From Hope to Despair

Three Lost Boys of Sudan are Giving Back

April 25, 2008

By: Tracy Kracker, NCC News

Syracuse, NY - Central New York is now home to about 1,000 refugees from Sudan, about 150 which are known as the “Lost Boys of Sudan.” Their childhoods were riddled with hunger and suffering, but many of the lost boys are dedicated to giving back to the homeland of their past.

Background
In 1987, the Arab-led government of northern Sudan attacked the African villages in southern Sudan, forcing millions from their homes. Thousands of young boys walked hundreds of miles across the desert to seek safety at a refugee camp in Ethiopia.

Four years later, the boys were forced to trek again across Sudan to another refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya where there was little food and water. Machar Agoot was seven years old when he was forced from his village. “Some people just give up and they say, I don’t want to eat, I don’t want to do anything and they sit there, and next thing, they’re dead,” he said.

The lost boys lived in Kakuma camp for nine years. In 2001, many of them left the dry, barren desert for sprawling U.S. cities like Syracuse. But they could never forget the families they left behind.

Three Dedicated Boys
Agoot said his culture dictates that he helps his family as much as he can. Now, he is a nursing assistant and student at Saint Joseph’s Hospital. He does what he can to send money to his family in Africa. “It’s an obligation to be there for any relative, not just only your mother and your parents,” Agoot said.

That attitude extends beyond the family among many of the lost boys. After his niece died, Dut Deng felt the need to improve health conditions in his hometown of Bor. Deng and a group of fellow parishioners from Andrews Memorial United Methodist Church went to Sudan to find out what was really needed there. “God brought me here to this country, and he didn’t bring me here for nothing. I think I have a duty to fulfill. And one of the duties is to start a clinic in Southern Sudan,” he said.

Another lost boy felt the same need. When John Dau came to Syracuse in 2001, he was determined to help his homeland. He is now president of the John Dau Sudan Foundation, which built a health clinic in Sudan in 2007. But he believes giving back should extend beyond people helping only their own. “I think when you are born as a human being, I think you have a duty," Dau said, "and, the duty is help each other. Help those who cannot help themselves."