by Vaidehi Ramanarayanan
Tara Newell sits in the plush airplane seat and leans over to look out the window at the vast endless sea of clouds below. She sits back in her chair, settles into it comfortably and closes her eyes. The cool air conditioned air felt good against her skin, unlike the dry and sultry heat of Kakuma. It’s been a few hours, but she still remembers it.
Kakuma refugee camp, initiated in 1992, is a camp in the northwestern part of Kenya. It holds close to 100,000 refugees from Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda, Congo, and other countries. Most of these refugees fled from their country to escape war. The majority of refugees in Kakuma are from Sudan. Many of these people fled the civil war in their country, and made the long journey to the camp on foot. The civil war in Sudan began in the 1980’s and caused 2 million deaths due to war, famine and disease. More than 4 million people were displaced from southern Sudan, sometimes more than once. Many of these people found their way into refugee camps in and around Sudan. Kakuma is one the biggest refugee camps in the area.
Although Kakuma offers many refugees a chance to live again, they would argue that life is hardly easy. Most only stay there because they have no choice. Surely nobody would want to live in a place like that. Imagine leaving your country with the war following you on your heels. Your priority is surviving, finding food and water and staying safe. They make their way to a refugee camp hoping to receive shelter, safety and basic necessities, because they are desperate.They probably do not know that what they are getting into won’t make things much better for them.
Ms. Newell remembers seeing young children in the camp who were probably born there and never had life outside of it. And there were some adults who had stayed in the camp for so long, they had forgotten what it was like before they entered the place. She remembers seeing people in despair, not wanting to live their life in Kakuma, but not being able to get out either for refugees were not allowed to leave the camp. They have to obtain a special pass from the UN before getting out. Unless of course you were lucky enough to be sent overseas to restart your life. Unfortunately, only some get this opportunity, and majority of the refugees never leave the camp. A lot of them even die in the camps. Child mortality rates are extremely high, and disease and food and water shortages are major problem. In fact the UN agencies are blaming problems in food and water as the main cause of the spread of life-threatening diseases.
Malaria is the number one cause of death and illness among all refugees in Africa. This is caused by the polluted water, and breeding of a huge number mosquitoes in the area. Water borne diseases are also very common due to polluted water tanks. It causes cholera, dysentery, etc. The water quantities sometimes decreases, causing many people to be dehydrated. The standard amount of water refugees are allowed in a day is 20 litres, but sometimes they receive even lesser than this. Food is meagre, and people are given just about the amount of food that is necessary to stay alive. That doesn’t, of course rule the chances of malnutrition, because the standard diet doesn’t have a huge variety. The not-so-great medical care is meant to be able to treat the most common diseases, but the horrific living conditions are even causing people to die of preventable diseases.
Ms. Newell sits in the safe airplane, and her eyes tear up as she thinks about some of the terrible things she witnessed at the camp’s medical centre. She had walked in the hospital expecting a few people with serious illnesses, but had walked out of the building an hour later shocked and taken aback. The number of children and adults there was astounding, and the state that some of them were in was terrible. She couldn’t even bear to greet some of them because she knew they would be too weak to talkback. Of course she couldn’t visit the most sick ones, and she was glad for that because if what she had already seen was not the worst then she didn’t want to see anymore.
She had sat down with a few of them and those who could speak english told her some fascinating stories. The young men were all hoping to resettle in the US, but they knew all their chances were gone now that they had fallen sick. Ms. Newell had also visited some children, and although they couldn’t communicate well with each other, she felt so pitiful for them. Living in the camp is like a hostage life for many. Even at such terrible conditions, they were forced to stay inside the camp. Ms. Newell knew of some people who did get to go to bigger hospitals in the worst cases, but it rarely happened. She wanted to do something for these kids, wanted to somehow make things better. But after all that’s what she was there for, in a way. Once she got back home she would try her very best to get the word out to the public everywhere, to spread awareness about what was happening in places like this, and hopefully things will change.
Refugees aren’t always happy. Even if they feel like they are living an okay life, they don’t have much hope for their future. Generally, possessions are left at home, and most refugees come almost empty handed into the camp. They are too worried about their safety that they are simply hanging onto their lives while getting away. Once they get to the camp, they are given shelter and food and water, but of course they are not content. They just had to leave their entire lives behind. These refugees might be glad for the little they are getting in the refugee camp, but the they would much rather be in a state where this service wasn’t necessary. Most refugees hate having to be so dependent on the camp. The situation in a refugee camp might be slightly better than in some other places, but any refugee would say that all they want is to go back to their home and have a peaceful life. They all wish they never had to leave in the first place.
Most children in refugee camps have the opportunity to get primary and secondary education. This gives some hope for the people. Being literate and being able to speak english and having basic knowledge boosts confidence in the young kids. It makes them feel like they might have a chance in the real world. However once they grow older, they realize they actually don’t because refugees aren’t allowed to seek education or any work outside of the camp. Unless they get resettled somewhere they will never be able to get into the ‘real world’, no matter how much potential they may have, no matter how well they could do in university. Some get jobs in the camp for example, as a camp coordinator, but it doesn’t feel like a real thing. Many dream of getting a tertiary education, and getting a job in an actual city or town. But for most, it still remains nothing but a fantasy.
It isn’t a safe place to live in either. The refugees are in a very vulnerable state, both physically and mentally. Violence breaks out among the refugees often, even because of minor conflicts. Rape is also common. HIV is spreading in the camps in and around Kenya as well. It is definitely a place where people can get seriously traumatised, by 1) their past experiences with the war in their country or 2) the terrible condition they're currently in or 3) how hopeless their the rest of their life looks. One of the problems refugees face in the camp is loneliness. A lot of them lose one or more family members in the war, and some are all alone. Surrounded by thousands of other people, people who have families and people who have the people they care about with them, can be painful for the lonely. Losing a family is very hard, and while the pain is forgotten in the midst of war, as soon as they regain some stability in life, like getting into a refugee camp, the distress and misery will torment them.
One thing that really surprised Ms. Newell, was that when she talked to some of the adults in the camp, the ones who had been there for a long time, they all feel guilty. They feel bad that they were able to live in some sort of stable format, while they knew that people were still suffering in their country. They think that it is not right of them to live like that. They always have that feeling of sadness in them, because whether they are happy or not, someone of their own race is having it much worse. Ms. Newell was really astounded by the way these people thought about it.
The pilot makes an announcement over the intercom. The plane would be landing in about an hour. Ms. Newell looks forward to getting back to her home. She had learnt so much from this trip, met so many amazing new people, and was so glad that she had the opportunity to make a difference for these people, but there was absolutely no place like home, she thought. And if there was just one thing that she had learnt in the past week, it was that a refugee has no home, and it is all they ever want and all they ever wish for.
Bibliography
"Life in African Refugee Camps." United Nations Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2013. <http://www.unfoundation.org/news-and-media/multimedia/videocasts/life-in-african-refugee-camps.html>.
"Alien '93." Alien '93. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2013. <http://eycb.coe.int/alien/04.html>.
News, CBC. "CBC News In Depth: Anatomy of a Refugee Camp." CBC news. CBC/Radio Canada, 19 June 2007. Web. 16 Apr. 2013. <http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/refugeecamp/>.
Staff, CNN, and David McKenzie. "Red Cross: Grenade Blast at Kenya Refugee Camp Kills 2." CNN. Cable News Network, 05 Jan. 2013. Web. 16 Apr. 2013. <http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/05/world/africa/kenya-dadaab-blast>.
"Refugee Camps Worldwide." Refugee Camps Worldwide. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2013. <http://millionsoulsaware.org/>.
"Kakuma News Reflector – A Refugee Free Press." Kakuma News Reflector A Refugee Free Press. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://kanere.org/about-kakuma-refugee-camp/>.
"AllAfrica." AllAfrica.com: South Sudan: The Toughest Refugee Camp in the World (Page 1 of 2). N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. <http://allafrica.com/stories/201211200621.html>.
"Series 2." How Safe Are Refugee Camps? N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://www.sbs.com.au/goback/about/factsheets/6/how-safe-are-refugee-camps>.
"222,770." UNHCR Refugees in South Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. <http://data.unhcr.org/SouthSudan/country.php?id=251>.
"Refugee Camps Are a Breeding Ground for Disease." VOA. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. <http://learningenglish.voanews.com/content/refugee-camps-are-a-breeding-ground-for-disease/1514910.html>.
"Kakuma Camp in Kenya Surpasses Its 100,000 Capacity." UNHCR News. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://www.unhcr.org/501fdb419.html>.
"Sudanese Refugee Camp Horrific, Says MSF." BBC News. BBC, 07 June 2012. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18739030>.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Hot Cold
by Bethany Burns
“Hot. Cold. On. Off. Do you understand?” Yusuf asked William and his younger brother, Simon as they looked on in amazement. In his hand he held something he called a shower, which water had been trickling out of just a few seconds ago. Simon looked at his older brother panicked, a look that was familiar to William, as he quickly asked Yusuf if he wanted to take a break. Seeing they were overwhelmed, Yusuf sat them down and asked them to explain their life story to him.
“It all started with the Sudanese Civil War.” Simon said, the memories already causing him to tear up. “We became orphans, forced to walk thousands of miles in life threatening situations with hundreds of other Lost Boys.”
“Wait,” Yusuf interrupted, “Who are the Lost Boys?”
“The Lost Boys,” William explained, “are the thousands of boys who were orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War, the one that affect both Simon and I.”
From 1983 to 2005 the Second Sudanese Civil War had a death toll higher than any other since World War II, but what happened to the people who lived. Whose homes were ruined, families murdered? The majority of the Lost Boys were made up of these people, most of whom were only six or seven years old. Mainly from the Dinka or Nuer tribes, the boys spent years of their lives in refugee camps before some of them were allowed to resettle in the United States. There were originally 30,000 boys wandering in Sudan during the Civil War, but only 11,000 of them survived. “Thousands of the Lost Boys who were originally on the journey were either killed by soldiers who were chasing them, drowning, starvation or they were eaten by wild animals.”
“So what exactly was the Second Sudanese Civil War? How did it affect you two?” Yusuf asked, slightly confused.
“It was a 22 year civil war that cost around two million lives and has ruined the lives of millions more, including mine and Simon’s.” William said, shuddering simply at the thought of how many lives had been destroyed.
The Sudan’s People Liberation Army is the army of South Sudan. During the Second Civil War, the SPLA was led by John Garang, a Sudanese Politician and leader. It was a protagonist in the war, that was a conflict between the central Sudanese government and the SPLA. One of the main ways the SPLA fought the war was using children as soldiers. There were thousands of underage soldiers used in the war and many more who have been held in boys’ camps to be trained for the military.
“What happened with the Lost Boys and all the others who survived?” Yusuf asked uncertainly, as if he wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear the answer. Kakuma. How do you explain someplace you know saved your life but also took your life away from you?
“We were in a refugee camp,” Simon replied, his voice shaking a bit, “called Kakuma. It was..well it was very different to America. We’re obviously both very grateful to come here but adapting has been extremely hard so far.”
Since 1992 Kakuma in Northwest Kenya has served over 70,000 refugees from Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia, all of whom have experienced the challenges of Kakuma including frequent Dust storms as well as malnutrition, malaria and communicable disease outbreaks. In July 2012 Kakuma surpassed its limit of 100,000 people, all living with very basic facilities and supplies. Combine that with the 40 degrees Celsius weather and the living conditions which were cramped and far from comfortable. “The Kakuma Refugee Camp has no less than eight international aid organizations operating within its fences, with the United Nations providing subsistence-level food rations for the 65,000 refugees from seven African nations currently living there.”
Silence descended upon the room. Simon and William both reflecting on the events that had lead up to this moment, Yusuf, their sponsor thinking about what they had told him so far. The atmosphere in the room was suddenly very intense so William decided to get up and explore the apartment. He walked slowly over to the window. As far as anyone could see everything was covered in snow, the cars, the ground, even some of the people. Before they came to the US they had no idea what snow was. Simon and William had had no experience with snow, the closest was an ice cube in cultural orientation. Everything was so dissimilar to Kakuma, so intimidating.
“How did the two of you get to America from Kakuma?” Yusuf asked, hoping that his question would bring back happier memories.
“In 2001 the US government decided to let 3800 Lost Boys resettle in America and we were selected as two of them, we were very lucky. “ Simon explained, starting to smile a bit more thinking about when he saw his and William’s name on the list. “Many of the Lost Boys weren’t as lucky as us. Imagine going through this horrific journey with someone, surviving it all with them and the only thing that has the power to separate you is a piece of paper, showing who’s been chosen to go and live in the US.” William said thoughtfully.
“Have either of you been separated from loved ones?” Yusuf asked, again slightly scared of the answer. “No,” William stated, “again we were lucky. We’ve done everything together all our lives, and the resettlement agency understood this. Adapting to this new life has been slightly easier for us than many others because we still have each other.” Yusuf looked at both of the brothers, clearly debating whether or not to say anything. After a slight pause, he looked at Simon and asked “What have you been doing in America so far?”
“Many of the Lost Boys have faced many challenges upon coming to the US. The majority of them didn’t know what electricity was, what an apartment was, how they would get water without going to a river with a container. In Kakuma there was a compulsory cultural orientation class that the Lost Boys had to attend before going to America. They were taught that houses had more than one room, that men only had one wife, that it would be freezing in winter. When going out, there would always be a new experience, normally one that would scare one of the Lost Boys.
“In Boston, I watched one new arrival scream and run in fear at the sight of an escalator.”
“Today was my first day in Pharmacy School,” Simon said proudly, “I started going to Hampton University so I can help other people and save lives.” William looked at Yusuf, slightly embarrassed and said, “When we came to America we had no documents with us so the resettlement agency had to guess our age. They think I am too old to go to university so I have to try and find a job.” There was a short silence in the room before Yusef said to Simon and William, “Do you want me to show you around the neighborhood?” The two brothers looked at each other uncertainly, not sure if Yusuf felt obligated to help them or not. “Are you sure?” Simon asked, looking at Yusuf, “You don’t have to.”
“This is the refugee way - not knowing the limits of our hosts’ generosity..... I am tired of needing help. I need help in Atlanta, I needed help in Ethiopia and Kakuma, and I am tired of it. I am tired of watching families, visiting families, being at once part and not part of these families.” Valentino Achak Deng, What is that What
There were thousands of Lost Boys walking miles in Sudan in the late 20th and early 21st century. The lucky ones eventually resettled in America but while going from living in a refugee camp to creating a new life in such a developed continent isn’t easy at all, the Lost Boys should finally get the freedom they deserve after everything they’ve been through.
Bibliography:
"Here’s the Story…." Outreach Africa Inc RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. Apr. 2013. <http://www.lostboysus.org/>.
"Alliance for the Lost Boys of Sudan." ALLIANCE FOR THE LOST BOYS OF SUDAN - Alliance for the Lost Boys of Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. Apr. 2013. <http://www.allianceforthelostboys.com/>.
Sarah, Corbett. n.d., n. pag. <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/01/magazine/01SUDAN.html?pagewanted=all>.
Goffe, Leslie. "Sudan's 'lost Boys' in America." BBC News. BBC, 31 Aug. 2004. Web. 2013. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3602724.stm>.
"When Sudanese Refugees Come To America." PBH2. N.p., n.d. Web. 2013. <http://www.pbh2.com/astounding/around-the-world/when-sudanese-refugees-come-america/>.
Individuals from Sudan Are Brought to the USA. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYCA6g9bNg0>.
“Hot. Cold. On. Off. Do you understand?” Yusuf asked William and his younger brother, Simon as they looked on in amazement. In his hand he held something he called a shower, which water had been trickling out of just a few seconds ago. Simon looked at his older brother panicked, a look that was familiar to William, as he quickly asked Yusuf if he wanted to take a break. Seeing they were overwhelmed, Yusuf sat them down and asked them to explain their life story to him.
“It all started with the Sudanese Civil War.” Simon said, the memories already causing him to tear up. “We became orphans, forced to walk thousands of miles in life threatening situations with hundreds of other Lost Boys.”
“Wait,” Yusuf interrupted, “Who are the Lost Boys?”
“The Lost Boys,” William explained, “are the thousands of boys who were orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War, the one that affect both Simon and I.”
From 1983 to 2005 the Second Sudanese Civil War had a death toll higher than any other since World War II, but what happened to the people who lived. Whose homes were ruined, families murdered? The majority of the Lost Boys were made up of these people, most of whom were only six or seven years old. Mainly from the Dinka or Nuer tribes, the boys spent years of their lives in refugee camps before some of them were allowed to resettle in the United States. There were originally 30,000 boys wandering in Sudan during the Civil War, but only 11,000 of them survived. “Thousands of the Lost Boys who were originally on the journey were either killed by soldiers who were chasing them, drowning, starvation or they were eaten by wild animals.”
“So what exactly was the Second Sudanese Civil War? How did it affect you two?” Yusuf asked, slightly confused.
“It was a 22 year civil war that cost around two million lives and has ruined the lives of millions more, including mine and Simon’s.” William said, shuddering simply at the thought of how many lives had been destroyed.
The Sudan’s People Liberation Army is the army of South Sudan. During the Second Civil War, the SPLA was led by John Garang, a Sudanese Politician and leader. It was a protagonist in the war, that was a conflict between the central Sudanese government and the SPLA. One of the main ways the SPLA fought the war was using children as soldiers. There were thousands of underage soldiers used in the war and many more who have been held in boys’ camps to be trained for the military.
“What happened with the Lost Boys and all the others who survived?” Yusuf asked uncertainly, as if he wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear the answer. Kakuma. How do you explain someplace you know saved your life but also took your life away from you?
“We were in a refugee camp,” Simon replied, his voice shaking a bit, “called Kakuma. It was..well it was very different to America. We’re obviously both very grateful to come here but adapting has been extremely hard so far.”
Since 1992 Kakuma in Northwest Kenya has served over 70,000 refugees from Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia, all of whom have experienced the challenges of Kakuma including frequent Dust storms as well as malnutrition, malaria and communicable disease outbreaks. In July 2012 Kakuma surpassed its limit of 100,000 people, all living with very basic facilities and supplies. Combine that with the 40 degrees Celsius weather and the living conditions which were cramped and far from comfortable. “The Kakuma Refugee Camp has no less than eight international aid organizations operating within its fences, with the United Nations providing subsistence-level food rations for the 65,000 refugees from seven African nations currently living there.”
Silence descended upon the room. Simon and William both reflecting on the events that had lead up to this moment, Yusuf, their sponsor thinking about what they had told him so far. The atmosphere in the room was suddenly very intense so William decided to get up and explore the apartment. He walked slowly over to the window. As far as anyone could see everything was covered in snow, the cars, the ground, even some of the people. Before they came to the US they had no idea what snow was. Simon and William had had no experience with snow, the closest was an ice cube in cultural orientation. Everything was so dissimilar to Kakuma, so intimidating.
“How did the two of you get to America from Kakuma?” Yusuf asked, hoping that his question would bring back happier memories.
“In 2001 the US government decided to let 3800 Lost Boys resettle in America and we were selected as two of them, we were very lucky. “ Simon explained, starting to smile a bit more thinking about when he saw his and William’s name on the list. “Many of the Lost Boys weren’t as lucky as us. Imagine going through this horrific journey with someone, surviving it all with them and the only thing that has the power to separate you is a piece of paper, showing who’s been chosen to go and live in the US.” William said thoughtfully.
“Have either of you been separated from loved ones?” Yusuf asked, again slightly scared of the answer. “No,” William stated, “again we were lucky. We’ve done everything together all our lives, and the resettlement agency understood this. Adapting to this new life has been slightly easier for us than many others because we still have each other.” Yusuf looked at both of the brothers, clearly debating whether or not to say anything. After a slight pause, he looked at Simon and asked “What have you been doing in America so far?”
“Many of the Lost Boys have faced many challenges upon coming to the US. The majority of them didn’t know what electricity was, what an apartment was, how they would get water without going to a river with a container. In Kakuma there was a compulsory cultural orientation class that the Lost Boys had to attend before going to America. They were taught that houses had more than one room, that men only had one wife, that it would be freezing in winter. When going out, there would always be a new experience, normally one that would scare one of the Lost Boys.
“In Boston, I watched one new arrival scream and run in fear at the sight of an escalator.”
“Today was my first day in Pharmacy School,” Simon said proudly, “I started going to Hampton University so I can help other people and save lives.” William looked at Yusuf, slightly embarrassed and said, “When we came to America we had no documents with us so the resettlement agency had to guess our age. They think I am too old to go to university so I have to try and find a job.” There was a short silence in the room before Yusef said to Simon and William, “Do you want me to show you around the neighborhood?” The two brothers looked at each other uncertainly, not sure if Yusuf felt obligated to help them or not. “Are you sure?” Simon asked, looking at Yusuf, “You don’t have to.”
“This is the refugee way - not knowing the limits of our hosts’ generosity..... I am tired of needing help. I need help in Atlanta, I needed help in Ethiopia and Kakuma, and I am tired of it. I am tired of watching families, visiting families, being at once part and not part of these families.” Valentino Achak Deng, What is that What
There were thousands of Lost Boys walking miles in Sudan in the late 20th and early 21st century. The lucky ones eventually resettled in America but while going from living in a refugee camp to creating a new life in such a developed continent isn’t easy at all, the Lost Boys should finally get the freedom they deserve after everything they’ve been through.
Bibliography:
"Here’s the Story…." Outreach Africa Inc RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. Apr. 2013. <http://www.lostboysus.org/>.
"Alliance for the Lost Boys of Sudan." ALLIANCE FOR THE LOST BOYS OF SUDAN - Alliance for the Lost Boys of Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. Apr. 2013. <http://www.allianceforthelostboys.com/>.
Sarah, Corbett. n.d., n. pag. <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/01/magazine/01SUDAN.html?pagewanted=all>.
Goffe, Leslie. "Sudan's 'lost Boys' in America." BBC News. BBC, 31 Aug. 2004. Web. 2013. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3602724.stm>.
"When Sudanese Refugees Come To America." PBH2. N.p., n.d. Web. 2013. <http://www.pbh2.com/astounding/around-the-world/when-sudanese-refugees-come-america/>.
Individuals from Sudan Are Brought to the USA. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYCA6g9bNg0>.
A Malicious Smile
by Aditi Mahesh
His face is red, covered with wounds, and his eyes are drenched with merciless cries, Moses sits in a cracked leather saddle on top of a horse. His wounded hands are tightly tied down with thick rope, the friction in which the rope produces scars his skin. Footsteps approach him, and a muscular man appears. His head is tightly wrapped with a black muslin scarf. He comes closer, and shoot Moses a malicious smile. It became evident that he was the owner of the horse. The owner hops onto into the horse, sitting in-front of him, just then he spanks the horse with ropes, and the world became a speedy blur of corpses. Children, women, and even men cried for mercy. Dinkaland was in sudden unimaginable trouble.
In the dark times of 1985-19891 the Murahaleen, Arab Tribesmen, raided Southern Sudan. The tribes of South-Darfur and South Kordofan created armed forces, known as the Murahaleen. By using the Murahaleen, Khartoum perpetrated crimes that have had blood curdling effects on the Southern Sudanese, as they have murdered, raped, and tortured innocent lives for a precious natural resource, oil . The Murahaleen lived in the Mid-Sudan region. They put the South of Sudan into a state of misery. Set fire to homes, destroyed acres of fertile land, contaminated wells, raided cattle and take the lives of many. These times were the most difficult for the residents of the Bahr-Al-Ghazal region. The Murahaleen depopulated the region, leaving thousands in fear.
Many children and women were kidnapped by the Murahaleen. At first the Murahaleen were only raiding cattle for pleasure. However, in 1986 Oil was found in the South Sudan. After much political dispute between the North and South, the North tried to redraw the border, so that the oil fields would fall into their land However, the North didn’t easily get away with doing so. Soon, the North created the “Murahaleen” as their own “Militias” to fight the South for the oil.
Every gust of wind that blows against Moses’s weak body, it forces him to turn sideways. With every tight whip the owner shoots, the horse gallops one notch faster. With his neck completely stretched to the side, he see’s Amath. Her striking features couldn’t be missed! As he concentrated on her more closely, he saw that she too was on the back of a horse, sobbing. Her hair is messy, and lash marks scarred her face.
Existence of slavery persisted the whole of the war. As many as 14,000 men, women and children were abducted and forced to work as slaves. 60 percent of those abducted were taken to the west Kordofan and Darfur to be sold as slaves in the markets. Many of these slaves were usually domestic laborers, cattle herders, agricultural workers, and many were forced into early marriage/rape. Many female domestic workers were concubines against their will.The Murahaleen sexually abused the slaves, and in the process mutilated their body bodies, in forms of lashing, cutting, and burning.The Murahaleen were ruthless and gave no respect to women, in the process making them lose their self dignity.
As Moses concentrates on Amath praying that she’ll have a better fate, a stampede of horses come racing from behind, this blocks Amath from view. Now she too was just another blur racing ahead. The horses took what seemed like a never ending journey, so long that at a point Moses had to throw up. Nausea dominated him and eventually, he let it go. The owner takes out the lash, and whips him across the chest several times. Occasionally the owner would take a break when streaks of navy blue appeared in the sky. Moses, was given the occasional shove of food in the mouth, he savored every bit. When he would come back to consciousness, the man would shoot him one of his hungry smiles. Nevertheless, the journey would continue.
Between 1955-1972 also known as the first Sudanese War (1st Sudanese war), Southern and Northern Sudan were having disputes and many shortages of natural resources. Later on in 1972 they came up with a peace agreement, the Addis Ababa Agreement. This agreement stated to share half of any natural resources which either north or south possessed. Khartoum, the capital of Sudan agreed to this, believing that the most precious resource in South Sudan was uranium. Quickly after the agreement was signed, Chevron discovered huge oil fields in the South. But here’s where the problem started, the Addis Ababa agreement didn’t cover anything about sharing oil with the north. Khartoum was devastated.
Khartoum was immediately informed, and along with Chevron Khartoum decided to start digging for the oil. However, the oil would only be dug if there weren’t any inhabitants over the oilfields. So, this was when Khartoum decided to arm with the tribes that lived in Mid-sudan, the Murahaleen. They were turned into militias to help clear the civilian population in where the oil fields existed. They were encouraged to kill.
After riding for days, one dark evening, Moses is untied from the ropes. He feels as if weight was lifted off of him. His contracted muscles blossomed. Before he could get used to standing on two legs, the scarfed man gripped his neck tightly, and pushed him till he reached a small gated hut. The man thrusts him to the floor, and locks him inside. Exhausted, Moses’s eyes get heavier, until they close shut. He sleeps in harmony, until a sharp scalding pain behind his ear makes Moses scream awake. The owner of the horse is pressing a fire burnt metal rod to his ear. Moses said “The heat was so strong it seemed to be melting my hair and skull”. The number 8 stood out of his skin purple and fleshy. He was branded.
The pain was so terrifying that he passes out. Hours passed, and Moses is still lying on the cold floor until he hears footsteps. Not any kind of footsteps, the hollow sound of a boot stomping on the floor, the owner of the horse. He briskly walks in and lashes Moses hard in the hand, Moses rises into consciousness and shock. Moses is scooped up by the arms of the muscular man, and is carried out to a horse. He sits in the saddle and his hands are intricately knotted together once again. The man gets on the horse and they ride away, until the hut is only a speck.
After what seemed like days of riding, Moses opens his eyes. He is not on the horse anymore but on a smelly ground covered with dried grass, mud and rocks. He gets the faint smell of fish in the distance, making him fantasize about food. His eyes scan the surroundings. He’s in a barn. Around the barn he sees boys like him, he could tell that they too were also brought here by the Murahaleen. He brushes his bruised knees and attempts to go speak to a boy in the corner.
“Hello”.
The boy stares at him.
“I would like to know where I am, and why I am in this barn”:
“You will be traded soon” the boy replies patiently.
“I will be what!?”
“Traded.” The boy enunciates.
Moses freezes. Trickles of hope are suddenly expelled from Moses’s mind. He thinks of what the boy said to him, he was being traded!
As Moses waits in shade of the barn, he couldn’t help but try and escape. However he knew that if he did attempt, he would be caught. He waits until the sky turns a light shade of purple, when an Arab man walks in. He simply acknowledges Moses, and talks to the man in charge. With another glance, the Man motions Moses to come along with him.Fear grips him. As Moses’s shaky legs stand up, the man doesn’t wait for him, his skinny legs walk fast as if he had someplace to be. Moses follows him out the barn and into the village of Shendi. Seeing everyday village scenes brought back memories of his own town, Marial Bai.
Acids of panic kept flushing through him. The man simply walks out of the village carelessly. Moses is now confused. His head is spinning from the exhaustion of walking. The man didn’t carry around a lash or bindings, Moses starts to get a bit suspicious, and he is going to plan to escape if they hadn’t reached their destination by dawn. They walk until sunlight cracks the sky. Just then, Moses is about to escape, and he is going to start by distracting the man. But he didn’t need to. The man finally comes to a halt, and Moses doesn’t have a single breath left. When Moses lifts his head he is suddenly awestruck. 100 meters away, a magnificent plane stands, around it are many other boys his age. To Moses, it was truly breathtaking. The man then said “ You are free.The plane will take you to safety. Be free”.
Moses stares at him as if he is talking gibberish. What had just happened? He stays put, and thinks he heard something wrong. When he takes a closer look around the plane he sees that it there are people with pure white skin. Moses is first scared, the Man walks towards the plane, drops him off at the engine, and simply walks away. The whites happily invite Moses to join them as these people are working for an NGO to help save kids like him. Moses says happily “We were valuable to them, it was such a feeling!”.A smile suddenly paints his face golden, and without another look back, Moses walks into the plane.
His face is red, covered with wounds, and his eyes are drenched with merciless cries, Moses sits in a cracked leather saddle on top of a horse. His wounded hands are tightly tied down with thick rope, the friction in which the rope produces scars his skin. Footsteps approach him, and a muscular man appears. His head is tightly wrapped with a black muslin scarf. He comes closer, and shoot Moses a malicious smile. It became evident that he was the owner of the horse. The owner hops onto into the horse, sitting in-front of him, just then he spanks the horse with ropes, and the world became a speedy blur of corpses. Children, women, and even men cried for mercy. Dinkaland was in sudden unimaginable trouble.
In the dark times of 1985-19891 the Murahaleen, Arab Tribesmen, raided Southern Sudan. The tribes of South-Darfur and South Kordofan created armed forces, known as the Murahaleen. By using the Murahaleen, Khartoum perpetrated crimes that have had blood curdling effects on the Southern Sudanese, as they have murdered, raped, and tortured innocent lives for a precious natural resource, oil . The Murahaleen lived in the Mid-Sudan region. They put the South of Sudan into a state of misery. Set fire to homes, destroyed acres of fertile land, contaminated wells, raided cattle and take the lives of many. These times were the most difficult for the residents of the Bahr-Al-Ghazal region. The Murahaleen depopulated the region, leaving thousands in fear.
Many children and women were kidnapped by the Murahaleen. At first the Murahaleen were only raiding cattle for pleasure. However, in 1986 Oil was found in the South Sudan. After much political dispute between the North and South, the North tried to redraw the border, so that the oil fields would fall into their land However, the North didn’t easily get away with doing so. Soon, the North created the “Murahaleen” as their own “Militias” to fight the South for the oil.
Every gust of wind that blows against Moses’s weak body, it forces him to turn sideways. With every tight whip the owner shoots, the horse gallops one notch faster. With his neck completely stretched to the side, he see’s Amath. Her striking features couldn’t be missed! As he concentrated on her more closely, he saw that she too was on the back of a horse, sobbing. Her hair is messy, and lash marks scarred her face.
Existence of slavery persisted the whole of the war. As many as 14,000 men, women and children were abducted and forced to work as slaves. 60 percent of those abducted were taken to the west Kordofan and Darfur to be sold as slaves in the markets. Many of these slaves were usually domestic laborers, cattle herders, agricultural workers, and many were forced into early marriage/rape. Many female domestic workers were concubines against their will.The Murahaleen sexually abused the slaves, and in the process mutilated their body bodies, in forms of lashing, cutting, and burning.The Murahaleen were ruthless and gave no respect to women, in the process making them lose their self dignity.
As Moses concentrates on Amath praying that she’ll have a better fate, a stampede of horses come racing from behind, this blocks Amath from view. Now she too was just another blur racing ahead. The horses took what seemed like a never ending journey, so long that at a point Moses had to throw up. Nausea dominated him and eventually, he let it go. The owner takes out the lash, and whips him across the chest several times. Occasionally the owner would take a break when streaks of navy blue appeared in the sky. Moses, was given the occasional shove of food in the mouth, he savored every bit. When he would come back to consciousness, the man would shoot him one of his hungry smiles. Nevertheless, the journey would continue.
Between 1955-1972 also known as the first Sudanese War (1st Sudanese war), Southern and Northern Sudan were having disputes and many shortages of natural resources. Later on in 1972 they came up with a peace agreement, the Addis Ababa Agreement. This agreement stated to share half of any natural resources which either north or south possessed. Khartoum, the capital of Sudan agreed to this, believing that the most precious resource in South Sudan was uranium. Quickly after the agreement was signed, Chevron discovered huge oil fields in the South. But here’s where the problem started, the Addis Ababa agreement didn’t cover anything about sharing oil with the north. Khartoum was devastated.
Khartoum was immediately informed, and along with Chevron Khartoum decided to start digging for the oil. However, the oil would only be dug if there weren’t any inhabitants over the oilfields. So, this was when Khartoum decided to arm with the tribes that lived in Mid-sudan, the Murahaleen. They were turned into militias to help clear the civilian population in where the oil fields existed. They were encouraged to kill.
After riding for days, one dark evening, Moses is untied from the ropes. He feels as if weight was lifted off of him. His contracted muscles blossomed. Before he could get used to standing on two legs, the scarfed man gripped his neck tightly, and pushed him till he reached a small gated hut. The man thrusts him to the floor, and locks him inside. Exhausted, Moses’s eyes get heavier, until they close shut. He sleeps in harmony, until a sharp scalding pain behind his ear makes Moses scream awake. The owner of the horse is pressing a fire burnt metal rod to his ear. Moses said “The heat was so strong it seemed to be melting my hair and skull”. The number 8 stood out of his skin purple and fleshy. He was branded.
The pain was so terrifying that he passes out. Hours passed, and Moses is still lying on the cold floor until he hears footsteps. Not any kind of footsteps, the hollow sound of a boot stomping on the floor, the owner of the horse. He briskly walks in and lashes Moses hard in the hand, Moses rises into consciousness and shock. Moses is scooped up by the arms of the muscular man, and is carried out to a horse. He sits in the saddle and his hands are intricately knotted together once again. The man gets on the horse and they ride away, until the hut is only a speck.
After what seemed like days of riding, Moses opens his eyes. He is not on the horse anymore but on a smelly ground covered with dried grass, mud and rocks. He gets the faint smell of fish in the distance, making him fantasize about food. His eyes scan the surroundings. He’s in a barn. Around the barn he sees boys like him, he could tell that they too were also brought here by the Murahaleen. He brushes his bruised knees and attempts to go speak to a boy in the corner.
“Hello”.
The boy stares at him.
“I would like to know where I am, and why I am in this barn”:
“You will be traded soon” the boy replies patiently.
“I will be what!?”
“Traded.” The boy enunciates.
Moses freezes. Trickles of hope are suddenly expelled from Moses’s mind. He thinks of what the boy said to him, he was being traded!
As Moses waits in shade of the barn, he couldn’t help but try and escape. However he knew that if he did attempt, he would be caught. He waits until the sky turns a light shade of purple, when an Arab man walks in. He simply acknowledges Moses, and talks to the man in charge. With another glance, the Man motions Moses to come along with him.Fear grips him. As Moses’s shaky legs stand up, the man doesn’t wait for him, his skinny legs walk fast as if he had someplace to be. Moses follows him out the barn and into the village of Shendi. Seeing everyday village scenes brought back memories of his own town, Marial Bai.
Acids of panic kept flushing through him. The man simply walks out of the village carelessly. Moses is now confused. His head is spinning from the exhaustion of walking. The man didn’t carry around a lash or bindings, Moses starts to get a bit suspicious, and he is going to plan to escape if they hadn’t reached their destination by dawn. They walk until sunlight cracks the sky. Just then, Moses is about to escape, and he is going to start by distracting the man. But he didn’t need to. The man finally comes to a halt, and Moses doesn’t have a single breath left. When Moses lifts his head he is suddenly awestruck. 100 meters away, a magnificent plane stands, around it are many other boys his age. To Moses, it was truly breathtaking. The man then said “ You are free.The plane will take you to safety. Be free”.
Moses stares at him as if he is talking gibberish. What had just happened? He stays put, and thinks he heard something wrong. When he takes a closer look around the plane he sees that it there are people with pure white skin. Moses is first scared, the Man walks towards the plane, drops him off at the engine, and simply walks away. The whites happily invite Moses to join them as these people are working for an NGO to help save kids like him. Moses says happily “We were valuable to them, it was such a feeling!”.A smile suddenly paints his face golden, and without another look back, Moses walks into the plane.
One Boy, One War, and One Unbelievable Journey
After leaving war- torn Sudan, thousands of displaced young men arrive at Kakuma refugee camp, hoping to piece back together their stolen lives.
by Sarah Gaier
It’s an unusually hot day in Kakuma, a refugee camp located in northern Kenya that was established in 1992 by the UN and houses over 80,000 war ravaged people, many of whom are Sudanese.[1,2,3,4,5,10] The sky is clear and blue. Not a single cloud lays above the camp. A young Sudanese man, who looks about 20 years old, sits cross-legged on the hard ground right at the border of the camp, still as a statue. He looks unblinkingly out towards the hazy horizon, his dark eyes flitting around, sometimes pausing to stare. Brown, gritty dust rises in minuscule clouds as a warm breeze rustles up. As the air wafts over to the young man, it flows smoothly over his dark skin, and his eyes grow misty and acquire a faraway look.
This man goes by the name of Abraham Kur Achiek [1]. The breeze causes a sudden change in his thoughts, bringing back scarring memories of the Sudanese Civil War, and a terribly long journey through treacherous African terrain. It’s the year 1983, and a devastating Sudanese civil war that is to last up until this present day begins between the Arab Muslim north and the Christian Blacks in the South.[2,5,6,7,10] When he was 10 to 12 years old, Abraham left his hometown of Bor, in what is now known as South Sudan, at such an early age that it has been just fragments of memory. He abandoned Bor on foot, barely escaping with his life through the chaos of a bombing campaign. [1]
As he averts his dark brown gaze once more, a series of images form on the bare landscape. A woman wearing a flowing, faded red dress appears before him, the folds of her garment rippling in the wind in slow motion. She holds the hand of a tall man. They are both smiling, a flickering light appears in their black eyes which hold a reflection of the bright sun. Still smiling, they reach out to the young man, sitting cross- legged on the hard, dry ground. Abraham blinks as dust gets caught in his eyes, and the figures disappear. His parents are the one thing he remembers, unlike many of the boys he walked with, because they left at a too young age.
11 to 12 - year olds were considered the oldest among a slow- moving column of over 21,000 young boys, named after the children’s story Peter Pan as the ‘lost boys’.[1,2,4,5] These 'lost boys' of the Sudan trekked enormous distances over a vast, fierce wilderness, seeking refuge from the fighting.[2] Hungry, frightened and weakened by sleeplessness and disease, they crossed from Sudan into Ethiopia and back, with many dying along the way.
Abraham can remember the long journey to Kakuma. He squints as he looks upward towards the sun, and the tiny seed of memory that had planted itself in Abraham’s head begins to blossom, and what he pictures is a pink rose, with a stalk littered with red thorns. As he recalls the horror that he now names ‘the end of childhood’ [2], the rose is littered with splatters of blood, and turns crimson. Snaps of events and accompanying sound whirl in Abraham’s mind as the rose begins to unfold its red petals.
Abraham’s body stiffens, the sharp horizon suddenly blurs over, and he closes his eyes. Underneath his eyelids you can see the faint movement of his eyeballs- sometimes quick, oftentimes slow, as if he is reading the images that are forming in his mind. The booms of gunshot and bombs and the heartbreaking sound of dying, desperate screams ring in his ears, the shadowy ghosts of his past. Abraham furrows his brow, as if scrunching the skin on his forehead will squeeze the traumatizing memories out of his mind- how he was recruited as a member in the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army. [1,5] “It was the worst thing that could happen in any life,” he thinks.[2] Now, flashes of the 1,000 mile walk he trekked along with the other boys start to flicker in his mind.[3,8]
The deserted, dry savannah jerks vertically up and down in his vision, the tall blades of grass that reached up to his shoulders pricking his dark skin until it bleeds. Beside him he sees a boy of whom he does not recall the name. The boy’s black skin is lining his frame - you can see his ribs protruding out from his chest, and as he breathes out, his beating heart is visible- a faint pulsing motion underneath his skin. The inward curve of his cheekbones and hips are unmistakable. As he walks, his moving kneecaps are visible, seeming largely disproportionate with his twig- like limbs.
Abraham begins to absent-mindedly rock sideways, gently, still in his cross-legged position. His eyelids twitch. He opens up his eyes again- the whites startlingly bright, contrasted against his skin. No tears blur them. No aching in the pit of his stomach forms. Abraham Kur Achiek stares blankly out into the desert, the clouded memory of the dying boy still in front of him, like an after-image. But the lost boy knows he should not grieve the boy’s death, and knows he has no reason to, for most of the boys he walked next to he did not recognise- better not to know the dead than to mourn.
Abraham’s eyes widen, and suddenly they reflect not the sun, but the flames of desolation, loss, and war. His body goes rigid once more, and he stops swaying with the breeze. The scraps of his louse- ridden shorts flutter in the wind, like the lacerated remains of a flag. More memories of the trek fly to the front of the lost boy’s mind, and he tries to push them away, back into a hidden drawer in his mentality.
This killing happened as the lost boys were attempting to cross a river, driven out of Ethiopia by the locals. They were shot mostly by the Murahaleen, the armed forces of Northern Sudan.[9] This was known as the Gilo Massacre. Thousands of lost boys met death when savaged to pieces by Crocodiles or as gunfire called duty. [1,8]
Abraham flinches from the burden he must unwillingly carry. Then he sees one of them. A fierce, gaping maw, black lipped and lined with countless, ivory-white teeth. Frothy saliva runs through the fangs, dripping onto the dry grass. A dark eye, peering out from blades of grass in the savannah, mirroring the fires from hell. [5,7]
The physical form of terror strikes. No boy wants to be the one to be picked on- but it will happen. The stars are blotted out by fear. The navy night-sky turns black. A huge figure comes flying, muscles rippling like water through the fur, lining out the body. A squeal- sharply cut off- followed by the sound of breaking bone and a wet ripping sound. The grass rustles for a bit more, then all is silent. [5,3]
Abraham still does not move. His eyes are deeply sunken into his sockets, and what little flesh that occupies his arms hangs off the bones. The scene of the savannah turns to nothing. Abraham takes in the earthy smell of the dusty ground. He can almost feel it, as the earth turns into ochre mud, with red water licking it away.
Abraham goes under. All around him are the muffled sounds of screams and gunfire. Splashes. Dark shapes swirl in the current, scaly or human. He resurfaces, only to catch his breath and dive back down into the murky depths of the Gilo river. Empty shells drop into the water, along with more bleeding bodies. The scaly bulk rises and drags a body under, breaking the young man’s spine, white bone poking out daringly. [5]
Abraham gazes at the endless azure sky. He stops for a moment, and concentrates on the color. The vivid blue is a happy, bright color, and just by looking at it, the rose in his mind withdraws, taking with it Abraham’s traumatizing, rifle-ridden memories. A yellow tulip buds, its petals fringed with red.
The tulip stays closed, unlike the rose. It reminds Abraham of the two figures. One wearing a red dress- the other a yellow shirt. They materialize in front of him again, laughing like before. The sadness in their eyes is gone. They walk, hand in hand, not going forward. Another, stronger gust of wind comes along, and the figures disintegrate, forever.
Abraham’s heart pounds, almost in his mouth. A pattering sound, very much like that of empty shells falling onto the African drylands makes him start.
But then he smiles, and hangs his head back, mouth wide open, enjoying the coolness and wetness of it against his skin. All around him the many inhabitants of Kakuma swarm around him, collecting the rainwater in buckets, laughing and praying their thanks. Abraham pays them no attention. The water washes away his scarring memories. That, to him, is all he needs to continue. Hope.
Footnotes:
1. Howden, Dan. "The Lost Boys of Sudan's Civil War." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, Monday 31 Dec. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-lost-boys-of-sudans-civil-war-8434258.html
Unicef. "The Lost Boys of the Sudan." The Lost Boys of the Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.unicef.org/sowc96/closboys.htm
Corbett, Sara. "The Lost Boys of Sudan; The Long, Long, Long Road to Fargo." The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 Apr. 2001. Web. 19 Mar. 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/01/magazine/the-lost-boys-of-sudan-the-long-long-long-road-to-fargo.html
God Grew Tired of Us: The Lost Boys in Kakuma. Perf. National Geographic. YouTube. YouTube, 22 Mar. 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-JrOXwGWzM.
Eggers, Dave. What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng : A Novel. New York: Vintage, October 2007. Print.
Lost Boys of the Sudan. Dir. KTEHTV. Perf. Simon Deng and Peter Nyok. YouTube. KTEHTV, 04 June 2009. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kQSg0z6vEA
2. Howden, Dan. "The Lost Boys of Sudan's Civil War." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, Monday 31 Dec. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-lost-boys-of-sudans-civil-war-8434258.html
3. Howden, Dan. "The Lost Boys of Sudan's Civil War." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, Monday 31 Dec. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-lost-boys-of-sudans-civil-war-8434258.html
4. Howden, Dan. "The Lost Boys of Sudan's Civil War." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, Monday 31 Dec. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-lost-boys-of-sudans-civil-war-8434258.html
Unicef. "The Lost Boys of the Sudan." The Lost Boys of the Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.unicef.org/sowc96/closboys.htm
God Grew Tired of Us: The Lost Boys in Kakuma. Perf. National Geographic. YouTube. YouTube, 22 Mar. 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-JrOXwGWzM.
Eggers, Dave. What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng : A Novel. New York: Vintage, October 2007. Print.
5. Unicef. "The Lost Boys of the Sudan." The Lost Boys of the Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
http://www.unicef.org/sowc96/closboys.htm
6. Unicef. "The Lost Boys of the Sudan." The Lost Boys of the Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
http://www.unicef.org/sowc96/closboys.htm
7. Unicef. "The Lost Boys of the Sudan." The Lost Boys of the Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
http://www.unicef.org/sowc96/closboys.htm
Eggers, Dave. What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng : A Novel. New York: Vintage, October 2007. Print.
Gettleman, Jeffrey. "A New Wave Of 'Lost Boys' In Sudan War." The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 July 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/world/africa/from-sudan-a-new-wave-of-lost-boys.html?pagewanted=all
Deng, Alephonsion, and Judy Bernstein. "'Lost Boys of Sudan' Finally Find a Home."NPR Books. They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky, 13 June 2005, 12 am. Web. 22 Mar. 2013. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4698532
Lost Boys of the Sudan. Dir. KTEHTV. Perf. Simon Deng and Peter Nyok. YouTube. KTEHTV, 04 June 2009. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kQSg0z6vEA
8. Howden, Dan. "The Lost Boys of Sudan's Civil War." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, Monday 31 Dec. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-lost-boys-of-sudans-civil-war-8434258.html
Eggers, Dave. What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng : A Novel. New York: Vintage, October 2007. Print.
9. Unicef. "The Lost Boys of the Sudan." The Lost Boys of the Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
http://www.unicef.org/sowc96/closboys.htm
10. Corbett, Sara. "The Lost Boys of Sudan; The Long, Long, Long Road to Fargo." The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 Apr. 2001. Web. 19 Mar. 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/01/magazine/the-lost-boys-of-sudan-the-long-long-long-road-to-fargo.html
Rose, Barbara. "Lost Boys of the Sudan." Lost Boys of the Sudan. BCD Enterprises, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. http://www.lostboyschicago.com/LostBoys.htm.
11. Eggers, Dave. What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng : A Novel. New York: Vintage, October 2007. Print.
Deng, Alephonsion, and Judy Bernstein. "'Lost Boys of Sudan' Finally Find a Home."NPR Books. They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky, 13 June 2005, 12 am. Web. 22 Mar. 2013. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4698532
12. Eggers, Dave. What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng : A Novel. New York: Vintage, October 2007. Print.
Corbett, Sara. "The Lost Boys of Sudan; The Long, Long, Long Road to Fargo." The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 Apr. 2001. Web. 19 Mar. 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/01/magazine/the-lost-boys-of-sudan-the-long-long-long-road-to-fargo.html
13. Eggers, Dave. What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng : A Novel. New York: Vintage, October 2007. Print.
14. Disco, James, Susan Clark, Angelo Akol, Santino Athian, Matthew Mabek, Michael Ngor, Regina Eddleman. Willingham, and Niki Singleton. Echoes of the Lost Boys of Sudan. Dallas, TX: Brown Group, 2011. Print.
Read an Excerpt here: http://creativetimereports.org/2013/01/18/the-lost-boys-of-sudan/
15. Howden, Dan. "The Lost Boys of Sudan's Civil War." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, Monday 31 Dec. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-lost-boys-of-sudans-civil-war-8434258.html
Rose, Barbara. "Lost Boys of the Sudan." Lost Boys of the Sudan. BCD Enterprises, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. http://www.lostboyschicago.com/LostBoys.htm.
Bibliography:
WEBSITES:
Howden, Dan. "The Lost Boys of Sudan's Civil War." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, Monday 31 Dec. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-lost-boys-of-sudans-civil-war-8434258.html
Unicef. "The Lost Boys of the Sudan." The Lost Boys of the Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
http://www.unicef.org/sowc96/closboys.htm
Corbett, Sara. "The Lost Boys of Sudan; The Long, Long, Long Road to Fargo." The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 Apr. 2001. Web. 19 Mar. 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/01/magazine/the-lost-boys-of-sudan-the-long-long-long-road-to-fargo.html
God Grew Tired of Us: The Lost Boys in Kakuma. Perf. National Geographic. YouTube. YouTube, 22 Mar. 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-JrOXwGWzM
Gettleman, Jeffrey. "A New Wave Of 'Lost Boys' In Sudan War." The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 July 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/world/africa/from-sudan-a-new-wave-of-lost-boys.html?pagewanted=all
Rose, Barbara. "Lost Boys of the Sudan." Lost Boys of the Sudan. BCD Enterprises, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. http://www.lostboyschicago.com/LostBoys.htm
Lost Boys of the Sudan. Dir. KTEHTV. Perf. Simon Deng and Peter Nyok. YouTube. KTEHTV, 04 June 2009. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kQSg0z6vEA
BOOKS:
Sections:
Deng, Alephonsion, and Judy Bernstein. "'Lost Boys of Sudan' Finally Find a Home."NPR Books. They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky, 13 June 2005, 12 am. Web. 22 Mar. 2013. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4698532
Disco, James, Susan Clark, Angelo Akol, Santino Athian, Matthew Mabek, Michael Ngor, Regina Eddleman. Willingham, and Niki Singleton. Echoes of the Lost Boys of Sudan. Dallas, TX: Brown Group, 2011. Print.
Read an Excerpt here: http://creativetimereports.org/2013/01/18/the-lost-boys-of-sudan
Full books:
Eggers, Dave. What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng : A Novel. New York: Vintage, October 2007. Print. IMAGES:
by Sarah Gaier
It’s an unusually hot day in Kakuma, a refugee camp located in northern Kenya that was established in 1992 by the UN and houses over 80,000 war ravaged people, many of whom are Sudanese.[1,2,3,4,5,10] The sky is clear and blue. Not a single cloud lays above the camp. A young Sudanese man, who looks about 20 years old, sits cross-legged on the hard ground right at the border of the camp, still as a statue. He looks unblinkingly out towards the hazy horizon, his dark eyes flitting around, sometimes pausing to stare. Brown, gritty dust rises in minuscule clouds as a warm breeze rustles up. As the air wafts over to the young man, it flows smoothly over his dark skin, and his eyes grow misty and acquire a faraway look.
This man goes by the name of Abraham Kur Achiek [1]. The breeze causes a sudden change in his thoughts, bringing back scarring memories of the Sudanese Civil War, and a terribly long journey through treacherous African terrain. It’s the year 1983, and a devastating Sudanese civil war that is to last up until this present day begins between the Arab Muslim north and the Christian Blacks in the South.[2,5,6,7,10] When he was 10 to 12 years old, Abraham left his hometown of Bor, in what is now known as South Sudan, at such an early age that it has been just fragments of memory. He abandoned Bor on foot, barely escaping with his life through the chaos of a bombing campaign. [1]
As he averts his dark brown gaze once more, a series of images form on the bare landscape. A woman wearing a flowing, faded red dress appears before him, the folds of her garment rippling in the wind in slow motion. She holds the hand of a tall man. They are both smiling, a flickering light appears in their black eyes which hold a reflection of the bright sun. Still smiling, they reach out to the young man, sitting cross- legged on the hard, dry ground. Abraham blinks as dust gets caught in his eyes, and the figures disappear. His parents are the one thing he remembers, unlike many of the boys he walked with, because they left at a too young age.
11 to 12 - year olds were considered the oldest among a slow- moving column of over 21,000 young boys, named after the children’s story Peter Pan as the ‘lost boys’.[1,2,4,5] These 'lost boys' of the Sudan trekked enormous distances over a vast, fierce wilderness, seeking refuge from the fighting.[2] Hungry, frightened and weakened by sleeplessness and disease, they crossed from Sudan into Ethiopia and back, with many dying along the way.
Abraham can remember the long journey to Kakuma. He squints as he looks upward towards the sun, and the tiny seed of memory that had planted itself in Abraham’s head begins to blossom, and what he pictures is a pink rose, with a stalk littered with red thorns. As he recalls the horror that he now names ‘the end of childhood’ [2], the rose is littered with splatters of blood, and turns crimson. Snaps of events and accompanying sound whirl in Abraham’s mind as the rose begins to unfold its red petals.
Abraham’s body stiffens, the sharp horizon suddenly blurs over, and he closes his eyes. Underneath his eyelids you can see the faint movement of his eyeballs- sometimes quick, oftentimes slow, as if he is reading the images that are forming in his mind. The booms of gunshot and bombs and the heartbreaking sound of dying, desperate screams ring in his ears, the shadowy ghosts of his past. Abraham furrows his brow, as if scrunching the skin on his forehead will squeeze the traumatizing memories out of his mind- how he was recruited as a member in the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army. [1,5] “It was the worst thing that could happen in any life,” he thinks.[2] Now, flashes of the 1,000 mile walk he trekked along with the other boys start to flicker in his mind.[3,8]
The deserted, dry savannah jerks vertically up and down in his vision, the tall blades of grass that reached up to his shoulders pricking his dark skin until it bleeds. Beside him he sees a boy of whom he does not recall the name. The boy’s black skin is lining his frame - you can see his ribs protruding out from his chest, and as he breathes out, his beating heart is visible- a faint pulsing motion underneath his skin. The inward curve of his cheekbones and hips are unmistakable. As he walks, his moving kneecaps are visible, seeming largely disproportionate with his twig- like limbs.
Abraham begins to absent-mindedly rock sideways, gently, still in his cross-legged position. His eyelids twitch. He opens up his eyes again- the whites startlingly bright, contrasted against his skin. No tears blur them. No aching in the pit of his stomach forms. Abraham Kur Achiek stares blankly out into the desert, the clouded memory of the dying boy still in front of him, like an after-image. But the lost boy knows he should not grieve the boy’s death, and knows he has no reason to, for most of the boys he walked next to he did not recognise- better not to know the dead than to mourn.
Abraham’s eyes widen, and suddenly they reflect not the sun, but the flames of desolation, loss, and war. His body goes rigid once more, and he stops swaying with the breeze. The scraps of his louse- ridden shorts flutter in the wind, like the lacerated remains of a flag. More memories of the trek fly to the front of the lost boy’s mind, and he tries to push them away, back into a hidden drawer in his mentality.
This killing happened as the lost boys were attempting to cross a river, driven out of Ethiopia by the locals. They were shot mostly by the Murahaleen, the armed forces of Northern Sudan.[9] This was known as the Gilo Massacre. Thousands of lost boys met death when savaged to pieces by Crocodiles or as gunfire called duty. [1,8]
Abraham flinches from the burden he must unwillingly carry. Then he sees one of them. A fierce, gaping maw, black lipped and lined with countless, ivory-white teeth. Frothy saliva runs through the fangs, dripping onto the dry grass. A dark eye, peering out from blades of grass in the savannah, mirroring the fires from hell. [5,7]
The physical form of terror strikes. No boy wants to be the one to be picked on- but it will happen. The stars are blotted out by fear. The navy night-sky turns black. A huge figure comes flying, muscles rippling like water through the fur, lining out the body. A squeal- sharply cut off- followed by the sound of breaking bone and a wet ripping sound. The grass rustles for a bit more, then all is silent. [5,3]
Abraham still does not move. His eyes are deeply sunken into his sockets, and what little flesh that occupies his arms hangs off the bones. The scene of the savannah turns to nothing. Abraham takes in the earthy smell of the dusty ground. He can almost feel it, as the earth turns into ochre mud, with red water licking it away.
Abraham goes under. All around him are the muffled sounds of screams and gunfire. Splashes. Dark shapes swirl in the current, scaly or human. He resurfaces, only to catch his breath and dive back down into the murky depths of the Gilo river. Empty shells drop into the water, along with more bleeding bodies. The scaly bulk rises and drags a body under, breaking the young man’s spine, white bone poking out daringly. [5]
Abraham gazes at the endless azure sky. He stops for a moment, and concentrates on the color. The vivid blue is a happy, bright color, and just by looking at it, the rose in his mind withdraws, taking with it Abraham’s traumatizing, rifle-ridden memories. A yellow tulip buds, its petals fringed with red.
The tulip stays closed, unlike the rose. It reminds Abraham of the two figures. One wearing a red dress- the other a yellow shirt. They materialize in front of him again, laughing like before. The sadness in their eyes is gone. They walk, hand in hand, not going forward. Another, stronger gust of wind comes along, and the figures disintegrate, forever.
Abraham’s heart pounds, almost in his mouth. A pattering sound, very much like that of empty shells falling onto the African drylands makes him start.
But then he smiles, and hangs his head back, mouth wide open, enjoying the coolness and wetness of it against his skin. All around him the many inhabitants of Kakuma swarm around him, collecting the rainwater in buckets, laughing and praying their thanks. Abraham pays them no attention. The water washes away his scarring memories. That, to him, is all he needs to continue. Hope.
Footnotes:
1. Howden, Dan. "The Lost Boys of Sudan's Civil War." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, Monday 31 Dec. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-lost-boys-of-sudans-civil-war-8434258.html
Unicef. "The Lost Boys of the Sudan." The Lost Boys of the Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.unicef.org/sowc96/closboys.htm
Corbett, Sara. "The Lost Boys of Sudan; The Long, Long, Long Road to Fargo." The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 Apr. 2001. Web. 19 Mar. 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/01/magazine/the-lost-boys-of-sudan-the-long-long-long-road-to-fargo.html
God Grew Tired of Us: The Lost Boys in Kakuma. Perf. National Geographic. YouTube. YouTube, 22 Mar. 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-JrOXwGWzM.
Eggers, Dave. What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng : A Novel. New York: Vintage, October 2007. Print.
Lost Boys of the Sudan. Dir. KTEHTV. Perf. Simon Deng and Peter Nyok. YouTube. KTEHTV, 04 June 2009. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kQSg0z6vEA
2. Howden, Dan. "The Lost Boys of Sudan's Civil War." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, Monday 31 Dec. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-lost-boys-of-sudans-civil-war-8434258.html
3. Howden, Dan. "The Lost Boys of Sudan's Civil War." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, Monday 31 Dec. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-lost-boys-of-sudans-civil-war-8434258.html
4. Howden, Dan. "The Lost Boys of Sudan's Civil War." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, Monday 31 Dec. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-lost-boys-of-sudans-civil-war-8434258.html
Unicef. "The Lost Boys of the Sudan." The Lost Boys of the Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.unicef.org/sowc96/closboys.htm
God Grew Tired of Us: The Lost Boys in Kakuma. Perf. National Geographic. YouTube. YouTube, 22 Mar. 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-JrOXwGWzM.
Eggers, Dave. What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng : A Novel. New York: Vintage, October 2007. Print.
5. Unicef. "The Lost Boys of the Sudan." The Lost Boys of the Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
http://www.unicef.org/sowc96/closboys.htm
6. Unicef. "The Lost Boys of the Sudan." The Lost Boys of the Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
http://www.unicef.org/sowc96/closboys.htm
7. Unicef. "The Lost Boys of the Sudan." The Lost Boys of the Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
http://www.unicef.org/sowc96/closboys.htm
Eggers, Dave. What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng : A Novel. New York: Vintage, October 2007. Print.
Gettleman, Jeffrey. "A New Wave Of 'Lost Boys' In Sudan War." The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 July 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/world/africa/from-sudan-a-new-wave-of-lost-boys.html?pagewanted=all
Deng, Alephonsion, and Judy Bernstein. "'Lost Boys of Sudan' Finally Find a Home."NPR Books. They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky, 13 June 2005, 12 am. Web. 22 Mar. 2013. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4698532
Lost Boys of the Sudan. Dir. KTEHTV. Perf. Simon Deng and Peter Nyok. YouTube. KTEHTV, 04 June 2009. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kQSg0z6vEA
8. Howden, Dan. "The Lost Boys of Sudan's Civil War." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, Monday 31 Dec. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-lost-boys-of-sudans-civil-war-8434258.html
Eggers, Dave. What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng : A Novel. New York: Vintage, October 2007. Print.
9. Unicef. "The Lost Boys of the Sudan." The Lost Boys of the Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
http://www.unicef.org/sowc96/closboys.htm
10. Corbett, Sara. "The Lost Boys of Sudan; The Long, Long, Long Road to Fargo." The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 Apr. 2001. Web. 19 Mar. 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/01/magazine/the-lost-boys-of-sudan-the-long-long-long-road-to-fargo.html
Rose, Barbara. "Lost Boys of the Sudan." Lost Boys of the Sudan. BCD Enterprises, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. http://www.lostboyschicago.com/LostBoys.htm.
11. Eggers, Dave. What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng : A Novel. New York: Vintage, October 2007. Print.
Deng, Alephonsion, and Judy Bernstein. "'Lost Boys of Sudan' Finally Find a Home."NPR Books. They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky, 13 June 2005, 12 am. Web. 22 Mar. 2013. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4698532
12. Eggers, Dave. What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng : A Novel. New York: Vintage, October 2007. Print.
Corbett, Sara. "The Lost Boys of Sudan; The Long, Long, Long Road to Fargo." The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 Apr. 2001. Web. 19 Mar. 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/01/magazine/the-lost-boys-of-sudan-the-long-long-long-road-to-fargo.html
13. Eggers, Dave. What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng : A Novel. New York: Vintage, October 2007. Print.
14. Disco, James, Susan Clark, Angelo Akol, Santino Athian, Matthew Mabek, Michael Ngor, Regina Eddleman. Willingham, and Niki Singleton. Echoes of the Lost Boys of Sudan. Dallas, TX: Brown Group, 2011. Print.
Read an Excerpt here: http://creativetimereports.org/2013/01/18/the-lost-boys-of-sudan/
15. Howden, Dan. "The Lost Boys of Sudan's Civil War." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, Monday 31 Dec. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-lost-boys-of-sudans-civil-war-8434258.html
Rose, Barbara. "Lost Boys of the Sudan." Lost Boys of the Sudan. BCD Enterprises, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. http://www.lostboyschicago.com/LostBoys.htm.
Bibliography:
WEBSITES:
Howden, Dan. "The Lost Boys of Sudan's Civil War." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, Monday 31 Dec. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-lost-boys-of-sudans-civil-war-8434258.html
Unicef. "The Lost Boys of the Sudan." The Lost Boys of the Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
http://www.unicef.org/sowc96/closboys.htm
Corbett, Sara. "The Lost Boys of Sudan; The Long, Long, Long Road to Fargo." The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 Apr. 2001. Web. 19 Mar. 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/01/magazine/the-lost-boys-of-sudan-the-long-long-long-road-to-fargo.html
God Grew Tired of Us: The Lost Boys in Kakuma. Perf. National Geographic. YouTube. YouTube, 22 Mar. 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-JrOXwGWzM
Gettleman, Jeffrey. "A New Wave Of 'Lost Boys' In Sudan War." The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 July 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/world/africa/from-sudan-a-new-wave-of-lost-boys.html?pagewanted=all
Rose, Barbara. "Lost Boys of the Sudan." Lost Boys of the Sudan. BCD Enterprises, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. http://www.lostboyschicago.com/LostBoys.htm
Lost Boys of the Sudan. Dir. KTEHTV. Perf. Simon Deng and Peter Nyok. YouTube. KTEHTV, 04 June 2009. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kQSg0z6vEA
BOOKS:
Sections:
Deng, Alephonsion, and Judy Bernstein. "'Lost Boys of Sudan' Finally Find a Home."NPR Books. They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky, 13 June 2005, 12 am. Web. 22 Mar. 2013. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4698532
Disco, James, Susan Clark, Angelo Akol, Santino Athian, Matthew Mabek, Michael Ngor, Regina Eddleman. Willingham, and Niki Singleton. Echoes of the Lost Boys of Sudan. Dallas, TX: Brown Group, 2011. Print.
Read an Excerpt here: http://creativetimereports.org/2013/01/18/the-lost-boys-of-sudan
Full books:
Eggers, Dave. What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng : A Novel. New York: Vintage, October 2007. Print. IMAGES:
The Dream Country
America, the “Dream Country” was where every Sudanese wanted to settle down. But they could not make this dream come true as they were tormented by the deaths of their loved ones and they were uneducated, lost, tired and awaiting hope and freedom.
by Rajkumar Raiyani
The world changed around Bol Mulual (1). He is now a young lad of twenty one. He stared at the rain pattering against his window at his home in Chicago. His fingers slowly traced the raindrops trickling down on the window pane. Bol gazed at the rain and thought of his village which was so dry that the crops would not grow properly leading to a shortage of food. He took a deep breath and turned to look at the refrigerator and remembered how he had struggled with it when he first arrived in Chicago. “What is this? How does it work? Why does it have to be so complex?” He dropped to his knees and examined his hands. They were clean and smooth. He tried to remember a time when they were just the opposite, dirty and rough with cuts and wounds. Bol was one of the Lost Boys of Sudan.
Sudan had been embroiled in a civil war which started in 1983. Religion and oil sparked off this war pitching the Arab North against the Black Christian South. Around 27,000 Sudanese Boys were forced by violence from their Southern villages in the late 1980’s. Some of the boys were as young as four when they were forced to flee from their homes. The boys joined a group and set a course to Sub-Saharan Africa towards Ethiopia in search of safety. A camp provided the Lost Boys food, water and shelter for three years but when the government of Ethiopia toppled in 1991, the boys were forced to flee again. This time, they made their way to Kakuma, Kenya where it is home to 86,000 Lost Boys. The stories of these boys became known as the Lost Boys of Sudan as it had depicted various generations of Sudanese boys that were forced out of their homeland due to the civil war.
Bol reached America when the United States decided to resettle some of the Lost Boys in America. He reached America at the tender age of nineteen. It has been two years since he first landed. Bol walked out into the front porch and took a long deep breath. A sudden gust of cool breeze hit him in his face. The wind started to rage and howl and the rain pelted down hard on the road outside. The trees were swaying from side to side in a fury and the leaves were rustling, as if they were warning Bol to watch his step. Bol spread his arms out wide and felt the raindrops prickle against his skin. His inner soul urged him to let go and explore the ‘wilderness’. Bol began to gulp down the rainwater and the raindrops dribbled from his lips to the edge of his chin. The city-side was now at rest and there was tranquillity all around. He heaved a sigh of despair when he walked out of the gate.
He walked around and scanned his neighborhood. He found a kid struggling to score a 3-pointer near his garage. The kid’s struggle reminded him of his struggle on his arrival in America with 4000 other Lost Boys who were dispersed across the country.
America, the “Dream Country” was where every Sudanese wanted to settle. But they could not make this dream come true as they were tormented by the deaths of their loved ones and they were uneducated, lost, tired and awaiting hope and freedom. Bol still hasn’t forgotten the frightened and intrigued looks on the faces of the Lost Boys before their journey to America. They were worried and had numerous questions about their daily lives and how they would adapt to the dramatic changes.
A few of their questions in the words of the Lost Boys:
Bol remained put until the kid finally netted the 3 pointer. Just as he was about to move on, Bol got a glimpse of the kid’s jersey, a Chicago Bulls Basketball jersey with the name Deng printed on the back alongside the no 9. Bol smiled to himself and started to yell “The jersey belongs to Luol Deng, born in Sudan and a member of the Dinka tribe. He fled to Egypt with his family to escape the civil war when he was just five! He was lucky alright, otherwise he would have been a part of us... A part of the Lost Boys!” Bol felt like a fool for screaming blindly as the kid couldn’t hear him due to the heavy rain.
He trudged along and splashed water from the puddles on the road. Images from the past flashed by in his mind about Kakuma, crossing the Gilo river, before boarding the plane, the plane ride to America, its people and the surroundings. Bol chuckled to himself when he thought about his white chocolate story. He ate white chocolate for the first time in his life and thought it tasted like soap. He couldn’t tell whether it was soap or bitter ate it since people around him ate it too!
He remembered another funny incident which made him laugh even harder. This was when he couldn’t tell the difference between milk, cheese and meat. Several Lost Boys were shocked and astounded by the sudden change and complexity of life. Before switching flights, Bol had stumbled upon Simon who was explaining to one of the Lost Boys ”Some of the windows, they might be open and sometimes they close. So when your windows of opportunity open, just take it.” (3)
“I did, I did take the open window Simon... or was it God’s will?” Bol pondered. Till this day, he still hasn’t figured out the answer to the question.
Though it has been two years, Bol and many of the Lost Boys were still finding it difficult to adjust to the American way of life. When volunteers came along to teach them the basics of housekeeping, one of the Lost Boys uttered in an exhausted manner “America isn't paradise and it is not as easy as we were told in the camp." (4). Bol still has issues with food. Sometimes, he would find people staring and talking behind his back, “Who is that guy? Is he crazy?” Everything is different and it irritates him and some of his friends when some people ask them stupid and insulting questions like “Do you live in the forest?” People in America are not friendly and show no sign of hospitality, they are always walking alone and don’t talk to the Lost Boys. Bol couldn’t go into the house of someone he didn’t know even though everyone was American. Instead they call the police. When Bol was trying to find the right path, nobody came to lend him a hand. He couldn’t even ask them questions as they were ‘different’ people. Questions like:
Nevertheless, Bol was reluctant to leave America as it was his second home. America was modern, hectic and both financially and economically successful compared to Sudan. America made him step out of his comfort zone in order to try new and challenging activities, granted him all the freedom that he didn’t have back home and provided him with an education and jobs to support himself, family and friends. Bol never gave up and always awaited for what the future had in store for him.
It stopped raining and the yellow gleaming sun came out of his hiding spot to spread around his warmth and light. Bol had been out for more than an hour and a half. He was soaked to the bone and his shoes were stained. The neighborhood was now coming to life. People slowly emerged from their homes as if it were a solitary prison and soaked in the sun and their surroundings. Kids were out screaming, crying and running around, playing sports or just sitting on their front porch for a breath of fresh air. Some couples were out for a short walk; holding hands while others just hugged and wished this beautiful and cool day would never end.
Bol found an empty bench and sat down. His heart was heavy when he saw the couples go by. Bol yearned for Crystal; his girlfriend back in Sudan. He wanted to bring her to America, so that he would have someone who would care, love and respect him. For that to happen, Bol would have to continue working hard, focus on his education and save enough money. Tears started to fill his eyes and his vision blurred. He imagined each teardrop as a Lost Boy slowly making his way around the twists and turns while leaving his hometown and loved ones to reach the final destination, ‘America’. Bol reminisced about his roommate Aboor’s first birthday with his patron and how he weeped like baby while whispering “Back in Africa they do not know how hard it can be here for us!”
Bol left the bench and jogged home, knowing how anxious Aboor would be. He was a block away from his home when he suddenly stopped in his tracks. Something flashed in his mind like a light bulb. The question that had been bothering him for two years had finally surrendered itself. “I did, I did take the open window Simon... or was it God’s will?” He now knew that answer to that - it was ‘God’s will’. He stared at his palm and beamed at himself.
‘God brought him to this country not just for himself ... but as a messenger with the power to unravel the exotic and hidden secrets for every Lost Boy in America.”
Footnotes:
(1) THE CHAUTAUQUAN DAILY. "One Lost Boy of Sudan Finds Path, Shares Life story." The Chautauquan Daily. N.p., 05 July 2011. Web. 29 Mar. 2013. <http://chqdaily.com/2011/07/05/one-lost-boy-of-sudan-finds-path-shares-life-story/>.
(2) National Geographic. "Mapping the Migration of the Lost Boys." National Geographic Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2013. <http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activity/god-grew-tired-of-us-mapping-migration-lost-boys/?ar_a=1>.
(3) KTEH. "Lost Boys of the Sudan." YouTube. YouTube, 04 June 2009. Web. 22 Mar. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kQSg0z6vEA>.
(4) Goffe, Leslie. "Sudan's 'lost Boys' in America." BBC News. BBC, 31 Aug. 2004. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3602724.stm>.
Bibliography:
a) KTEH. "Lost Boys of the Sudan." YouTube. YouTube, 04 June 2009. Web. 22 Mar. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kQSg0z6vEA>.
b) Goffe, Leslie. "Sudan's 'lost Boys' in America." BBC News. BBC, 31 Aug. 2004. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3602724.stm>.
c) National Geographic. "Mapping the Migration of the Lost Boys." National Geographic Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2013. <http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activity/god-grew-tired-of-us-mapping-migration-lost-boys/?ar_a=1>.
d) THE CHAUTAUQUAN DAILY. "One Lost Boy of Sudan Finds Path, Shares Life story." The Chautauquan Daily. N.p., 05 July 2011. Web. 29 Mar. 2013. <http://chqdaily.com/2011/07/05/one-lost-boy-of-sudan-finds-path-shares-life-story/>.
e) ImpactAVillage. "Journey Time Line - Aguea." Journey Time Line - Aguea. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2013. <http://rechercher.aguea.com/jo/Journey-Time-Line>.
f) BCDEnterprises. "Lost Boys of the Sudan." Lost Boys of the Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2013. <http://www.lostboyschicago.com/LostBoys.htm>.
g) CBSNews. "The Lost Boys, Part One." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 31 Mar. 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2013. <http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50143932n>.
h) An interview with Julie who works for the organization called Outreach Africa.(I got to know about Julie after I had emailed to the VAD Foundation. The VAD Foundation is primarily concerned with fundraising for Valentino's school in Marial Bai, which is why Soraya recommended me to contact Outreach Africa.
by Rajkumar Raiyani
The world changed around Bol Mulual (1). He is now a young lad of twenty one. He stared at the rain pattering against his window at his home in Chicago. His fingers slowly traced the raindrops trickling down on the window pane. Bol gazed at the rain and thought of his village which was so dry that the crops would not grow properly leading to a shortage of food. He took a deep breath and turned to look at the refrigerator and remembered how he had struggled with it when he first arrived in Chicago. “What is this? How does it work? Why does it have to be so complex?” He dropped to his knees and examined his hands. They were clean and smooth. He tried to remember a time when they were just the opposite, dirty and rough with cuts and wounds. Bol was one of the Lost Boys of Sudan.
Sudan had been embroiled in a civil war which started in 1983. Religion and oil sparked off this war pitching the Arab North against the Black Christian South. Around 27,000 Sudanese Boys were forced by violence from their Southern villages in the late 1980’s. Some of the boys were as young as four when they were forced to flee from their homes. The boys joined a group and set a course to Sub-Saharan Africa towards Ethiopia in search of safety. A camp provided the Lost Boys food, water and shelter for three years but when the government of Ethiopia toppled in 1991, the boys were forced to flee again. This time, they made their way to Kakuma, Kenya where it is home to 86,000 Lost Boys. The stories of these boys became known as the Lost Boys of Sudan as it had depicted various generations of Sudanese boys that were forced out of their homeland due to the civil war.
Bol reached America when the United States decided to resettle some of the Lost Boys in America. He reached America at the tender age of nineteen. It has been two years since he first landed. Bol walked out into the front porch and took a long deep breath. A sudden gust of cool breeze hit him in his face. The wind started to rage and howl and the rain pelted down hard on the road outside. The trees were swaying from side to side in a fury and the leaves were rustling, as if they were warning Bol to watch his step. Bol spread his arms out wide and felt the raindrops prickle against his skin. His inner soul urged him to let go and explore the ‘wilderness’. Bol began to gulp down the rainwater and the raindrops dribbled from his lips to the edge of his chin. The city-side was now at rest and there was tranquillity all around. He heaved a sigh of despair when he walked out of the gate.
He walked around and scanned his neighborhood. He found a kid struggling to score a 3-pointer near his garage. The kid’s struggle reminded him of his struggle on his arrival in America with 4000 other Lost Boys who were dispersed across the country.
America, the “Dream Country” was where every Sudanese wanted to settle. But they could not make this dream come true as they were tormented by the deaths of their loved ones and they were uneducated, lost, tired and awaiting hope and freedom. Bol still hasn’t forgotten the frightened and intrigued looks on the faces of the Lost Boys before their journey to America. They were worried and had numerous questions about their daily lives and how they would adapt to the dramatic changes.
A few of their questions in the words of the Lost Boys:
- Do people go to the river with containers to draw water for themselves for bathing? (2)
- There is something called apartment? I have never heard, met or seen it?
- Is using electricity hard?
- Shower? How does it look like?
- In the United States we heard there is only one wife?
Bol remained put until the kid finally netted the 3 pointer. Just as he was about to move on, Bol got a glimpse of the kid’s jersey, a Chicago Bulls Basketball jersey with the name Deng printed on the back alongside the no 9. Bol smiled to himself and started to yell “The jersey belongs to Luol Deng, born in Sudan and a member of the Dinka tribe. He fled to Egypt with his family to escape the civil war when he was just five! He was lucky alright, otherwise he would have been a part of us... A part of the Lost Boys!” Bol felt like a fool for screaming blindly as the kid couldn’t hear him due to the heavy rain.
He trudged along and splashed water from the puddles on the road. Images from the past flashed by in his mind about Kakuma, crossing the Gilo river, before boarding the plane, the plane ride to America, its people and the surroundings. Bol chuckled to himself when he thought about his white chocolate story. He ate white chocolate for the first time in his life and thought it tasted like soap. He couldn’t tell whether it was soap or bitter ate it since people around him ate it too!
He remembered another funny incident which made him laugh even harder. This was when he couldn’t tell the difference between milk, cheese and meat. Several Lost Boys were shocked and astounded by the sudden change and complexity of life. Before switching flights, Bol had stumbled upon Simon who was explaining to one of the Lost Boys ”Some of the windows, they might be open and sometimes they close. So when your windows of opportunity open, just take it.” (3)
“I did, I did take the open window Simon... or was it God’s will?” Bol pondered. Till this day, he still hasn’t figured out the answer to the question.
Though it has been two years, Bol and many of the Lost Boys were still finding it difficult to adjust to the American way of life. When volunteers came along to teach them the basics of housekeeping, one of the Lost Boys uttered in an exhausted manner “America isn't paradise and it is not as easy as we were told in the camp." (4). Bol still has issues with food. Sometimes, he would find people staring and talking behind his back, “Who is that guy? Is he crazy?” Everything is different and it irritates him and some of his friends when some people ask them stupid and insulting questions like “Do you live in the forest?” People in America are not friendly and show no sign of hospitality, they are always walking alone and don’t talk to the Lost Boys. Bol couldn’t go into the house of someone he didn’t know even though everyone was American. Instead they call the police. When Bol was trying to find the right path, nobody came to lend him a hand. He couldn’t even ask them questions as they were ‘different’ people. Questions like:
- Can you show me the way please?
- How are we going to be acquainted to the lifestyle here?
Nevertheless, Bol was reluctant to leave America as it was his second home. America was modern, hectic and both financially and economically successful compared to Sudan. America made him step out of his comfort zone in order to try new and challenging activities, granted him all the freedom that he didn’t have back home and provided him with an education and jobs to support himself, family and friends. Bol never gave up and always awaited for what the future had in store for him.
It stopped raining and the yellow gleaming sun came out of his hiding spot to spread around his warmth and light. Bol had been out for more than an hour and a half. He was soaked to the bone and his shoes were stained. The neighborhood was now coming to life. People slowly emerged from their homes as if it were a solitary prison and soaked in the sun and their surroundings. Kids were out screaming, crying and running around, playing sports or just sitting on their front porch for a breath of fresh air. Some couples were out for a short walk; holding hands while others just hugged and wished this beautiful and cool day would never end.
Bol found an empty bench and sat down. His heart was heavy when he saw the couples go by. Bol yearned for Crystal; his girlfriend back in Sudan. He wanted to bring her to America, so that he would have someone who would care, love and respect him. For that to happen, Bol would have to continue working hard, focus on his education and save enough money. Tears started to fill his eyes and his vision blurred. He imagined each teardrop as a Lost Boy slowly making his way around the twists and turns while leaving his hometown and loved ones to reach the final destination, ‘America’. Bol reminisced about his roommate Aboor’s first birthday with his patron and how he weeped like baby while whispering “Back in Africa they do not know how hard it can be here for us!”
Bol left the bench and jogged home, knowing how anxious Aboor would be. He was a block away from his home when he suddenly stopped in his tracks. Something flashed in his mind like a light bulb. The question that had been bothering him for two years had finally surrendered itself. “I did, I did take the open window Simon... or was it God’s will?” He now knew that answer to that - it was ‘God’s will’. He stared at his palm and beamed at himself.
‘God brought him to this country not just for himself ... but as a messenger with the power to unravel the exotic and hidden secrets for every Lost Boy in America.”
Footnotes:
(1) THE CHAUTAUQUAN DAILY. "One Lost Boy of Sudan Finds Path, Shares Life story." The Chautauquan Daily. N.p., 05 July 2011. Web. 29 Mar. 2013. <http://chqdaily.com/2011/07/05/one-lost-boy-of-sudan-finds-path-shares-life-story/>.
(2) National Geographic. "Mapping the Migration of the Lost Boys." National Geographic Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2013. <http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activity/god-grew-tired-of-us-mapping-migration-lost-boys/?ar_a=1>.
(3) KTEH. "Lost Boys of the Sudan." YouTube. YouTube, 04 June 2009. Web. 22 Mar. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kQSg0z6vEA>.
(4) Goffe, Leslie. "Sudan's 'lost Boys' in America." BBC News. BBC, 31 Aug. 2004. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3602724.stm>.
Bibliography:
a) KTEH. "Lost Boys of the Sudan." YouTube. YouTube, 04 June 2009. Web. 22 Mar. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kQSg0z6vEA>.
b) Goffe, Leslie. "Sudan's 'lost Boys' in America." BBC News. BBC, 31 Aug. 2004. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3602724.stm>.
c) National Geographic. "Mapping the Migration of the Lost Boys." National Geographic Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2013. <http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activity/god-grew-tired-of-us-mapping-migration-lost-boys/?ar_a=1>.
d) THE CHAUTAUQUAN DAILY. "One Lost Boy of Sudan Finds Path, Shares Life story." The Chautauquan Daily. N.p., 05 July 2011. Web. 29 Mar. 2013. <http://chqdaily.com/2011/07/05/one-lost-boy-of-sudan-finds-path-shares-life-story/>.
e) ImpactAVillage. "Journey Time Line - Aguea." Journey Time Line - Aguea. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2013. <http://rechercher.aguea.com/jo/Journey-Time-Line>.
f) BCDEnterprises. "Lost Boys of the Sudan." Lost Boys of the Sudan. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2013. <http://www.lostboyschicago.com/LostBoys.htm>.
g) CBSNews. "The Lost Boys, Part One." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 31 Mar. 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2013. <http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50143932n>.
h) An interview with Julie who works for the organization called Outreach Africa.(I got to know about Julie after I had emailed to the VAD Foundation. The VAD Foundation is primarily concerned with fundraising for Valentino's school in Marial Bai, which is why Soraya recommended me to contact Outreach Africa.
The Lost Girls Empowered
Despite the hardships they have faced and the pressures of cultural norms and gender roles, the Lost Girls refuse to be forgotten.
By Aditi Pooviah
Aduei Riak sat demurely with one leg crossed over the other. She breathed softly, smoothing the fabric of her clean cut black work pants and absentmindedly stroked the red velvet lining of the deep red armchair, a splash of colour in the corner of her Boston area apartment. She was dressed as any average American lawyer would be: a crisp black blazer, hair cropped short and a delicate silver chain around her slender neck.
"I've seen a lot of things that a person of my age should not have been exposed to. The (memories) tend to be very dark and gray. I don't like talking about them, because for me talking about them is living them again." she said, eyes still glued to the floor, and even as her eyes swiveled up at me, she seemed far gone. Her usually lively eyes, the colour of sunlight shining through a glass of rum, were misted over with memories. “I was pretty much on my own at age six”.
Riak was one of the 89 ‘lost girls’ to survive the Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005), and succesfully escaped from the desolation, migrating to America. Along with other children, all torn from any sense of security, she embarked on a harrowing journey from South Sudan to Ethiopia. Facing a myriad of diseases, fatigue and starvation these children defied all odds and survived, finding refuge in a camp in Kenya. In 1999 the UNHCR created a US resettlement program for Sudanese children, and successfully resettled 4,000 boys across the United States. These boys were given the opportunity to take control of their futures in a newer, safer environment, often guided by facilitators and host families, while hundreds of girls remained forgotten, never even told about the option of applying for resettlement.
To be eligible for the program, you had to be an orphan, and for cultural reasons girls could not be left alone in camps and were sent to live with surviving families or adults. During the year that the resettlement program began, the girls had been living with these guardians for 9-14 years and were no longer considered orphans, leaving them ineligible. Repressed by a system that was made to protect them but instead restricted them, and cultural values that did the same, Sudanese girls had little hope of escaping from the future that had been chosen for them.
Aduei Riak’s survival and resettlement was a testament to her luck and perseverance, but the fact that she is thriving, an independent career woman who has more than overcome her horrific past, is what makes her story an inspiration. Riak is a beacon of hope to all who have been held back, restrained or oppressed, and especially to those that still dream of breaking the cycle, and choosing their own path.
Riak reached for her coffee, stirring with a degree of intensity, sombre as she mulled over her next answer. Like many Sudanese children, she had grown up with a warped sense of belonging. Separated from her loved ones while fleeing from danger, Riak has been a part of three foster families since being relocated to Boston. Now supported by her current foster family and a network of friends, she accredits her job as a paralegal at the law firm ‘Ropes and Gray” to this community saying: "I am where I am right now (at Ropes & Gray) because a lot of people have invested in me." Her foster parents share her affection and are ever supportive. "I'm amazed," says Garrett Parker, Riak’s foster father, clean cut in a homely grey sweater. "I think everybody that meets her is amazed at what she's been able to do. She came here with a lot of drive. She had always wanted to be more than what her culture wanted for her."
The Kakuma refugee camp has a population of 70,000 but only has the resources and services of a town of 5,000. Diseases like cholera, typhoid and malaria are extremely common. The lost boys took part in a psychological program where they were offered guidance, while the girls were supposed to seek comfort and advice from their families. This analysis was part of the criteria that was considered when choosing the candidates for resettlement, and this lack of foresight is why so few girls were resettled. The girls that were moved were mostly sisters, cousins and friends of the boys, who were personally recommended. While the girls lived with their foster families, the boys were placed in a group home and loosely supervised by adults. The girl’s homes were supposed to provide them with a more wholesome and nurturing environment, but instead these girls simply went missing over the years. Even to this day, many of the girls left at the camp (those who were not resettled) are still living with exploitative foster families. These lost girls, the pinnacle of strength when overcoming adversity, are being forced into labour as domestic servants or sex workers. They are being degraded through beatings, rape and cruel mistreatment at the hands of their families, or in many cases other men who pay a bridal fee of between 5-50 cows for them. "They think that war only affected the men," Riak says. "They do have sisters. … We do exist."
Riak moved about her apartment with ease, her sensible heels clacking on the wooden flooring as she disappeared into her kitchen, reappearing with a bowl of mixed nuts and a variety of biscuits, which she proceeded to set on the table. Apologizing immensely about her lack of equittequete at having so little to offer me she encouraged me to eat, continuing to anxiously smooth the fabric of her work pants. Her fidgeting fingers were the only telltale sign of her discomfort, flitting between the chair and the fringe of her blouse, re adjusting the chain around her neck and running across the top of her head. Riak was well adjusted to her new surroundings, but her expression was that of a woman who knew well what she had overcome to get where she was today. A woman who remembered her home before it was a plush Boston apartment and wants to leave her past far behind her.
Riak watched me as I served myself, smiling politely as I did, hands now clamped together on her lap. “I’d just like to say,” she said cautiously, but as I beamed at her, she seemed to shake off some reluctance. “Thank you.”
Some have tried to bring attention to the lost girls and their troubles, but few have been successful in inciting change. In the December of 2000, Julianna Duncan, an anthropologist specializing in refugee children wrote a report about the fate of the lost girls but even then, drama in the Kakuma camp pulled attention. In April of 2001, over 20 employees in the Nairobi UNHCR office were arrested for extorting money from refugees. “The girls were back-burnered again,” said a humanitarian worker who spent four years in Kakuma. The state department gave $6 million in 2003 to support the resettlement program, hoping that more cases would be referred and more lost girls moved, but part of the money was used to create a UNHCR staff position in Kakuma and nearly three years after Duncan’s report, no more lost girls have been referred to the department for resettlement. The situation of the lost girls seems desperate, but women like Riak show that not all hope is lost. Despite their often horrific pasts, and the fact that many lost girls are still overcoming various cultural and social challenges, the lost girls that have persevered and are living in the US have achieved a lot. Many have college degrees, careers and are happily married. Some have even returned to their homes in Sudan and are working with the government to rebuild their country, while others are sharing their stories and educating others on the plight of the lost girls, and the devastation of war.
The dedication and success of the lost girls of South Sudan is evidence of human endurance and faith. Although they continue to be repressed, broken down and ignored these women have shown courage and tenacity despite the trials they have faced. Being raised in a strict culture, facing gender inequality, overcoming their past, searching for a sense of belonging and thriving in a new setting is no easy task. Their lives have been difficult, but they will continue to prevail. Women like Aduei Riak grew up fast, and in adulthood they are even stronger. The lost girls are growing more independent by the day, and now that they understand their own potential, refuse to be left in the shadows.
Bibliography
"The Lost Girls of Sudan Try to Tell Their Story - 2004-08-31." VOA. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. <http://www.voanews.com/content/a-13-a-2004-08-31-29-1-66893542/262006.html>.
"'Lost' in Sudan's Violence, She's Found Hope in USA - USATODAY.com." 'Lost' in Sudan's Violence, She's Found Hope in USA - USATODAY.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. <http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-23-lost-girls_N.htm>.
"BlogHer." BlogHer. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. <http://www.blogher.com/frame.php?url=http://allezoup.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/lost-girls/>.
"Bio | Aduei Riak." Bio | Aduei Riak. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. <http://beta.iwlchi.org/2008/bios/Aduei_Riak.html>.
BBC News. BBC, 06 July 2002. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2031286.stm>.
"The Lost Girls of Sudan." BlogHer Editors. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. <http://www.blogher.com/lost-girls-sudan?page=0,0>.
"Opinion." BostonGlobe.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. <http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/03/26/how-lost-girls-became-forgotten-girls/hqucGFxsmMYsjnN56LRR5J/story.html>.
By Aditi Pooviah
Aduei Riak sat demurely with one leg crossed over the other. She breathed softly, smoothing the fabric of her clean cut black work pants and absentmindedly stroked the red velvet lining of the deep red armchair, a splash of colour in the corner of her Boston area apartment. She was dressed as any average American lawyer would be: a crisp black blazer, hair cropped short and a delicate silver chain around her slender neck.
"I've seen a lot of things that a person of my age should not have been exposed to. The (memories) tend to be very dark and gray. I don't like talking about them, because for me talking about them is living them again." she said, eyes still glued to the floor, and even as her eyes swiveled up at me, she seemed far gone. Her usually lively eyes, the colour of sunlight shining through a glass of rum, were misted over with memories. “I was pretty much on my own at age six”.
Riak was one of the 89 ‘lost girls’ to survive the Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005), and succesfully escaped from the desolation, migrating to America. Along with other children, all torn from any sense of security, she embarked on a harrowing journey from South Sudan to Ethiopia. Facing a myriad of diseases, fatigue and starvation these children defied all odds and survived, finding refuge in a camp in Kenya. In 1999 the UNHCR created a US resettlement program for Sudanese children, and successfully resettled 4,000 boys across the United States. These boys were given the opportunity to take control of their futures in a newer, safer environment, often guided by facilitators and host families, while hundreds of girls remained forgotten, never even told about the option of applying for resettlement.
To be eligible for the program, you had to be an orphan, and for cultural reasons girls could not be left alone in camps and were sent to live with surviving families or adults. During the year that the resettlement program began, the girls had been living with these guardians for 9-14 years and were no longer considered orphans, leaving them ineligible. Repressed by a system that was made to protect them but instead restricted them, and cultural values that did the same, Sudanese girls had little hope of escaping from the future that had been chosen for them.
Aduei Riak’s survival and resettlement was a testament to her luck and perseverance, but the fact that she is thriving, an independent career woman who has more than overcome her horrific past, is what makes her story an inspiration. Riak is a beacon of hope to all who have been held back, restrained or oppressed, and especially to those that still dream of breaking the cycle, and choosing their own path.
Riak reached for her coffee, stirring with a degree of intensity, sombre as she mulled over her next answer. Like many Sudanese children, she had grown up with a warped sense of belonging. Separated from her loved ones while fleeing from danger, Riak has been a part of three foster families since being relocated to Boston. Now supported by her current foster family and a network of friends, she accredits her job as a paralegal at the law firm ‘Ropes and Gray” to this community saying: "I am where I am right now (at Ropes & Gray) because a lot of people have invested in me." Her foster parents share her affection and are ever supportive. "I'm amazed," says Garrett Parker, Riak’s foster father, clean cut in a homely grey sweater. "I think everybody that meets her is amazed at what she's been able to do. She came here with a lot of drive. She had always wanted to be more than what her culture wanted for her."
The Kakuma refugee camp has a population of 70,000 but only has the resources and services of a town of 5,000. Diseases like cholera, typhoid and malaria are extremely common. The lost boys took part in a psychological program where they were offered guidance, while the girls were supposed to seek comfort and advice from their families. This analysis was part of the criteria that was considered when choosing the candidates for resettlement, and this lack of foresight is why so few girls were resettled. The girls that were moved were mostly sisters, cousins and friends of the boys, who were personally recommended. While the girls lived with their foster families, the boys were placed in a group home and loosely supervised by adults. The girl’s homes were supposed to provide them with a more wholesome and nurturing environment, but instead these girls simply went missing over the years. Even to this day, many of the girls left at the camp (those who were not resettled) are still living with exploitative foster families. These lost girls, the pinnacle of strength when overcoming adversity, are being forced into labour as domestic servants or sex workers. They are being degraded through beatings, rape and cruel mistreatment at the hands of their families, or in many cases other men who pay a bridal fee of between 5-50 cows for them. "They think that war only affected the men," Riak says. "They do have sisters. … We do exist."
Riak moved about her apartment with ease, her sensible heels clacking on the wooden flooring as she disappeared into her kitchen, reappearing with a bowl of mixed nuts and a variety of biscuits, which she proceeded to set on the table. Apologizing immensely about her lack of equittequete at having so little to offer me she encouraged me to eat, continuing to anxiously smooth the fabric of her work pants. Her fidgeting fingers were the only telltale sign of her discomfort, flitting between the chair and the fringe of her blouse, re adjusting the chain around her neck and running across the top of her head. Riak was well adjusted to her new surroundings, but her expression was that of a woman who knew well what she had overcome to get where she was today. A woman who remembered her home before it was a plush Boston apartment and wants to leave her past far behind her.
Riak watched me as I served myself, smiling politely as I did, hands now clamped together on her lap. “I’d just like to say,” she said cautiously, but as I beamed at her, she seemed to shake off some reluctance. “Thank you.”
Some have tried to bring attention to the lost girls and their troubles, but few have been successful in inciting change. In the December of 2000, Julianna Duncan, an anthropologist specializing in refugee children wrote a report about the fate of the lost girls but even then, drama in the Kakuma camp pulled attention. In April of 2001, over 20 employees in the Nairobi UNHCR office were arrested for extorting money from refugees. “The girls were back-burnered again,” said a humanitarian worker who spent four years in Kakuma. The state department gave $6 million in 2003 to support the resettlement program, hoping that more cases would be referred and more lost girls moved, but part of the money was used to create a UNHCR staff position in Kakuma and nearly three years after Duncan’s report, no more lost girls have been referred to the department for resettlement. The situation of the lost girls seems desperate, but women like Riak show that not all hope is lost. Despite their often horrific pasts, and the fact that many lost girls are still overcoming various cultural and social challenges, the lost girls that have persevered and are living in the US have achieved a lot. Many have college degrees, careers and are happily married. Some have even returned to their homes in Sudan and are working with the government to rebuild their country, while others are sharing their stories and educating others on the plight of the lost girls, and the devastation of war.
The dedication and success of the lost girls of South Sudan is evidence of human endurance and faith. Although they continue to be repressed, broken down and ignored these women have shown courage and tenacity despite the trials they have faced. Being raised in a strict culture, facing gender inequality, overcoming their past, searching for a sense of belonging and thriving in a new setting is no easy task. Their lives have been difficult, but they will continue to prevail. Women like Aduei Riak grew up fast, and in adulthood they are even stronger. The lost girls are growing more independent by the day, and now that they understand their own potential, refuse to be left in the shadows.
Bibliography
"The Lost Girls of Sudan Try to Tell Their Story - 2004-08-31." VOA. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. <http://www.voanews.com/content/a-13-a-2004-08-31-29-1-66893542/262006.html>.
"'Lost' in Sudan's Violence, She's Found Hope in USA - USATODAY.com." 'Lost' in Sudan's Violence, She's Found Hope in USA - USATODAY.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. <http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-23-lost-girls_N.htm>.
"BlogHer." BlogHer. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. <http://www.blogher.com/frame.php?url=http://allezoup.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/lost-girls/>.
"Bio | Aduei Riak." Bio | Aduei Riak. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. <http://beta.iwlchi.org/2008/bios/Aduei_Riak.html>.
BBC News. BBC, 06 July 2002. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2031286.stm>.
"The Lost Girls of Sudan." BlogHer Editors. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. <http://www.blogher.com/lost-girls-sudan?page=0,0>.
"Opinion." BostonGlobe.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. <http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/03/26/how-lost-girls-became-forgotten-girls/hqucGFxsmMYsjnN56LRR5J/story.html>.
Freedom Is Not Free
Over the years, the conflict in Sudan has become the cause of thousands of child soldiers and slaves. But despite the hardships they’ve faced, some of these children have been able to overcome their afflictions and move on. Many of those children today are former slaves and soldiers who can live their lives with pride and purpose.
by Kyra Ngai
Casually adjusting the small blue pin on his lapel that reads, “Freedom is not free”, Simon Deng checks that all the lights in his house are off before locking his door. The sound of wheels on gravel fill the morning silence as he pulls his suitcase down the driveway, towards the black car parked by the curb. This trip will make his third campaign in two weeks, though it’s his first time going to Canada.
As he merges onto the highway, he can’t help but glance at his forehead when he looks into the rear view mirror. As always, there they were: a conspicuous line of scar tissue- 20 or so bumps, that stretch across his brow from ear to ear.
After escaping slavery, the first thing he did was to get the markings of South Sudan’s Shilluk tribe cut into his flesh.
“For all those years that I was a slave, the dog lived better than I did,” he recounted once during an interview. “My slave master told me that to be treated like a human being, I must do three things: convert to Islam, take an Arab name, and become their son. To give up my identity.”1
As a native of the Shilluk Kingdom in South Sudan, Deng was only nine years old when he was abducted from his home and given to a family in Northern Sudan as a gift. For years he was burdened by the cruel treatment of his slave masters, along with being forced to do chores and tasks that few children are physically capable of, such as going to and from the river carrying water. Failure promised punishment and pain, and yet, he was still liable to be beaten, threatened, or bullied by his masters regardless of the results. Any thoughts and hopes of escaping were quickly crushed. Run away and your legs will be cut off, he was told.
Though it sounds horrific, the grim truth is that his story is not uncommon. As a result of war and conflict, children around the world are impacted and are often forced to experience uncomparable pains. Countless die, and others live, only to lose their homes or loved ones- they become refugees. Those who aren’t as fortunate are susceptible to becoming either child soldiers or slaves.
Just in the past decade, more than 2 million children have already been killed in conflict situations, and over 6 million have been seriously injured or permanently disabled.2 Although predominantly in Asia and Africa, an estimated 250,000 children are forced to fight in wars around the world - some as young as 9.3 According to Maplecroft and the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, Sudan has one of the worst child soldier problems in the world with over thousands of children in their armies, and ranked fourth in the 2012 Child Labor Index.
In Sudan, what happens in most cases is that children are captured during military raids on their villages and are then taken into household slavery by their captors or put into training camps that teach them how to become soldiers. For child soldiers, if the children aren’t abducted or recruited by force, it’s usually out of desperation that they’ve joined willingly, or after they’ve been subjected to brainwashing by the government. Otherwise, it’s likely that they’ve been recruited without notice, or in other words, they’ve been lied to. Many times when children are being recruited, they are promised that they are going to attend school, which are actually military training facilities disguised as schools.4 Education is a prized opportunity in developing countries, and it’s easy for the government to take advantage of that fact to convince families to let their children go.
As for slavery, abductees are treated poorly, which includes being subject to physical abuse or harassment, and having food and/or drink withheld.5 It’s fine if their masters hit them, kick them, or torture them; technically, they can do whatever they want since those children are their property. This is what life is like for those without freedom and often enough, for whatever the cause or reason, the ending result is the same- the children either die or are forced to endure the harsh pain that comes along with living.
Servitude and labor are a merciless combination for a child, but that’s exactly the life Deng led for three and a half years. Nevertheless, he refused to give up. He believed that he still had a chance.
And he wasn’t disappointed.
Sent to the market one day, he was fortunate enough to catch sight of three men who possessed the same scars as the ones he had seen back at home, and immediately approached them. Excited and eager to prove that he was their kin, he spoke in their native tongue, and with hundreds of thoughts and emotions racing through his mind, threatening to overwhelm him, he spilled out his story, name, parent’s names, village, and tribe. His efforts paid off. As luck would have it, the men knew someone from his village and over several weeks and gatherings, Deng’s escape was gradually planned out.
Before he knew it, he was aboard a steamer heading directly for South Sudan, and in the following days found himself standing outside of his mother’s hut.
He remembers the scene vividly; sister came out screaming and his mother crying as they rushed towards the boy whom they thought was long dead. Arms circled around his body and hugged him tightly, refusing to let go, holding him as if it was a miracle that he had come back, and maybe it was.
They wept together- tears of relief, regret and happiness for the boy whose childhood had been ripped away from him, the brother who’d been missing for three and a half years, and for the son whose father had offered ten cows in exchange for information on. He was finally home.
The torture and misery had ended, but it would take another full 20 years before Deng could gather the courage to speak up against his captors. “For former slaves, speaking about their ordeal is taboo - shameful,”6 explains Deng. Even after he was freed he kept his experiences to himself, and it wasn’t until years later after he had relocated to the United States, that he was given the push he needed.
In 1993, a newspaper he had purchased in the morning posed an article on the front page covering slavery in Sudan. As he read it, he was reminded of the pain he had suffered during his childhood.
“It said in Sudan you could buy a human being for $10. I could not believe what I saw. For three nights I couldn’t sleep. It haunted me. These were my people. This was my country. This was the very situation I had walked away from. But I was living in denial.”7
The news of his homeland drove him to take matters into his own hands- to take action. Soon Deng began organizing walks across the U.S. to raise awareness about slavery in his country. Today, he is a successful spokesperson and an award winning abolitionist activist who travels around the world, sharing his message to others about slavery being a current issue; that it hasn’t ended yet, and that it still exists in the present day.
“To look back and see where I am now, I consider myself a lucky victim. So many kids like me who went through what I went through will never have this opportunity, to go all over the world and speak to free people as a free person.” he states.
What he says is true. There are countless humans who will never get to experience freedom, will never escape slavery, and even fewer who have the opportunity to travel all over to talk to others. Many assume that slavery is a past issue that was dealt with ages ago, and yet they couldn't be more wrong. On the contrary, it’s an even bigger problem than they think. As a matter of fact, right now in this day there are more slaves in the world than ever before in history.
But it’s not just slavery. For some countries like Sudan, war too, was a serious problem as well up until recent years- even now, it’s an ongoing conflict that affects millions of people and families daily. Disputes between nations can lead to devastating outcomes, and Sudan is no different. Since the first civil war which cost the country 1.5 million lives, conflict in the region has caused 2.5 million deaths and another 2 million people to be displaced.
But what else came as a result of continuous fighting? For poorer countries like Sudan, war required more than weapons; it needed lots of manpower too, people to fight them. Soon enough, not only adults, but children as well were made to participate in warfare. Employed in national armies and in paramilitary and rebel groups, even kids nowadays will suffice as soldiers. Can you imagine a child laborer, much less a child who’s engaged on the battlefield?
It’s hard to believe that there are children who only know how to shoot a rifle. It’s also tough to think about the fact that they could be used anyway the military sees fit, whether it be as front-line combatants, suicide bombers, spies, or sex slaves.8 If the enemy has laid traps or mines, those same children will be the ones sent to sweep them out. For every child that blows up, their armies will be a few feet closer to the enemy.
It’s bad enough that children are affected by war, but when they are made to fight the conflict themselves, those experiences will cause them damage that can never be healed.
Child soldiers, and child slaves. Everyday, people around the world are forced to risk their lives and to toil away for the profit of others. Those same people are rewarded with close to nothing.
But it isn’t the end. Thankfully, that isn’t the case for everyone who becomes a slave or child soldier. There are others who, like Simon Deng, have been given the chance to escape their old lives to create new, better ones for themselves. The trauma of their ordeal will forever stay with them, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t lead happy lives. It’s still possible to turn the tables, and each time someone does, it only shows that those who never lose faith have the ability to succeed. If you don’t believe it, just ask Mr. Achiek.
Abraham Kur Achiek, who spent three years fighting in a Sudanese resistance army, witnessed countless atrocities during his time as a child soldier and recalls watching too many of his comrades getting shot and killed. He knows better than anyone just how traumatic war can be, and describes the experience being emotionally scarring.
"I have suffered beyond description and it required great personal effort to come out of that and be able to talk today," confessed Achiek. "These are situations that somebody cannot recover from. They are among the worst things that can happen to human beings. But life continues and you have to struggle and see things positively. If you give up, that's the end of life."
As he said, giving up will mean the end. But now, as a successful officer for Unicef, the UN’s agency for children, he struggles to put his past behind him and help kids who remain enlisted in the SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) trade in their AK47’s for normal lives, free of war and bloodshed. The same goes for Simon Deng, who gives talks to others about human rights issues and is involved in peace and reconciliation talks with the people in South Sudan.
When people lack hope, and faith, they will never be able to escape.
When people struggle and believe, they will triumph.
1 "'How I Escaped Child Slavery in Sudan'" - Africa. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/how-i-escaped-child-slavery-in-sudan-1.1484070>.
2 "'I Was a Child Soldier in Sudan - I Suffered'" - The National. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. <http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/africa/i-was-a-child-soldier-in-sudan-i-suffered>.
3 "World Vision - Child Soldiers | Advocacy for Child Rights – World Vision." World Vision - Child Soldiers | Advocacy for Child Rights – World Vision. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. <http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/learn/globalissues-child-soldiers>.
4 "Human Rights in Sudan." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Mar. 2013. Web. 1 Mar. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Sudan>.
5 "Sign-up for UPDATES." Anti-Slavery. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. <http://www.antislavery.org/english/slavery_today/forced_labour_in_sudan.aspx>.
6 "'How I Escaped Child Slavery in Sudan'" - Africa. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/how-i-escaped-child-slavery-in-sudan-1.1484070>.
7 "'How I Escaped Child Slavery in Sudan'" - Africa. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/how-i-escaped-child-slavery-in-sudan-1.1484070>.
8 "World Vision - Child Soldiers | Advocacy for Child Rights – World Vision." World Vision - Child Soldiers | Advocacy for Child Rights – World Vision. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. <http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/learn/globalissues-child-soldiers>.
by Kyra Ngai
Casually adjusting the small blue pin on his lapel that reads, “Freedom is not free”, Simon Deng checks that all the lights in his house are off before locking his door. The sound of wheels on gravel fill the morning silence as he pulls his suitcase down the driveway, towards the black car parked by the curb. This trip will make his third campaign in two weeks, though it’s his first time going to Canada.
As he merges onto the highway, he can’t help but glance at his forehead when he looks into the rear view mirror. As always, there they were: a conspicuous line of scar tissue- 20 or so bumps, that stretch across his brow from ear to ear.
After escaping slavery, the first thing he did was to get the markings of South Sudan’s Shilluk tribe cut into his flesh.
“For all those years that I was a slave, the dog lived better than I did,” he recounted once during an interview. “My slave master told me that to be treated like a human being, I must do three things: convert to Islam, take an Arab name, and become their son. To give up my identity.”1
As a native of the Shilluk Kingdom in South Sudan, Deng was only nine years old when he was abducted from his home and given to a family in Northern Sudan as a gift. For years he was burdened by the cruel treatment of his slave masters, along with being forced to do chores and tasks that few children are physically capable of, such as going to and from the river carrying water. Failure promised punishment and pain, and yet, he was still liable to be beaten, threatened, or bullied by his masters regardless of the results. Any thoughts and hopes of escaping were quickly crushed. Run away and your legs will be cut off, he was told.
Though it sounds horrific, the grim truth is that his story is not uncommon. As a result of war and conflict, children around the world are impacted and are often forced to experience uncomparable pains. Countless die, and others live, only to lose their homes or loved ones- they become refugees. Those who aren’t as fortunate are susceptible to becoming either child soldiers or slaves.
Just in the past decade, more than 2 million children have already been killed in conflict situations, and over 6 million have been seriously injured or permanently disabled.2 Although predominantly in Asia and Africa, an estimated 250,000 children are forced to fight in wars around the world - some as young as 9.3 According to Maplecroft and the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, Sudan has one of the worst child soldier problems in the world with over thousands of children in their armies, and ranked fourth in the 2012 Child Labor Index.
In Sudan, what happens in most cases is that children are captured during military raids on their villages and are then taken into household slavery by their captors or put into training camps that teach them how to become soldiers. For child soldiers, if the children aren’t abducted or recruited by force, it’s usually out of desperation that they’ve joined willingly, or after they’ve been subjected to brainwashing by the government. Otherwise, it’s likely that they’ve been recruited without notice, or in other words, they’ve been lied to. Many times when children are being recruited, they are promised that they are going to attend school, which are actually military training facilities disguised as schools.4 Education is a prized opportunity in developing countries, and it’s easy for the government to take advantage of that fact to convince families to let their children go.
As for slavery, abductees are treated poorly, which includes being subject to physical abuse or harassment, and having food and/or drink withheld.5 It’s fine if their masters hit them, kick them, or torture them; technically, they can do whatever they want since those children are their property. This is what life is like for those without freedom and often enough, for whatever the cause or reason, the ending result is the same- the children either die or are forced to endure the harsh pain that comes along with living.
Servitude and labor are a merciless combination for a child, but that’s exactly the life Deng led for three and a half years. Nevertheless, he refused to give up. He believed that he still had a chance.
And he wasn’t disappointed.
Sent to the market one day, he was fortunate enough to catch sight of three men who possessed the same scars as the ones he had seen back at home, and immediately approached them. Excited and eager to prove that he was their kin, he spoke in their native tongue, and with hundreds of thoughts and emotions racing through his mind, threatening to overwhelm him, he spilled out his story, name, parent’s names, village, and tribe. His efforts paid off. As luck would have it, the men knew someone from his village and over several weeks and gatherings, Deng’s escape was gradually planned out.
Before he knew it, he was aboard a steamer heading directly for South Sudan, and in the following days found himself standing outside of his mother’s hut.
He remembers the scene vividly; sister came out screaming and his mother crying as they rushed towards the boy whom they thought was long dead. Arms circled around his body and hugged him tightly, refusing to let go, holding him as if it was a miracle that he had come back, and maybe it was.
They wept together- tears of relief, regret and happiness for the boy whose childhood had been ripped away from him, the brother who’d been missing for three and a half years, and for the son whose father had offered ten cows in exchange for information on. He was finally home.
The torture and misery had ended, but it would take another full 20 years before Deng could gather the courage to speak up against his captors. “For former slaves, speaking about their ordeal is taboo - shameful,”6 explains Deng. Even after he was freed he kept his experiences to himself, and it wasn’t until years later after he had relocated to the United States, that he was given the push he needed.
In 1993, a newspaper he had purchased in the morning posed an article on the front page covering slavery in Sudan. As he read it, he was reminded of the pain he had suffered during his childhood.
“It said in Sudan you could buy a human being for $10. I could not believe what I saw. For three nights I couldn’t sleep. It haunted me. These were my people. This was my country. This was the very situation I had walked away from. But I was living in denial.”7
The news of his homeland drove him to take matters into his own hands- to take action. Soon Deng began organizing walks across the U.S. to raise awareness about slavery in his country. Today, he is a successful spokesperson and an award winning abolitionist activist who travels around the world, sharing his message to others about slavery being a current issue; that it hasn’t ended yet, and that it still exists in the present day.
“To look back and see where I am now, I consider myself a lucky victim. So many kids like me who went through what I went through will never have this opportunity, to go all over the world and speak to free people as a free person.” he states.
What he says is true. There are countless humans who will never get to experience freedom, will never escape slavery, and even fewer who have the opportunity to travel all over to talk to others. Many assume that slavery is a past issue that was dealt with ages ago, and yet they couldn't be more wrong. On the contrary, it’s an even bigger problem than they think. As a matter of fact, right now in this day there are more slaves in the world than ever before in history.
But it’s not just slavery. For some countries like Sudan, war too, was a serious problem as well up until recent years- even now, it’s an ongoing conflict that affects millions of people and families daily. Disputes between nations can lead to devastating outcomes, and Sudan is no different. Since the first civil war which cost the country 1.5 million lives, conflict in the region has caused 2.5 million deaths and another 2 million people to be displaced.
But what else came as a result of continuous fighting? For poorer countries like Sudan, war required more than weapons; it needed lots of manpower too, people to fight them. Soon enough, not only adults, but children as well were made to participate in warfare. Employed in national armies and in paramilitary and rebel groups, even kids nowadays will suffice as soldiers. Can you imagine a child laborer, much less a child who’s engaged on the battlefield?
It’s hard to believe that there are children who only know how to shoot a rifle. It’s also tough to think about the fact that they could be used anyway the military sees fit, whether it be as front-line combatants, suicide bombers, spies, or sex slaves.8 If the enemy has laid traps or mines, those same children will be the ones sent to sweep them out. For every child that blows up, their armies will be a few feet closer to the enemy.
It’s bad enough that children are affected by war, but when they are made to fight the conflict themselves, those experiences will cause them damage that can never be healed.
Child soldiers, and child slaves. Everyday, people around the world are forced to risk their lives and to toil away for the profit of others. Those same people are rewarded with close to nothing.
But it isn’t the end. Thankfully, that isn’t the case for everyone who becomes a slave or child soldier. There are others who, like Simon Deng, have been given the chance to escape their old lives to create new, better ones for themselves. The trauma of their ordeal will forever stay with them, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t lead happy lives. It’s still possible to turn the tables, and each time someone does, it only shows that those who never lose faith have the ability to succeed. If you don’t believe it, just ask Mr. Achiek.
Abraham Kur Achiek, who spent three years fighting in a Sudanese resistance army, witnessed countless atrocities during his time as a child soldier and recalls watching too many of his comrades getting shot and killed. He knows better than anyone just how traumatic war can be, and describes the experience being emotionally scarring.
"I have suffered beyond description and it required great personal effort to come out of that and be able to talk today," confessed Achiek. "These are situations that somebody cannot recover from. They are among the worst things that can happen to human beings. But life continues and you have to struggle and see things positively. If you give up, that's the end of life."
As he said, giving up will mean the end. But now, as a successful officer for Unicef, the UN’s agency for children, he struggles to put his past behind him and help kids who remain enlisted in the SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) trade in their AK47’s for normal lives, free of war and bloodshed. The same goes for Simon Deng, who gives talks to others about human rights issues and is involved in peace and reconciliation talks with the people in South Sudan.
When people lack hope, and faith, they will never be able to escape.
When people struggle and believe, they will triumph.
1 "'How I Escaped Child Slavery in Sudan'" - Africa. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/how-i-escaped-child-slavery-in-sudan-1.1484070>.
2 "'I Was a Child Soldier in Sudan - I Suffered'" - The National. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. <http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/africa/i-was-a-child-soldier-in-sudan-i-suffered>.
3 "World Vision - Child Soldiers | Advocacy for Child Rights – World Vision." World Vision - Child Soldiers | Advocacy for Child Rights – World Vision. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. <http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/learn/globalissues-child-soldiers>.
4 "Human Rights in Sudan." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Mar. 2013. Web. 1 Mar. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Sudan>.
5 "Sign-up for UPDATES." Anti-Slavery. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. <http://www.antislavery.org/english/slavery_today/forced_labour_in_sudan.aspx>.
6 "'How I Escaped Child Slavery in Sudan'" - Africa. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/how-i-escaped-child-slavery-in-sudan-1.1484070>.
7 "'How I Escaped Child Slavery in Sudan'" - Africa. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/how-i-escaped-child-slavery-in-sudan-1.1484070>.
8 "World Vision - Child Soldiers | Advocacy for Child Rights – World Vision." World Vision - Child Soldiers | Advocacy for Child Rights – World Vision. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. <http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/learn/globalissues-child-soldiers>.
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