The Obstacles Just Don't Seem To End

As they heard the loud bursts of gunshots and saw fire encompassing their villages they panicked, running in a flurry. Some of them didn't even see or hear anything; they just came back to their village only to find there was nothing left to come back to. Seeking refuge, they ran away from their destroyed villages encountered thousands of others seeking refuge. They were called the “Lost Boys,” orphaned and with no possessions but their misery and trauma. But it wasn’t over. The abolition of their villages was just the beginning. The journey started off with thousands of Lost Boys, but by the time they reached the refugee camp, so many boys had been lost due to starvation, getting shot at, lion attacks, heat, exhaustion and other annihilating factors. Apart from these factors, the Lost Boys also had to go through another obstacle, the Gilo River. More boys were lost because some didn’t know how to swim and others were devoured by the alligators. When the boys arrived at the refugee camp, they faced more challenges. The food servings were rationed and all the facilities had to be shared. But at the very least, they were safe from the rebel groups who had inflicted the war and genocide upon Darfur. The Lost Boys experienced stepped migration; a process in which the boys moved from one location to another (from Darfur, Sudan, they travelled by foot to Ethiopia, where they had to go to Kenya because Ethiopia was not able to support the refugees). The U.S. Refugee Program also helped the refugees and slowly, by hundreds, boys were flown to America in hopes of better living. Soon enough they were to find that America was not the heaven they thought it would be.

Peter Dut was one of the Lost Boys who was migrated to the United States in Houston, Texas. It was in Texas where he first realized that America was nothing like heaven as was described in Kenya. He had financial problems, and experienced racism and getting robbed. On top of all that was the culture shock of the American ethnography. Although his fellow refugee friends stuck with him through everything, he became annoyed with their lack of urge for a better education. Therefore he moved to Kansas where he enrolled into a public school in pursuit of a better education. (Because it was a public school, he did not have to pay and therefore no money was deducted from his income.) Peter deducted a few years from his estimated age (he wasn’t born in a hospital and therefore had no records) so he’d be accepted in school. Aside from being an ESL student, Peter was successful in school. But many did not expect this success, the school counsellor being one of these people. Peter experienced racism when the counsellor presumed that Peter would not need to take an entrance exam for college since his grades were probably only good enough for community college. But Peter exceeded the counsellor’s expectations. As the counsellor explained that Peter needed an autobiography for his college application, Peter was already one step ahead. He had written it before seeing the counsellor. Apart from racism in school, he also experienced it with his job. He worked with other Sudanese refugees at Wal-Mart as one of the boys who brought the trolleys back inside from the outdoor parking lot. His boss had given the job to him taking into account his color, stating that since he was already “burnt,” he could work outside in the heat because he was used to being under the sun. People also thought he’d steal because he was black.

With his income, it was challenging to balance supporting himself and the people in Sudan. But with Peter’s determination and persistence, he found ways to provide money for the people and himself. In school, Peter pursued basketball in hopes of making the varsity team. He didn’t make it, but that gave him more time to study and work. It helped Peter to have friends who weren’t Sudanese because this helped him assimilate to the American culture as he became more exposed to it. He hung out with friends from school and from that circle of friends, was introduced to more people in a Christian group.

The journey was very challenging for the Peter and the Lost Boys, and each step forward just seemed to be another obstacle. It seemed as if the obstacles never ended. But with Peter’s persistence, he was able to keep moving forward. Peter Dut struggled through times of chaos, and with his persistence and hard work, he survived the storm and the skies gradually became clearer and clearer for him.

Videos of the Darfurians in the refugee camp in Kenya:

Darfurian Voices

Democracy & Marginalization

Discrimination

Message To The World