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The Lost Boys

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His records list exhaustion, injury, hunger and thirst as some of the challenges he faced on his long trek from his village.

Such reminders, although difficult, are a healthy part of addressing the trauma that has haunted the Lost Boys, say those who work with them.

"They like to keep their stories inside," said Brenda Felldin, a board member at the AZ Lost Boys Center. "It is therapeutic for them to see their personal histories written down."

Ann Wheat, founder of the center, added: "For these guys to recover, to heal and to make it in this new, bewildering country, they have to confront the past and also embrace their cultures. Healing comes not from ignoring the trauma, but also looking back at it and shedding tears."

She and Ms. Felldin mentioned another potential benefit for the Lost Boys: reconnecting with their relatives. Although they have often been labeled as war orphans, some Lost Boys have been able to find their families since the fighting ended under the terms of a 2005 peace agreement, and others hope to do so now that people are rebuilding the region.

Even those whose relatives were among the staggering number who died in the war hope to return to the country one day, to see where they came from and, in some cases, to help the destitute region recover. In January, a referendum is scheduled in southern Sudan to decide whether it should secede and declare independence. Phoenix will be among the handful of voting sites in the United States for Sudanese refugees who want a say in their country's future.

In the meantime, they are remembering their pasts.

"This photo is all I have of my childhood," Kuol Awan, executive director of the AZ Lost Boys Center and a refugee himself, said as he gazed at a snapshot taken when he was about 15. "I can show this to my grandchildren one day when I tell them stories about my life."

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Lost Boys of Sudan Fill in the Blanks of Their Past

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His records list exhaustion, injury, hunger and thirst as some of the challenges he faced on his long trek from his village. Such reminders, although difficult, are a healthy part of addressing the trauma that has haunted the Lost Boys, say those who work with them.

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The Lost Boys

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Film

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Follow two young refugees from the Dinka tribe, Peter and Santino, through their first year in America. Nearly 4,000 'lost boys' have emigrated to the United States.

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Salva Dut's Story

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Salva Dut was born in a rural village in southwestern Sudan to the Dinka tribe. At 11 years old, the Sudanese Civil War reached his village and separated Salva from his family. He joined thousands of boys, famously known as the Lost Boys of Sudan, on their journey by foot to seek safety in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya. After living in refugee camps for 10 years, Salva was given the opportunity to move to the United States, where he was embraced by a family in Rochester, New York. Several years later, Salva learned that his father was still alive in Southern Sudan but was suffering with a disease caused by waterborne parasites. His father's illness inspired Salva to help both his father and his country by bringing clean water to those in need. This was the beginning of Water for South Sudan.

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Salva Dut was born in a rural village in southwestern Sudan to the Dinka tribe. At 11 years old, the Sudanese Civil War reached his village and separated Salva from his family. He joined thousands of boys, famously known as the Lost Boys of Sudan, on their journey by foot to seek safety in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya.

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In 1987, civil war drove an estimated 20,000 young boys from their families and villages in southern Sudan. Most just six or seven years old, they fled to Ethiopia to escape death or induction into the northern army. They walked more than a thousand miles, half of them dying before reaching Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. The survivors of this tragic exodus became known as the Lost Boys of Sudan.

In 2001, close to four thousand Lost Boys came to the United States seeking peace, freedom and education. The International Rescue Committee helped hundreds of them to start new lives in cities across the country.

War and flight

The outbreak of civil war in Sudan in 1983 brought with it circumstances that would permanently alter the lives of thousands of Sudanese boys and young men. As forces of the government of northern Sudan resumed its campaign against the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA), the southern-based rebel group began inducting boys into the movement.

In the next few years, an estimated 20,000 Sudanese children fled their homeland in search of safety in what turned out to be a treacherous 1,000-mile journey to Ethiopia.

Wandering in and out of war zones, these "Lost Boys" spent the next four years in dire conditions. Thousands of boys lost their lives to hunger, dehydration, and exhaustion. Some were attacked and killed by wild animals; others drowned crossing rivers and many were caught in the crossfire of fighting forces.

Kakuma refugee camp

In 1991, war in Ethiopia sent the young refugees fleeing again and approximately a year later they began trickling into northern Kenya. Some 10,000 boys, between the ages of eight and 18, eventually made it to the Kakuma refugee camp-a sprawling, parched settlement of mud huts where they would live for the next eight years under the care of refugee relief organizations like the IRC.

The IRC began working in Kakuma in 1992 to assist the Lost Boys and other refugees fleeing the fighting in Sudan. Its programs expanded over time to include all of the camp's health services: treating refugees who arrived malnourished or sick, offering rehabilitation programs for those who were disabled, and working to prevent outbreaks of disease.

Older boys took part in IRC education programs, and received support to learn trades and start small businesses to earn money to supplement relief rations. The IRC also helped these young entrepreneurs start savings accounts and access small loans to invest in their futures.

"The IRC's health, sanitation, community services and education programs touched, in one way or another, the lives of all the Lost Boys who were in Kakuma and who were eventually resettled in the U.S.A.," recalled Jason Phillips, who managed IRC programs in the camp from 2000 to 2001. "We accompanied and supported them throughout a large part of their journey."

A refuge in the United States

As the war in Sudan continued to rage, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) determined that repatriation and family reunification was no longer an option for the Lost Boys. UNHCR recommended approximately 3,600 of them for resettlement in the United States and the U.S. State Department concurred.

The Kakuma youth began arriving in the U.S. in small groups in the fall of 2000. Over the next year the IRC helped hundreds resettle in and around Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Seattle and Tucson.

They have been like family to each other for so long now, so it's best for them to continue to live as a family unit here.

Because many of the newly arrived Lost Boys were over 18 and considered adults, they were not placed into foster care. "We place the older boys together in apartments to try to maintain the kind of support network that they developed throughout their difficult journey and while living in the Kakuma camp," said Jon Merrill, who was then director of the IRC's resettlement program in Tucson. "They have been like family to each other for so long now, so it's best for them to continue to live as a family unit here."

Quest for education

Most of the older boys who came to the United States were eager to capitalize on opportunities for higher education, but found that their idea of becoming full time students was not a realistic goal. Since most were over 18 and living on their own they needed to support themselves. And even though the majority attended school within Kakuma camp and had completed or were well on their way to completing high school, they did not necessarily qualify for entry into U.S. colleges. For these young men, IRC staff members stressed the importance of finding a job soon after arrival, and continuing their educational pursuits part-time.

The IRC helped the Lost Boys find jobs with local employers and connected them with volunteer mentors for help studying for exams to enable them to receive a General Equivalency Diploma (GED), and in turn, apply for college.

Adjusting to life in America

The Lost Boys faced enormous challenges in adjusting to American culture and modern society. IRC case workers worked closely with the boys in orienting them to their new communities, making sure that they were as comfortable as possible, and offering guidance on such issues as personal safety, social customs, public transportation, shopping, cooking, nutrition and hygiene.

Volunteers, many of whom became aware of the immense needs of this group through media coverage, also played a significant role in this area. They served as an essential link to the greater community, helping to generate additional employment opportunities, as well as increase donations and awareness.

Volunteers at the IRC's Boston office (now closed) took part in a mentoring program for newly arrived Kakuma youth, providing support and guidance, and organizing recreational activities to bring the young men together.

Many of the Lost Boys resettled by the IRC also took part in IRC programs aimed at helping them cope with their traumatic past and easing their transition into such a different culture. The IRC's Phoenix resettlement office, for example, worked with clinical psychologists to provide specialized counseling services.

What happened to the Lost Boys of Sudan?

Over the next decade the Lost Boys built new lives for themselves in their adopted country. Many of them went on to earn college degrees and attain U.S. citizenship, while wondering whether they would someday have the opportunity to return to their homeland and reunite with the families they left behind.

Then, in 2005, news came that gave them hope: A peace agreement had been signed between North and South. The civil war, which had claimed more than two million lives, was over.

The tenuous peace held, and in 2011 southern Sudan held a referendum in which its people almost unanimously decided to secede from Sudan and form a new nation.

I don't want to see another generation of children go through what I've gone through and what other children of my generation went through.

Some of the Lost Boys were among the many thousands of South Sudanese refugees who streamed home during these optimistic years. They were eager to use their education to help build the world's newest independent country. One of them, Abraham Awolich, told The New York Times: "I don't want to see another generation of children go through what I've gone through and what other children of my generation went through."

Returning home to violence

In December 2013, political tensions between factions loyal to President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar erupted into fighting in South Sudan's capital, Juba. Since then thousands of people have been killed and more than a million forced to flee their homes.

The fighting put an end to three years of peace and a shaky stability following South Sudan's declaration of independence from Sudan. Now South Sudan is facing a humanitarian catastrophe and an upsurge of violence between ethnic groups. Many of the Lost Boys who fled civil war three decades ago have returned home only to find a new war.

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Over 30 years ago, Sudan's civil war uprooted 20,000 Sudanese children. They were known as the Lost Boys.

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Activity Ideas

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1. Pre-teach the vocabulary.
Pre-teach relevant vocabulary, including human migration , immigrant, emigrant, refugee, and resettlement.

2. Build background.
Ask students if they're familiar with Peter Pan's Lost Boys-characters in the J.M. Barrie novel Peter Pan who formed a family and took care of each other in Never-Never Land. Explain that there is a group of over 25,000 young Dinka men who ran away from a civil war. These young men trekked across sub-Saharan Africa in search of safety, and eventually found homes in the United States. Relief workers called them the "Lost Boys" after the characters in the J.M. Barrie novel, and the media picked up on this; the group is now known collectively as "The Lost Boys of Sudan." Review the vocabulary in this new context.

3. Have students locate Sudan on the map.
Ask students to locate Sudan on a wall map of the world. Point out northern and southern Sudan. Point out the homeland of the Dinka-in southern Sudan along the White Nile. Ask: What physical aspects of Sudan contribute to civil unrest? What cultural aspects of Sudan contribute to civil unrest? Explain to students that Sudan's second civil war was caused by conflicts between northern and southern Sudan over oil and religion. Go to National Geographic's Sudan Facts page and invite volunteers to take turns reading aloud the information. Then discuss the historical, cultural, and geographic factors that contributed to Sudan's civil war and some of the consequences the civil war-which lasted over twenty years-had on Sudan and its peoples, including orphaned children, violence, famine, and disease.

4. Introduce the film God Grew Tired of Us and the excerpt students will watch.
Explain to students that the film documents the story of the Lost Boys of Sudan as they fled civil war, spent a decade growing up in a Kenyan refugee camp, and were eventually resettled in the United States. Tell students that they will see an excerpt, called "From Sudan to the United States." The excerpt includes stories from the Kakuma refugee camp. If possible, show students the full film, God Grew Tired of Us, during class time. If you do not have enough time, encourage students to watch the film at home on their own.

5. Have students watch the excerpt and write about it.
Show students the excerpt and have them list their questions about the video and its content as they watch. Then ask students to write a brief summary describing who the Lost Boys are and what they experienced. Students' summaries should include:

why the Lost Boys had to flee Sudan

reasons they could not stay in Ethiopia

what life was like in the refugee camp

what new things the Lost Boys experienced on the journey from Kenya to the U.S.

1. Divide students into small groups and have them mark the migration journey of the Lost Boys.
Make sure each group has one set of outline maps of Sudan, Africa, the world, and the United States. Ask groups to mark the routes the Lost Boys took. List each route on the board:

Dinka homelands in southern Sudan to refugee camps in western Ethiopia

refugee camps in western Ethiopia, across the border into Sudan, and to Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya

Kakuma, Kenya to Nairobi, Kenya

Nairobi, Kenya to Brussels, Belgium

Brussels, Belgium to New York City

2. Introduce the vocabulary word diaspora and have students add routes to their maps.
Explain to students that the vocabulary word diaspora refers to the migration of a people away from an established homeland, or the displacement of a people. Tell students that the Lost Boys have settled in eighteen states in the United States, including: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington. Have students add routes from New York City to those states.

3. In small groups, have students use the MapMaker Interactive to create geo-tours of the Lost Boys' journey.
Have small groups load the MapMaker Interactive. First, have students save a map for their group to work on. Then, ask students to construct a geo-tour of the different segments of the Lost Boys' journey using bookmarks, labels, drawing tools, and markers.
4. Discuss the hazards and physical challenges of the routes.
Have a whole-class discussion about the hazards and physical challenges of the routes, including drought, wildlife, and food sources.

5. Have students make predications about the challenges of displacement.
Discuss the challenges of displacement, including retaining culture, traditions, language, and other factors that are tied to a people's homeland.

Extending the Learning

Find out if there are any Lost Boys in your community or region. If there are, ask if any would be willing to visit your school and speak with students. If not, contact one of the Lost Boys' groups with active websites and establish a pen-pal correspondence between them and your students.

1. Preteach or review vocabulary.
Preteach or review relevant vocabulary, including:

Have students make connections to their own lives to make sure they understand each concept. Ask: What words would you use to describe American culture? Students may respond with examples of cultural markers, such as music, food, fashion, language, or slang. Or, they may respond with examples of values, such as individualism, personal rights, innovation, or democracy.

2. Introduce and watch three excerpts from God Grew Tired of Us.
Tell students that they will watch three excerpts from God Grew Tired of Us. Show them the excerpts "Sense of Place and Community," "Cultural Differences," and "Responsibility and Leadership."

3. Distribute the worksheet and have students complete it.
Distribute copies of the worksheet The Lost Boys' Cultural Identity. Have students complete it independently. Then use the provided answer key to discuss students' answers.

4. Have a whole-class discussion to have students make media-to-self connections.
Ask:

What markers are representative of American culture?

How do the values of the Lost Boys compare to your own?

What questions and fears would you have if you were moving to a new place?

What differences do you see between Dinka culture and American culture?

How do you think you would adapt to life in a new country? Why?

What can you do to make a difference in your community the way the Lost Boys have made a difference in their communities?

5. Have students brainstorm service-learning projects for your community.
If possible, have students brainstorm possible service-learning projects for your community. Have a whole-class discussion about the needs of your community and what type of service would be most beneficial.

Extending the Learning

Listen to Sudanese music on the National Geographic World Music website. If possible, find other examples of Sudanese and Dinka cultural markers to share with students.

Students will:

Critical Thinking Skills

Geographic Skills

National Council for Social Studies Curriculum Standards Theme 1: CultureNational Geography Standards Standard 1: How to use maps and other geographic representations, geospatial technologies, and spatial thinking to understand and communicate information Standard 10: The characteristics, distribution, and complexity of Earth's cultural mosaics Standard 13: How the forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of Earth's surface Standard 9: The characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations on Earth's surface

Credits

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Editor

Christina Riska Simmons

Educator Reviewer

Jeanne Wallace-Weaver, Educational Consultant

Editor

Christina Riska Simmons

Educator Reviewer

Jeanne Wallace-Weaver, Educational Consultant

Editor

Christina Riska Simmons

Educator Reviewer

Jeanne Wallace-Weaver, Educational Consultant

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Christina Riska Simmons

Christina Riska Simmons

Christina Riska Simmons

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Lost Boys: Migration & Cultural Interaction

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Students watch excerpts from the film God Grew Tired of Us to learn about the Lost Boys of Sudan and the refugee experience, map the Lost Boys' migration journey, and discuss the challenges the Lost Boys faced while adapting to life in the United States and trying to maintain their cultural identities as Dinka.