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A Lost Boy of Sudan Finds His Place
December 5, 2006
On November 11th, Samuel Akau spoke at Palo Alto High
School. Akau is a "Lost Boy" from Southern Sudan who came
to the United States in 2000. In front of a crowd of thirty
enthusiastic parents and students, he told his story.
Samuel's calming voice engaged the audience, even when he
recalled his most painful memories.
Samuel Akau does not know the year he was born.
He is part of the nomadic Dinka tribe, an agricultural
group that relies on cattle herding. They are black, tribal
Africans who mostly practice the traditional Animist
religion. From 1983 until 2005, the Northern Muslim Arabs
took over the government in the country's capital of
Khartoum. They raided villages in the South and murdered
2.2 million Christians, Animists and black Muslims. Nearly
4.5 million people were displaced from their homes.
Essentially, this civil war was a conflict between the Arab
blacks in the north and the non-Arab population in the
south.
Akau remembers when the government sent troops
to his village in 1987. He escaped with his mother, and
when they returned everything was destroyed. His brother
ran away to Ethiopia where he joined 40,000 other young
boys and girls in refugee camps. He was forced to return to
Sudan and eventually escaped to Kenya.
In his village, Samuel saw daily killings. He
did not attend school and realized that his tribe could no
longer provide for him. When he was eight or nine years
old, he ran away to a displaced persons camp near Uganda
where local tribes would often attack because they were
poor and desperate.
In 2000, the United States Department of
Justice worked with the United Nations to bring a small
amount of Sudanese "Lost Boys" to the US. These boys were
disillusioned with their own government and country and
could not wait to get a second chance. Samuel settled in
San Jose and quickly adjusted to English, his fourth
language. Every month, he would send half of the money he
made home to his family in Sudan but it was hard for him
to get a job because he did not have a degree.
Samuel attended Middle College but eventually
transferred to Stanford University. He earned his degree in
English creative writing. With a few of his fellow Lost
Boys, Samuel started the Coalition of Willing (COW) in
2005. The men wanted to provide aid to their county of Bor
in Southern Sudan which has suffered extreme devastation
from the war. COW's mission is "Promoting affordable
education, medical services, sanitary living conditions,
and a general higher standard of living for the people of
Sudan to restore hope in the battle against illiteracy,
poverty, diseases, and other human-threatening
catastrophes".
In 2005, the organization traveled to Bor to
provide famine relief assistance. The Lost Boys alone
donated $20,000 and raised over $30,000 from other donors
for their cause. This money provided the hungry people with
food and basic necessities. In November, Samuel returned to
Sudan with COW to build a school and well before the rainy
season begins in April. He will reunite with his
grandmother and younger brother, whom he has never met
before.
When asked about the current genocide in
Darfur, Samuel sighs. He expresses his concern for the
targeted Darfurians as well as the fate of the country of
Sudan. Over 450,000 people have died in the genocide and
over 2 million are displaced. Samuel knows what death looks
like. He knows what it feels like see his country destroyed
and will not stand it happen again before his eyes. Produced for "Action in Africa" by Adam Whitfield ©2008
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