The Lost Boys of Sudan

Anonymous '20

It began in 1980 during Sudan’s civil war. The boys were between the ages of 5 and 11 when their villages in southern Sudan were attacked by Islamist forces. When the boys saw their houses on fire, they ran. Thousands of boys went. The boys walked for three months across Sudan. Twelve thousand of them found refuge in Ethiopia. Four years later, all the boys got chased at gunpoint.

They got chased to the Gilo river and over 1,000 died. For many, that day would never go away. Many of the people that died were shot, many drowned, and many got eaten by crocodiles. Most of their sisters got sold to slavery and their parents got killed and many of the boys died too. The boys who lived had to walk across deserts and mountains with no food or water, barefoot.

Then the boys had to walk another thousand miles to get to Kenya. That was the safest place they had been in five years. Twenty-five years later they couldn’t get back to Sudan, and Kenya didn’t want them to stay. The U.S. started sending planes over to bring them from Kenya to the United States. When they arrived in the U.S., they did not know what forks or knives were and they didn’t know what winter was.

But they are also really inspiring. For example, they walked for three months across Sudan. Also, they had to walk across deserts and mountains with no food or water, barefoot, and it was only the boys. They were only 5 to 11 years old. So they walked three months with nothing but their families’ deaths on their minds.

Throughout the boys’ lives, they have struggled. Now many of the boys have joined the army to repay America. One of the boys is trying to go to medical school. Another is a priest. With all the things they had to overcome, they are very special people.