The Lost Boys of Sudan

Enduring Understandings: Survival Your life is shaped by both internal and external influences of which you may or may not have control.  In order to survive in your environment, you must continually adapt. What does it take to adapt?  Survival requires resiliency, courage, and inner strength. What does it take to survive? Our lives are tested by society, by ourselves, by other people, and by nature. Why do life forms need to adapt to survive? Your life is shaped by both internal and external influences of which you may or may not have control.  In order to survive in your environment, you must continually adapt. What does it take to adapt?  Survival requires resiliency, courage, and inner strength. What does it take to survive? Our lives are tested by society, by ourselves, by other people, and by nature. Why do life forms need to adapt to survive?

The Lost Boys of Sudan Much as been written about the Lost Boys of Sudan…but few have paid attention to it. Why? Perhaps because it’s a Civil War. Perhaps because it concerns Africa and we pay little attention to Africa as this continent has little impact on us economically or politically. And perhaps because we haven’t as yet figured out that what happens in the Sudan may have a large impact eventually on our war on terrorism. But this is the story of the “Lost Boys of the Sudan.” It is a true story of 3,800 boys who came here in 2001 to avoid certain death at home. Yet today, in many places in Sudan genocide continues, famine and disease are rampant, and the will to survive is continually begin tested. How did these boys adapt? Where did they get the resiliency, the courage, the will and the strength to survive? It is an amazing, heart-wrenching story of survival.

Sudan: The 10th Largest Country in the World  Sudan, the 10th largest country by area in the world, has known little peace. Historically, the North of Sudan has had closer ties with Egypt and is predominantly Arab and Muslim while the South is predominantly black, with a mixture of Christianity and Animism.Muslim Christianity Animism.  Sudan, the 10th largest country by area in the world, has known little peace. Historically, the North of Sudan has had closer ties with Egypt and is predominantly Arab and Muslim while the South is predominantly black, with a mixture of Christianity and Animism.Muslim Christianity Animism.

Sudan: A Land of Civil Wars  Sudan's independent history has been dominated by chronic, exceptionally cruel warfare that has divided the country on racial, religious, and regional grounds; displaced an estimated four million people (of a total population of thirty-two million); and killed at least two million people. It has damaged Sudan's economy and led to food shortages, resulting in starvation and malnutrition.

Northern Sudan: A Home to Muslin Jihadists & Terrorists  Sudan was once under British rule. With independence, though, came Civil Wars. South Sudan has always wanted to be free of Northern Sudan due to religious and racial differences. North Sudan is Muslin and Arab and Southern Sudan is black and Christian. Jihadists in the North continue to encourage war and these fanatics continue to rape, torture, main and kill those living in Darfur and other parts of Sudan despite peace agreements.

The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan  For 21 long years, the Civil War lasted in Sudan, ending by a peace agreement in During this time millions died, not only by fighting, but more by being displaced…losing their homes and their villages. Those who escaped the soldiers often died of the Black Death, malnutrition, malaria and starvation.

Who Are the Lost Boys of Sudan?  Actually, the Lost Boys of Sudan is an organization started to try to find homes for the 1000’s of boys in Sudan who were orphaned. These boys who escaped the fighting had to run for their lives and try to make it to a safe haven.

The Boys Alone  Why just boys? Girls in the villages were either killed, raped, or taken as slaves for the Arabs in the North. The boys escaped because they were either out tending herds when their villages were bombed or slaughtered by soldiers or they were near the rain forest and could escape there. So boys of all ages started a journey toward finding sanctuary in Ethiopia.

The Journey Lasted for Years  It was no small journey of days or weeks…in many cases it took years. Thousands died trying to find asylum. They died of thirst, of hunger, of eating mud to get the water out of it. They died crossing rivers they could not swim. 100’s were eaten by crocodiles. Some just sat down and died of weariness.

And After Ethiopia it was Kenya  Those who reached Ethiopia found refugee camps. But as the war progressed, Ethiopia closed their camps and again they were forced to seek safety ….this time in Kenya….a journey of 1000 miles across harsh land,wide rivers, and wild animals. Again 1000s died… thousands of boys from five to18.

And For Some the Last Journey From the Camps Was to the United States  By 2001, the world was finally paying attention. The Lost Boys of Sudan organization was formed and 3,800 boys were brought to 100 cities in the US. Media attention was huge. Their stories were told and the United Nations began acting more responsibly. Pictured here are four of the “boys” in their apartment in Fargo, ND.

The “Lost Boys” in the US  These boys now look like typical Americans. But it has been very, very difficult for them. Those psychiatrists who treat children like these have said they are the most traumatized war children they have ever seen. But why not? Their families slaughtered, the sights they saw on their journey, the torture of the journey itself is worse than we can even imagine. One is pictured here being interviewed before coming here.

The Lost Boys in the US  The goal in bringing the boys was to provide them with education and the chance of a good life. But it has been very hard on them. They had to learn the language, the customs, and a whole new and very different world--- all the while feeling both glad to be here, guilty about other boys not so fortunate, and missing home.

Some of the Lost Boys Decide to Return home to the Sudan  Salva Dut, attended college to study so that he could return home and teach villagers how to drill wells and provide them with water. A boy who nearly died of thirst and exhaustion wanted to ensure that others have a chance at a better life.

And He Kept His Promise  This is Salva Dut today. With courage, resiliency and great determination he became the founder of the Water for Sudan project. Here he poses beside a hand pump well he installed in Akok village in Tonj, Sudan in May, 2005.

And There Are Others, Too, Who Will Go Home  Meet Wol Bol Wol, studying medicine at Huntsville College in Alabama who plans to return home and serve the people in the camps and in Sudan.

And There Are Those Who Love Their New Home  Becoming an American citizen at a ceremony in Houston, here is shown one of the Lost Boys who has found peace and safety at last in America.

But It Is Not Over Yet  Sadly, after the peace agreement was signed in 2005, militant muslins decided to practice more genocide and in the provide of Darfur continue to slaughter and kill.Over 200,000 more have died and the refugee camps are today overflowing.

The Refugee Camps Are Full of People Who Make It There Near Death  It is the hardest on the children. The journey to the camps are long. Death is common there. Over 80 children die a day. Although more support is being given, it is not enough.For years the world has watched and let this happen…and it continues to do the same. For blacks and Christians in Sudan, there is little real hope in the near future.

Sudan is Still A Land Where Those In Power Do Not Value Human Rights or Life  Although Northern Sudan’s economy is good and life there looks as it would anywhere, the Muslin extremists do not want the Southern region to form their own country…which has been promised by The world continues to wait and watch. The world needs to look at these camps--- like the picture here where a daughter sits next to the body of her mother who just died of malnutrition.

“The Lost Boys of Sudan” Will Never Be Free Until Their Country is Free  What an amazing story of survival. Boys who walked more than a 1000 miles to survive. Boys who spent years trying to survive. It’s hard to imagine that kind of determination to live. At least we have helped save a few and given them the promise of hope and a better life.

What This Unit Is About For the next two weeks, you will be reading different articles about the Lost Boys of Sudan and others who have learned to survive. During this time, you will be learning new strategies to help you read more fluently and to help you better understand what you read. You will have multiple opportunities to work with others and to share what you have read. At the end of the unit you will be asked to use what you have read and write your new understanding of the will to survive.