SUDANESE IN THE US

Granted political asylum by the U.S. government after a brutal civil war, thousands of southern Sudanese refugees came to the U.S. for a new beginning in America. These refugees are scattered among approximately 38 cities across the U.S. Of the Sudanese in America, many are older who came to the U.S. years ago with their entire families.

Another group of refugees are known as the Lost Boys – a group of orphaned youth that fled their home villages in Sudan during the 1980s, afraid that they would suffer the same fate as many of their family members that were slaughtered by government troops.

The Lost Boys got their name because they had to survive without parents or elders, journeying across Africa on foot to Ethiopia, back to Sudan and then eventually to refugee camps in Kenya. On the journey, thousands were either shot by pursuing soldiers, drowned, died of hunger, or were eaten by wild animals.

Relatively few girls made it the refugee camps. When villages were attacked girls were raped, killed or taken as slaves to the north. Experts say that the refugees from Sudan are some of the most badly war-traumatized children.

Sources: BBC, Wikipedia