Abraham
Chol and Phillip Ajok are two men who have made it and they will share
their stories today at Central Connecticut State University. Chol and
Ajok will be accompanied by Manute Bol, former NBA player and native of
Sudan, and Benj Wol, also a native of Sudan and current AmeriCorp
volunteer at Catholic Social Services.
Chol and Ajok will not only speak of their experiences but of others
like them, some not so fortunate, who had to battle elements out of
their control.
Since the 1980s, Sudan has been ravaged by civil war caused largely in
part by religious, ethnic, and regional strife. The war between the
Muslim government of the north and Christian groups of the south left
thousands of children, from age 5 to 15, orphaned and forced to flee
their villages.
The group of children were largely boys because the majority of girls
were sold off into slavery or abducted. The boys formed their own family
with the older ones protecting the younger.
International relief workers dubbed the thousands of boys left orphaned
and homeless, The Lost Boys of Sudan, after Peter Pan's lost boys who
clung together to escape a hostile adult world. Fending off lions,
hyenas, slowly dying of thirst and starvation, the Lost Boys would watch
the vultures feed on the bodies of their dead friends. Their homes
destroyed and with nowhere to go, the boys found sanctuary in refugee
camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, yet still they had little prospects for
their future.
However as in the fairy tale, the Lost Boys eventually find their way
home. Churches and relief agencies are working to give the over 4,000
young refugees a happy ending.
Churches and relief agencies have been able to help the young Sudanese
refugees by resettling the boys to places like Florida, Minnesota, and
Connecticut. World Relief, one of the agencies, helps the refugees find
homes, educational opportunities, training, and employment. Chol and
Ajok are two of The Lost Boys that have been resettled in Connecticut.
The Lost Boys of Sudan presentation will be held at the Vance Academic
Center, Room 105 from 4 to 6:40 p.m.
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