Journey
In the late 1980s, amidst a long-running civil war between Sudan's Arab-dominated government and the rebels in the ethnically African southern part of the country, an estimated 20,000 boys fled villages to avoid being killed by government forces or pressed into rebel militias. The Lost Boys of Sudan, named after Peter Pan's band, got separated from families and went through a cruel adventure of almost biblical proportions before some 3,800 found refuge in the United States. - Burton Bollag
- Duk Payuel, Sudan to Pinyudu Refugee Camp in Ethiopia - 3 Months (~400 miles)
- Pinyudu Refugee Camp in Ethiopia to Pachala, Sudan - 2 Months (~200 miles)
- Pachala, Sudan to Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya - 6 Months (~400 Miles)
Timeline of Events
1983: Civil war begins in Sudan.
1987: Government announces plan to kill all men in Southern Sudan, regardless of age.
Villages attacked and thousands of orphans fled - the "Lost Boys of Sudan"
Walked from Sudan to Ethiopia to escape the war without food or water. They spent 5 years out of Sudan and walked 1000 miles.
1992: International AIDS organizations set up relief operation on the border of Sudan.
1998: Some of the boys receive word they would be traveling to America.
1999: Process begins to get the boys ready to come to America.
2001: John travels to Syracuse, New York and starts life in the United States.
