by Niharika Rudra
Jacob scanned the crowd feeling both anxious and excited. There was a smile on every face – a smile of joy, pride and relief. It was the kind of smile that often melts into tears. Today was a day to celebrate. It was graduation day! The dean walked up to the podium and cleared his throat into the mike. Everyone hurriedly shuffled into the seats. After a brief welcome speech, he started to read out the names. One by one, the boys walked up to the stage to collect their degrees.
As Jacob sat waiting for his turn, his thoughts wandered back to his parents and what they would have said if they could see him now. He was only four years old when his parents were killed, but he remembered them vividly, as if it was only yesterday. He reflected back on the past fourteen years of his life - so much had happened and so much had changed. He shuddered involuntarily as he thought of the cold nights, when he huddled for cover, unsure whether he would live to see another day. He remembered the heat from the scorching sun, when he walked barefoot for weeks begging for food and water.
Jacob Ding Deng was a Lost Boy who nobody wanted – an orphan who had lost his parents in the Sudanese civil war. He was the lone survivor of his family of five. Escaping from his hometown, which was straddled by civil war, Jacob set off in search of a safe place to live. The journey was not easy, he had no money or belongings, not even a pair of shoes. He had no idea where he was going or how he would avoid the rebels that were quickly taking over the country. How would he survive? Even if he did survive, what future would a poor orphan like him have in a war-stricken country like Sudan?
Sudan, a country in Eastern Africa, was in the midst of a gruesome civil war. The conflict started in 1983, between the central Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, and lasted for 18 years. Roughly two million people died as a result of war, famine and disease caused by the conflict. 1 Four million people in southern Sudan were displaced at least once (and often repeatedly) during the war. Finding shelter in refugee camps, and often banished even from refugee camps. The war disrupted farming and agriculture, from which the Sudanese people derived their income, and restricted foreign aid from getting into the country.2
Jacob walked on foot for what seemed like years. Everyday he would wake up at dawn and walk all day under the blistering sun and in the night he would hide and sleep fitfully in fear of being attacked. He would wake up tired to face another day of walking. He had overheard someone talking about Ethiopia, but there was no way of knowing where he was going and if he would actually reach there. “I left my home country on November 17, 1987. Because of war, I traveled to Ethiopia on foot, searching for better life, better school, and ran away from the war.” 3
His life in Ethiopia was not what he had expected. His school consisted of a hot and dusty tin shelter with hardly any facilities. The children would run their fingers through the mud to practice writing letters. There were so many children wanting to learn it was almost impossible to understand what was being taught. He said, “I remember the time I started going to school in the camp (Ethiopia) 1988 until 1991, the first time I went to school. We sat on the ground outside under the big trees, we called it, "a school or a class…" but there were no buildings, no blackboards, no chalks, and no pens or pencils, as well not enough books. We had one or two books that we all shared.”
Despite the abysmal surroundings this was the only place Jacob could call home for three years, before he and other refugees were thrown out of Ethiopia. Once again Jacob made a difficult journey on foot to the Kakuma refugee camp. “Because of war, we also walked across the Sahara desert to Kenya. This journey took three months by foot. On July 27, 1992, we arrived in Kenya (Refugees camp), and stayed there for nine years.”
At that time Kakuma was one of the largest refugee camps in the world. Most had travelled hundreds of miles in the heat to reach this destination. Many among them were ’Lost Boys’, orphans who had lost their parents. They arrived exhausted, most of them with little or no belongings with them. They arrived, hoping for a better life in Kakuma.
Life was very hard in Kakuma. Jacob recalled, “No place to call home, people called me ‘A Lost Boy’ meaning a child with no parents. I live on my own in hardship, using only my tears. No father, no mother. I had never known the benefits of having parents. No place to call home, people called me ‘A Refugee’ meaning someone who left his own country because of war. I am a refugee.4”
As Jacob opened his eyes wearily, he was once again disappointed as he saw what was around him. This was not his home; he had no home. He stepped out quietly, careful not to disturb the people he lived with. This was not his family; he had no family. He walked out onto the dusty ground, picked up a bucket and went to collect water. The hot breeze stung his face. He coughed and spat up some blood. He was getting sicker and sicker yet nobody cared. This was his life, he had no life!
The Sudanese civil war had been going on for over a decade, and the international community was up in arms that innocent lives were being lost every day. With the help of the United Nations, a few organizations brought in food and medicines and countries sent financial aid to help the Sudanese. One such organization was “The Lost Boys of Sudan in Chicago” that moved children in the refugee camps to foster families in the US and provided for their education. 5
One day a representative from the U.N came and told Jacob that he was getting the chance to leave the camp. Jacob expected the worst, and resisted, saying that he would not go. The UN representative explained that a US sponsor had agreed to help him, along with twelve other refugee boys, by taking them to the US for studies. Jacob’s life changed overnight.
The US has given Sudan 1.2 billion dollars of aid to help the victims of the dreadful civil war.6 They helped set up refugee camps and donated a lot of food and supplies. They also helped by welcoming these refugees into their country. Jacob Ding Deng was able to graduate from university because of the aid that he got from organizations that provided assistance to victims of the Sudanese civil war. Jacob went on to major in business management in a university in the US.
Four years on, he was here today, minutes away from his graduation. Jacob was not just a survivor, he was a winner.
He said, “I was happy, extremely happy. The day that I graduated from college was like the memory of every single day I had in my daily life. I was deeply thinking. That day reminded me about the past, the present and the future of my life. All the difficulties and suffering that I have been faced in my life, such as the day that I left my own country and how long I missed my parents.” 7
Jacob was not the only boy in this situation. Ayuel Awuol had grown up struggling to get an education for himself and his siblings. He was the oldest and had the responsibility of looking after his siblings. Their parents were long gone. They had to run from the village when the war struck, walking for hours and hours each day trying to reach some place to rest. Barely being able to find enough food for one person, Ayuel had to share all he had with his siblings in order to keep them alive.
There were so many obstacles in Ayuel’s life, and he was lucky to have been able to get through everything and get an education in the U.S. thanks to the “Lost Boys of Sudan in Chicago”. He said proudly, “I’m now pursuing my study at Northeastern Illinois University for a Bachelor Degree. Let us not be here just to make a living, let us be here to make a difference. Always strive for constant and never-ending improvement in everything you do. Create a dream team of like-minded colleagues who will help you make your hopes come true.”
Even though the Sudanese were receiving a lot of aid, they were not completely dependent on the money that they got from other countries. The Sudanese living abroad also sent money back. Many of the people who received aid used the money to improve their lives themselves. After his degree Ayuel got a job in the US. Now Ayuel can send money back to Sudan to help his siblings as well.8
Ayuel mentioned, “I’m so glad that I came to a place full with lots of opportunities where I received the Degree I had been struggling for so many years, and the Civil War did not allow me to complete it. This is just the beginning of my career. When I look back and sees many obstacles that had complicated my life, I can only be thankful to Almighty God who make all things possible even the impossible ones.”
Aid made a big difference to the lives of these Lost Boys. The Sudanese who had almost nothing now are being able to find jobs and earn a living in the US, a place many of them barely knew before they got this opportunity. From walking everyday under the scorching heat uncertain of their future, they are now able to lead a life of opportunity and be in charge of their own lives
1. CORBETT, SARA. "The Long Road From Sudan to America - NYTimes.com." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. NewYorkTimes, 1 Apr. 2001. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/
2. Helfrich,
Chris. "United Nations Foundation -Hope and Resilience in Kakuma."
United Nations Foundation. N.p., 11 May 2012. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. <http://www.unfoundation.org/
3."Lost Boys Of Sudan." Lost Boys Of Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2013. <http://www.lostboyschicago.
4."Lost Boys Of Sudan." Lost Boys Of Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2013. <http://www.lostboyschicago.
5. "Sudan." Global Humanitarian Assistance. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. <http://www.
6. "Sudan." Global Humanitarian Assistance. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. <http://www.
7. "Lost Boys Of Sudan." Lost Boys Of Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2013. <http://www.lostboyschicago.
8. Tamara. "African Asylum." : June 2012. N.p., 02 June 2012. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. <http://africanasylum.
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