Lost Girls

The lost boys of Sudan got to start a new life in America away from the dangers of Sudan whereas the lost girls were left behind in Sudan to face their unknown futures.

By India Bruin

Achol Kuol sits for a minute staring at her good work. The floor is as clean as can be. She hopes her mistress will approve. Achol waits for a minute to see if she can hear her mistress. Thankfully she hears nothing and takes the time to rest before her mistress gives her another job. She looks around the house, although she knows it inside out from cleaning it she looks at it, and imagines what it would be like to own a house as beautiful as this. She imagines how different her life would’ve be if the Sudanese war had not happened or if she had been on the list to go to America. But she did not get chosen and, she was left behind, to serve a family who can’t clean their own house or cook. BANG!! Her dreams are interrupted bringing her back to reality. The noise was caused by her mistress dropping a pot on the ground, trying to get her attention, to tell her to get back to work. But that noise reminded her of something, something that happened when she was just a little child.

Achol Kuol heard the sound of guns the outside her hut. One after the other, bullet after bullet. She ran to the window to see what was happening. People were running in all directions trying to escape their uncertain fate. People were shooting each other, killing each other. Her mother reached for her, took her away from the window and pulled her close. Bending down to face her, a tear rolled down her cheek as she said softly to her daughter. “We have to leave this place if we want to live. We will travel somewhere safe, away from all of the killing, but you have to be brave and never stop walking and never give up.” Her mother pulled her close in for a hug and she could feel the heat of her mothers’ breath on her neck. She forced a smile and kissed her on the head. She was trying to be brave for her daughter. Her mother gathered her four brothers and a few supplies and they left. Trying to escape the sound of bullets.

Achol Kuol was seven when she had to leave her village because of the war that had broken out between the rebels and the government. This was the beginning of the Sudanese civil war. A war that left many dead, but some survived and have had to live with the traumatic events that had happened to them during the war. Many children stared death in the face or watched other children be killed. Children watched as others got eaten by lions, watch their friends die of sickness, disease or hunger.

Achol Kuol ended up walking for many years, first she walked to Ethiopia, back to Sudan and then to South Kenya. She has survived a horrible attempt of kidnap. At age 17 Achol was in a refugee camp when three Sudanese men tried to abduct her, but luckily social workers and other refugees saw what was happening and chased the attackers away. Achol was certain that if her attackers had achieved abducting her, they would have taken her back to Sudan, where they would have forced her into a marriage. In Sudanese culture, girls were encouraged to marry early. In their culture girls were considered of marriageable age as they get their period. In some villages and Sudanese cultures, they held celebrations to let the community know that the girls were ready to be married. Girls who were not mentally or emotionally ready to get married would try to hide their periods for as long as possible, so they don’t have to get married.

Today Achol works as an unpaid servant who cooks, cleans and collects firewood, as many of the surviving lost girls do.

So why did only 89 girls out of 3,700 refugees get sent to America??

The fact that the girls were almost invisible was due to their culture. People in charge of refugee camps tried to give unaccompanied girls into any foster family. Boys were put into group settings, leaving the girls to go back to what they always do with their new foster families, doing chores and housework(traditional female roles). They were often unable to go the camp schools or kids activities as a result of the work they had to attend to.The foster family in which the girls had been placed was supposed to nurture, be kind to and protect them. Instead they didn’t treat them right and, so they took advantage of them, the girls ended up being domestic servants to their foster families or even worse.

Many at that time of poverty used the girls, at a certain age they would sell the girls off to a man and they would get all the riches (dowery). In 1999 the US resettlement project was created and there were qualifications that had to met, such as that the people that they would take to America had to be considered orphans, and since they girls had been living with the family they had been placed with for more than 5 years. They were not considered orphans. They could not go to America to start over. This is why so many boys got the chance to go to America. Many of the lost girls were put into foster families and left to an very uncertain fate, overlooked and forgotten by the outside world. Aduel lived with her foster family but she knew they only wanted to use her, to sell her off to a man so they would get her dowry, "The problem is that my foster-parents could find a rich man, and then they will marry me off. Even if I don't want to go, they will insist."

Most of the boys escaped the attacks because according to Sudanese culture the girls had to cook and clean. Most of the girls had either been in the village cooking and cleaning their home when the war came so they could have been in the houses while it was being burnt to the ground, or kidnapped and sent to be slaves. So even to begin with, not many girls survived, but the ones that did had a hard time.

A refugee camp was not a safe place for young, orphaned girls. Sexual abuse, forced marriages and beatings were what mainly occurred. Aluel was one of these victims. She recalls how she used to live with an elderly guardian when she first arrived in Kakuma Refugee Camp. One night a man crept into her hut and raped her. Today Aluel, and her daughter Monday, live as outcasts because she and her daughter have not been accepted by their Sudanese community. Aduel lives in fear, for she does not want history to repeat itself.

Grace Anyiek walks back from the water stand pipe. She balances the big, heavy can of water on her head. She feels the weight pushing her down, the water moving rapidly inside the can. For every step she takes, the water moves with her. She tries not to spill any, she wants to return back with the most amount of water possible, water is precious. She has a long walk back to town. With the blazing hot sun shining on her face she struggles to keep her eyes open. Grace has not shoes and walks barefoot everywhere. She feels the gravel underneath her feet, piercing her skin as walks along the long dusty road. She must hurry, as soon her guardian will have to leave and she will have to look after the children. Her bright yellow and red shirt flows in the wind. The wind breathes fresh cold air, making the heat bearable. As she walks, the same thought wanders in her mind. Why didn’t she get chosen to go to America, to get a free education? Why not her? She asks herself everyday, but never seems to find an answer that satisfies her. She drops the thought and keeps walking, trying not to bring up the past, as it is too painful.

Grace is one of the surviving lost girls that was left behind. Today she is an unpaid servant, she cooks, cleans, washes, fetches water and looks after her guardian's children. "Why not the girls?" Grace asks, "I would have liked the chance to go abroad. You can be free there. Free to work, free to study.Women are being dominated. Not just in Sudan, but in all of Africa. Maybe people don't think we did much, because they see us as followers of the 'Lost Boys'. But the fact remains ladies were there."

Bibliography:

"Countries and Their Cultures." Dinka. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2013. <http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Dinka.html>.


Matheson, Ishbel. "The 'Lost Girls' of Sudan." BBC News. BBC, 06 July 2002. Web. 16 Mar. 2013. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2031286.stm>.


"Women Refugees: The Lost Girls of Sudan." IVillage UK. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2013. <http://www.ivillage.co.uk/women-refugees-the-lost-girls-sudan/80016>.


McKelvey3, Tara. "3,700 Young Sudanese Refugees Made It to America. Why Are Only 89 of Them Female?" Slate Magazine. N.p., 3 Oct. 2003. Web. 16 Mar. 2013. <http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2003/10/where_are_the_lost_girls.html>.


"The Chronicles of Travelling Womanists." The Chronicles of Travelling Womanists. N.p., 5 Oct. 2010. Web. 16 Mar. 2013. <http://travellingwomanists.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/where-are-the-lost-girls-of-sudan/>.


"The Lost Girls of Sudan Try to Tell Their Story - 2004-08-31." VOA. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. <http://www.voanews.com/content/a-13-a-2004-08-31-29-1-66893542/262006.html>.


Reisman, Suzanne. "The Lost Girls of Sudan." BlogHer Editors. N.p., 24 Nov. 2009. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. <http://www.blogher.com/lost-girls-sudan?page=0,0>. "UNHCR - Women: Seeking a Better Deal." UNHCR News. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2013.