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Sudan's 'Lost Boys' Find Old Friends at Conference
"I remember there was blood flowing from her torn body," said Garang, who is now 24.
His father collapsed two minutes later, he said. A boy of 6, he tried to bite the soldier, who then shot him in the head. He fell into the narrow space between his parents, where he lay for a day before being awoken by collectors of the dead.
  John Thon Majok, right, and old friend James Garang embrace as Majok arrives for "Lost Boys: Found!" conference. (Photos By Bill O'leary -- The Washington Post) |
He joined hundreds of others -- mostly children -- in a trek east toward Ethiopia, scavenging leaves and berries, and evading lions and crocodiles. About 17,000 of the lost children set up camp across the Nile in Ethiopia, where they lived until political strife in that country drove them back across the river. In 1992, the United Nations opened the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, and Maker and Garang met and lived there together for nine years.
Thousands of others did not survive the journey to Kenya.
Despite the hardships, the thousands who reached the United States have quickly gained employment and are among the most successful refugees in the country, said Martha E. Newton, director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement.
"They trend higher than the rest of the refugee population" in gaining employment, Newton said. "It shows that when they're trained and given an opportunity, these guys are amazing."
Maker works two jobs -- as a prep cook at Applebee's and a house painter. Garang, who married a "lost" girl and has a 19-month-old daughter, works at a Wal-Mart distribution warehouse and is studying biology at a community college.
Along with their Methodist sponsors, the two have started a group called Voices for Sudan, an advocacy and education organization.
Through the conference, Garang and Maker hope to reconnect the lost boys and girls and together become a force for positive change, both in the United States and in Sudan, to which they both said they hope to return.
They also hope to raise awareness of the conflict that continues to rage in Sudan. Speakers include former NBA player and Sudan native Manute Bol, Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) and John Prendergast of the International Crisis Group, a peace research organization.
