Lost Boys of Sudan

Imagine your life is perfect one day and then torn to pieces the next. For the boys and girls of the Dinka and Nuer tribes of Southern Sudan, this nightmare became their reality.

Submitted 8/28/2008 By AndreaL7 Views 1350 Comments 0 Updated 9/5/2008

The Lost Boys of Sudan

The expected delivery of the former Bosnian Serb leader to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague will hopefully shed greater light on the similar atrocities that have plagued Sudan. The arrest of this European politician, charged with genocide and crimes against humanity, comes just days after the request from the prosecutor of the international criminal court for an arrest warrant against the Sudanese president, Omar Bashir. There are many differences between the two cases. But the similarities are striking, too.

History: Sudan’s political instability

The first coup d’etat of 1958 reflected a period of economic difficulties and political maneuvering that paralyzed public administration. Between 1966 and 1969, Sudan had a series of governments that proved unable either to agree on a permanent constitution or to cope with problems of factionalism, economic stagnation, and ethnic dissidence. The succession of early post-independence governments were dominated by Arab Muslims who viewed Sudan as a Muslim Arab state.

In 1983 the civil war ignited again, following the government's Islamicization policy which would have instituted Islamic law, among other things. In June 1986, Sadiq al Mahdi formed a coalition government with the Umma, the DUP, the NIF, and four southern parties. Unfortunately, however, Sadiq proved to be a weak leader and incapable of governing Sudan.

Party factionalism, corruption, personal rivalries, scandals, and political instability hovered over Sadiq’s regime. Because of the political instability, another coup d’etat brought a military junta into power and war has raged throughout Sudan ever since.

Who are the Lost Boys?

The Lost Boys story first became world knowledge when a riviting documentary was released by directors Megan Mylan and Jon Shenk in 2004. It follows the lives of two orphaned boys from the Dinka tribe, who were forced to flee their villages after their families and homes were destroyed by the 20 year civil war.

The Lost Boys of Sudan are more than 27,000 boys who were displaced and/or orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2003, about 2 million killed). Most of the lost boys are from the Dinka or Nuer tribes from Southern Sudan.

When fighting broke out, millions of people were killed and tens of thousands of children were left behind- orphaned, left to fend for themselves.Many of the boys and some girls walked for miles through the Sub-Saharan temperatures to reach UN base camps. Often they were shot at along the way, forced to eat leaves, carcasses of dead animals and mud to survive, and still, many did not make the long trek.

One of the ‘fortunate’ ones, James Kuoi, recounts a traumatizing moment to a CBC reporter in an interview: (CBC Manitoba, May 4, 05)

"The worst memory came when I stayed for days without eating anything," Kuoi recalls. "And there was a ground and air attack by Sudan government … and I had nothing. I ran away with underwear, with no clothes … I still dream as if I am running away from this place."

What happened next?

Out of the 10,000 or so that made it to the refugee camp in Kenya, about 3,800 of them, thanks to the UNHCR and the UN Refugee Agency, working in collaboration with the U.S. Department of State, were referred to a resettlement process in the U.S.

Resettlement workers wanted to offer the boys the greatest opportunities a democratic country could offer- a new home, new culture and work so that they could support themselves. Unfortunately, like most refugee resettlement processes, this was not a smooth transition for many of the boys. Learning English was the simplest task.

What can you do?

1) Write to your local representative about this issue and the war in Sudan

2) Write to your newspaper

3) Post a blog

4) Inform yourself about the crisis

5) Talk about this issue with friends- the more people who know about it, the better

6) Donate to organizations working in Sudan

How do I know this?

Lost Boys of Sudan: Take Action http://www.lostboysfilm.com/take.html

Human Rights Watch: Africa- http://hrw.org/doc?t=africa&c=darfur

International Crisis Group- Working to prevent conflict worldwide http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=3060&l=1#C8

The “Lost Boys of Sudan”- http://www.coping.org/wordauthors/lostboys/history.htm