The Lost Boys and Girls

Some of you have been asking me why I haven't written on here of late... I am currently in school and have not made blogging a priority. Shocker. To satisfy your literary desires I will leave with you one of my speeches for the quarter about something near and dear to my heart, Africa. The atrocities continue to boggle my mind the more I know about what is happening around the world. I hope that you can not read and forget what is going on... but that you too will find it eating at your heart until you find a way to make a difference in any way no matter how small. We are so blessed to not know war like these children. We are so blessed to not know hunger like these children. We are so blessed to not have to want for food, water, shelter, education... I could go on and on and on and... Know how blessed you are. Thank God. Ask Him how He might want you to bless the children around the world. Whether it be with your time, prayers, education, finances, or sweat. We can make a difference even just one prayer at a time.
So here are some words I shared with my Speech 110 class:

Lost Boys

When you hear the words “lost boys” what comes to mind? In the survey I conducted in class some of you said it made you think of a need for salvation, others thought of an 80s movie with vampires, still some of your thoughts paralleled mine going to a Disney movie with children romping through the woods avoiding the likes of a cranky crocodile and visions of Peter Pan and Tinkerbelle flying through the air. For the “lost boys” of Sudan their story is NOT a fairytale. I would like to share with you what this journey has been like for these lost boys and girls. Explain what brought on this journey. Introduce you to one of the lost boys and the obstacles he came across on his journey to freedom. And show you where the lost boys and girls are today.

According to the website dedicated to the Arizona Lost Boys and Girls. It all began in the mid 1980’s in East Africa. Since the mid-1980's, Sudan has experienced brutal civil war fueled by religious, ethnic and regional strife. Fleeing the violence and bloodshed of Sudan's internal conflict, thousands of innocent children have experienced mind-numbing horrors and intense hardship. Orphaned as young as four years old, they fled into the jungle and began walking to Ethiopia. They stayed in refugee camps in Ethiopia until the government overthrew the Communists in 1991 and forced the young boys to leave at gunpoint. When they returned to Sudan, they were again met with hostility. Thus began another long walk—this time to a United Nations refugee camp in Kenya. Where they have lived since 1992.

I want to introduce you to one of the young boys who made this journey.

Go ahead and close your eyes. Imagine that you are a five year old boy. It is the middle of the night and you are asleep in your hut with your parents.

Suddenly you are startled awake by gun shots and in the darkness you feel your way to your mum and dad. You find pools of hot blood surrounding them.

More gun shots fire… you run for your life out of your hut and into the nearby jungle to escape the men shooting at you.

That was a story depicted by a Red Cross reporter, (Stephanie Kriner.)

The boy in the story is named James.

That was just the beginning of his journey.

James traveled over a thousand miles on foot. Remember that he was only five years old… That’s almost as far as walking from here to North Dakota.

One of the dangers he faced was dehydration.

James sucked the water out of mud to stay hydrated. If he had pains in his legs or became too weak to walk the older boys he journeyed with would carry him.

Another danger he faced along his journey was wild animals.

The children crossed rivers filled with crocodiles. Some made it across and others were not as lucky. If any of the children lagged behind they would become prey to lions.

James walked across Sudan like hundreds of thousands of other children searching for a place of refuge. Thankfully James found a refugee camp. He made it. He was one of the lucky ones.

The lost boys and girls are still facing trials today. Many remain in refugee camps unable to return to their homes where wars continue. Others have no hopes of ever being reunited with their families or relatives because entire villages were decimated.

However, some of the children in Sudan have found hope. . Intolerable living conditions in the camp gave the United States government reason to resettle some of these, now, young men and women in America. In 2001, 3600 of the lost boys and girls were given the gift of a new journey. The children once despairing in the desert are now bright with hope, full of smiles, and ready to become contributing members of their new communities. These young men and women have found security in America. Their fears of being shot at while they sleep are gone. They have been given a chance at the American dream. This gift of a life in the US did not come without hard work. Many of the lost boys and girls have gone on to become US citizens. Many more have graduated high school and gone on to graduate college.

I’d like to introduce you to Samuel. He is one of the boys who was given the opportunity to come to America. According to Leslie Goffe of BBC news…

Samuel Garang, 23, lives in California, somehow managed to work in the day and attend school at night.

"America wasn't paradise and it wasn't as easy as they told you in the camps," says Samuel, who has done the rounds of menial jobs: he's been a security guard and is now a bagger, someone who puts shoppers' groceries in their bags at supermarkets.

He won't be a bagger much longer. Samuel completed his high school diploma, went on to junior college and did well enough to be accepted at one of America's most prestigious universities, Stanford, in California in September.

"It was easier for me," says Samuel. "I didn't have a wife in the camp or people wanting money. I could study.”

Despite the adversities they faced in their past these lost boys and girls are rising above their once destitute circumstances. Their hard work and dedication to building their futures are opening doors to a life of opportunity. Their lives once seemingly doomed now sing a much different song. As one of the lost boys (Joseph Majak Tuok) so rightly proclaims…What we have is hope. Hope that there shall be a better life ahead of us…

These boys and girls are the lucky ones. Lucky to have made it through one of the most brutal journeys a child has ever endured and lucky to have been given the opportunity to start a new journey in the safety of America.

We as Americans can be oblivious to the atrocities facing the rest of the world. I challenge you today to listen… Don’t turn a deaf ear to the noises coming from Africa. Because America opened its doors in 2001 these Sudanese refugees have a hope for their futures. Their lives are in no way fairy tales… but well on their way to happy endings.