Оңтүстік Суданның жоғалған балалары

Group of refugees from southern Sudan

The Lost Boys of Sudan refers to a group of over 20,000 boys of the Nuer and Dinka ethnic groups who were displaced or orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1987–2005). Two million were killed and others were severely affected by the conflict. The term was used by healthcare workers in the refugee camps and may have been derived from the children's story of Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie. The term was also extended to refer to children who fled the post independence violence in South Sudan in 2011–2013. The boys embarked on treacherous journeys to refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya where thousands were sheltered for several years. Some of the Lost Boys were offered shelter and residence in the United States through official resettlement programs.

The Sudanese conflict, which incited the journey of the Lost Boys, stemmed from divisions among the Arabic speaking Islamic Northerners and the Christian, Roman Catholic, and indigenous religions in the South. Following Sudan's independence from Britain in 1956, these divisions became contentious. The northern region of the country was primarily Muslim, which contrasted ideologically and culturally with the Christian, Roman Catholic, indigenous religions, and atheists that were more prevalent in the south. In the Northerners' minds, the South was a legitimate place of conversation because the Christian religion promotes secularization. For each side, religion constituted identity, making the conflict extremely personal for all involved. Further, the Northern population was primarily Arabic speakers, while the South comprised an English speaking population. The new Sudanese government was dominated by Islamic Northerners who sought to Arabize and make the South an Islamic state, which had previously associated more with their African ethnicity rather than Arab. Additionally, the conflict boosted economic elements. Although the north had more of the urban centers of the nation, they depended heavily on natural resources such as oil and minerals that were found in the southern region. The interests of northern business in extracting these resources contrasted the interests of southern farmers to protect and own their own land for agriculture. Children were highly marginalized during this period. As a result, they began to conglomerate and organize themselves in an effort to flee the country and the war.

Motivated by the loss of their parents and their need to find food and safety from the conflict, an estimated 20,000 boys from rural southern Sudan fled to bordering Ethiopia and Kenya. Much of the travel took place by foot in large groups with the boys traveling in single file lines. The journey from South Sudan to the nearest refugee camp could be up to thousands of miles. Travel ranged from a span of weeks to two or more years. Often, the children traveled with no possessions besides the clothes on their backs. The Boys often depended on the charity of villages they passed for food, necessities, and treatment of the sick. However, most of their travel was in isolated regions with very little infrastructure. Groups of Boys were often organized and led by the oldest boy in the group, who could be a young adult or sometimes as young as ten or twelve years old. The Lost Boys on this migration were on average extremely malnourished, as food was sourced through donations from villages encountered along the way, hunting, and theft. Conditions were made even more dangerous by the SPLA soldiers, who would attack the boys or forcibly recruit them as child soldiers. The SPLA estimated that 1,200 boys were recruited from groups of displaced children, although they deny forcing any of them into conflict.

Initially, most of the fleeing boys went to a refugee camp in Ethiopia, until the war in 1991 sent the boys fleeing again to a different refugee camp called Kakuma, which is located in Kenya. The arrival of the Lost Boys to the refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya were welcomed to various degrees. It was difficult for the camps to provide sufficient food for the hundreds of boys arriving daily. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees and involved non governmental organizations were often constrained to meet the needs of the population. A unique problem for the story of the Lost Boys is how the age and family structure dynamics of the camps changed with the influx of young people.

Between 1992 and 1996, UNICEF reunited approximately 1,200 Lost Boys with their families. However, about 17,000 were still in camps throughout Ethiopia and Kenya as of 1996. These camps' inability to sustain the additional population burden made it evident to government officials that more needed to be done. In 2001, as part of a program established by the United States Government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), approximately 3,800 Lost Boys were offered resettlement in the United States. They are now scattered over at least 38 cities, including major metropolises such as Chicago, Dallas, Boston, Seattle and Atlanta. Numerous resettlement agencies, such as Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), World Relief and other privatized organizations assisted in this resettlement process. A variety of programs have been initiated to help these displaced people in areas of education, medical assistance, reconnecting with families in South Sudan and in rebuilding efforts and providing humanitarian aid in Southern Sudan. Because many boys were over the age of 18, they were unable to be placed into the foster care system. Thus, they were placed into apartment complexes with one another in hopes that they would sustain the kind of family atmosphere that was cultivated in Kakuma. Posttraumatic stress, separation from loved ones, cultural isolation, racism and discrimination against the refugees made assimilation extremely difficult. Many studies have discussed a common condition among the Lost Boys of ambiguous loss. This occurs when someone experiences the loss of a family member without the closure of death, which allows for mourning and moving forward. However, it was often difficult to reunite if the boys were already in the US and the families remained in camps. South Sudan allows free access to Lost Boys/Girls and Sudanese Diaspora from around the world to return to their homeland. As a result, many are now returning to South Sudan to pay it forward and help in the rebuilding of their war torn country, and to provide humanitarian aid and support. In January 2011, 99.47% of South Sudanese voted to separate from the north and become an independent nation. Some American former Lost Boys and Girls now hold positions in the current Government of South Sudan.