May 20 2008
Meet a Lost Boy
One of the first stories I wrote for the Medill News Service was about the Darfur crisis in northern Sudan. The crisis is a continuation of two civil wars Sudan has already gone through. It’s almost been like non-stop violence and fighting has gone on in this country. And although the perpetrators and aggressors have changed faces, more or less over time, the victims remain the same - millions of children displaced, families split up and separated, the general collateral damage of war.
During the second civil war in Sudan, the collateral damage bared the face of thousands of boys who became known as The Lost Boys of Sudan. Unlike the whimsical Lost Boys in the pages of ‘Peter Pan,’ very little about their lives is envious or wonderfully exciting. (this New York Times story is amazing, really compelling).
Here’s a recording of Mabouc Mabouc, a Lost Boy who resides in Chicago and acts as a social worker for the Pan African Association and a spokesperson for the Darfur crisis. He tells an abbreviated version of his story - from being seperated from his family, walking across multiple countries, living in refugee camps and eventually making it to the United States.
His story is sad, but as Mabouc points out: He is one of the lucky ones.
