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Due to the Sudanese civil war, thousands of people lost their lives while millions of people where displaced. Among the displaced Sudanese victims, many of them where sent to refugee camps.
The documentary, “Lost Boys of Sudan” explains the story of two Dinka boys who experienced forced migration because of the Sudanese civil war that raged for over 20 years. While the Dinka boys were tending their responsibilities in the pastures, their village was perished and family members were killed or violently taken as captives. Boys nearby the village during the attack ran away to avoid the strike. The boys spent years walking while dodging bullets, escaping wild animals, and fighting against hunger and insanity before they found safety at Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. As time passed, these boys were guaranteed a better life in America where they would be able to gain education and make money support their families back in Sudan. However, when they settled down in America they realized and found that all that they have been told isn’t true.
Peter, one of the Lost Boys followed in this documentary, was sent to America with no family so that he could start a new life in the States. Peter believed that his reason to go to America was to work and gain an education so that later, he would be able to support his family back in Sudan. Once he settled in Houston, he shared an apartment with an apartment with few other Sudanese refugees. But not long after Peter arrived at Houston, he left Texas and went to Kansas because he felt that he was not achieving what he was sent to the States for. In Houston, he couldn’t make enough money to pay for the rents and he couldn’t receive education. However, in Kansas he could get a birth certificate that will help him get into high school.
When Peter applied for school, he had many cultural difficulties that he had to experience while blending into the American culture. Racism, financial problems and they’re different ways to express emotions. Many people often accused Peter for being black. For example, Peter’s boss at WallMart told him to work outside as she defended her ideas that black people were made to work in to sun and that Africans can easily work in the sun; which forced Peter and other black workers to work outdoors, in the heat. During his life in Kansas, he had to send money back to Sudan, to go school, manage the school work, do his job and pay his rents all by himself. This was a lot of pressure on a young man who has no one to lean on to for support. Peter also found adjusting to the American culture hard because he was unsure how things work. As he went to school, he liked a girl but didn’t know what to do and caught a bird for her, which was a way to express his affections in Sudan but the girl was left confused about why Peter caught a bird for her. Compared to Santino, Peter goes through more hard times so make himself blend into the American culture. This is because Santino prefers to live among the Sudanese refugees and tends to hang around with people from his culture. However Peter, he tries his best to adjust himself into this new habitat. Peter goes to church, a type of community gathering and always kept himself open-minded; making it easier for him to hang out with school friends from various different countries. He also participates in ceremonies although it isn’t easy for him to actively take part.