'Lost Boy' shares his journey

By: Ed Komenda

Posted: 11/14/07

John Bul Dau witnessed death on a daily basis during his adolescent life while war tore through his home country of Sudan, Africa. Due to these circumstances, Dau became a "lost boy" - and the subject of the award-winning documentary "God Grew Tired of Us."

Dau shared his story at Western Illinois University Monday night as part of the Global Perspective Series.

His journey began in 1987 when he tried to sleep in the gender-segregated village of Duk Payuel in southern Sudan.

"In the middle of night, the sound of guns, the whistling of bullets and bombs woke me up," Dau said. "As I found myself standing, I realized my village was under attack."

Troops from northern Sudan, comprised of Muslims, attacked the village of Duk Payuel in the hope of converting the non-Muslim villagers. Southern Sudanese men were shot if they showed any resistance.

As bombs fell and bullets whizzed through the air, Dau found himself running toward the sound of his mother's voice, which was screaming at the children to get outside. According to Dau, as soon as he left the house he found himself lying low in tall grass with a neighbor he had mistaken for his father.

"All of a sudden, the long line of troops were coming through our village shooting," Dau said. "I kept quiet because I knew something was wrong."

Though he wanted to reunite with his family, Dau took the advice of the neighbor, who assured him it was far too dangerous to stay in the village. Following that night of horror was a 14-year journey to survive in various refugee camps throughout Ethiopia and Kenya.

Dau talked about times of great struggle that often left the group of lost boys with no food or water, which ravaged their bodies.

"My skin started to turn white, and I would cry but no tears would come out," Dau said. "I thought it was the end of the world."

Whenever there was a shortage of food, he said he was forced to regularly eat mud and chew grass to maintain energy. He added that mud resembled mashed potatoes, and eating it helped suppress hunger.

The numbers in the group of lost boys eventually grew to nearly 27,000 upon reaching an Ethiopian refugee camp. According to Dau, the government was not prepared for such an enormous influx of people, and diseases such as chicken pox, malaria, measles and whooping cough swept through the country.

"I was in charge of one group of 50 refugees, and I remember seeing two or three lost boys dying every day from my group." Dau said.

Despite these tribulations, after four years in Ethiopia, life seemed to get better. He finally had some food and water.

But once again, the rebel army from northern Sudan began to attack and were successful in overthrowing the Ethiopian government.

"The new government gave us seven days and they said, 'leave our country very quickly,'" Dau said. "We had to go back to southern Sudan because there wasn't any other way."

The journey that followed the lost boys' stay in Ethiopia saw even more deaths due to an attempt to cross a river filled with crocodiles on the border of Sudan. Dau said the group was forced across the river by the rebel government, and many of the boys were shot and killed, drowned or captured.

By the time the group crossed the river, there were only 18,000 left of the original 27,000 lost boys. They found themselves struggling to survive again, with bare necessities nowhere in sight.

The lost boys were previously given clothes by the United Nations when they resided in Ethiopia, but when they resided in Ethiopia, but they were forced to sell them for food. According to Dau, the lost boys pushed on until they found themselves in Kenya.

"Kenya was a new chapter," he said. "This is where I started to go to school and learned my ABCs and 123s."

Dau said he was 17 when he began the first grade, and he finally finished high school at 27. Dau found life was good in Kenya and school was even better.

"The smell of the new books was excellent," Dau said. "I still remember it smelling good right now."

In 2001, Dau was brought to Syracuse, N.Y., along with two other lost boys under sponsorship of the First Presbyterian Church of Skaneateles, N.Y. In 2004, after three years in the United States, Dau received an associate's degree.

Dau said the help he received from the United States inspired him to help others, so he formed various non-profit organizations to help the remaining lost boys get their lives on track.

"I was thinking about how the American people have been helping me out, and what I can do for my people," Dau said. "That is when the mood of helping people came into me and I decided to do something."

His foundation recently built a health clinic in Sudan and has raised enough money for construction of a second. His goal is to build five additional clinics, each located 50 miles from one another.

In 2004, after speaking at a refugee camp in Sudan, Dau learned his family was still alive. He eventually raised enough money to bring his mother and sister to the United States, though his father and brother remain in Africa.

At the end of his powerful story, Dau addressed the audience as brothers and sisters as he shared that life in America is difficult, and sometimes the thought of giving up is overwhelming.

"I never thought I would survive," Dau said. "But there is one thing that I didn't do, brothers and sisters. I didn't give up."

The lost boy delivered a powerful message to students of Western that was much appreciated as the crowd thanked Dau with a standing ovation.

"Never be discouraged when you can't see a blue sky," Dau said. "Just because it is covered by gray clouds doesn't mean it is not there."