sudan that eventually led to civil war and the attack on the village of Duk Payeul? 3.Discuss the challenges faced by the ‘Lost Boys’ during their journey to find safety. Which of these challenges do you think would have been most difficult for John and other ‘Lost Boys’ to face? Which would have hardest for you? 4.What steps did the ‘Lost Boys’ take to organize themselves in the Kakuma refugee camp? How successful were they in reestablishing stability and community in this setting? 5.How much should immigrants be asked to give up when they come to a new country? If you moved to another country, what would you refuse to give up? What would be easy to give up? 6.What would you consider to be a Sudanese identity, what is the ‘Lost Boys’ (or refugee) identity, what do these identities mean in the US, which elements of these identities should be maintained? 7.What events or people from this book were most memorable to you? Compare your impressions with others in your group.