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Show Al2 The Salt Lake Tribune NATION/WORLD Sunday,March 11, 2001 After Childhood in Exile, Sudanese Man Finds Homein U.S. Notall Lost Boys made their way to a safe place BY SHARON COHEN ‘THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HUDSONVILLE, Mich. — Sometimes the boy dreamed a hungry lion was stalking him, coming ever closer, ready to ounce. -:. Or a huge bird was swooping - down, digging its daggerlike claws ‘into his skin. Orthere was the pop-pop-pop of gunfire, and people were. falling and dying. The boy would run and run, but the bullet was always faster. Whenfriends would rouse him, his face was often wet with tears. Thenthe terror would ebb and he would say, “I just had a dream.” But the nightmares often mirrored the real-life horrors of the boy’s life on the run, separated from family, fighting for survival in a chaotic cornerofeast Africa. Heis one of the Lost Boys of Sudan,refugees ofa civil war that forced thousands of young children and teens into exile, leaving many of them orphans. By the thousands, they walked hundreds of miles across wind-sweptdeserts, swam crocodile-infested rivers, ate bitter-tasting leaves when there was nothing else, drank rainwater, saw friends devoured by lions and huddled hungry and frightened in refugees heading east toward Ethi- refugee camps. Thelucky ones survived. Emmanuel Makenderis among them. A journey that began with the crackofarifle in Africa has ended at last in a red brick house on a peaceful street in this quiet suburb in middle America. Many years have passed. Emmanuel’s father, three brothers and two sisters are dead. His childhood is over. His days in the Dinka tribe are a memory. Emmanuel no longer herds cattle in the tall Sudanese grass; he bags groceries in a busy U.S. su- though some were as young as 4. Some older boys carried bal ence class. Henolongerfears for his life. Emmanuel hasa fosterfamily to watch over him. A roof above his head instead of a leaky canopy of leaves. Plenty of food, to say noth- No one is sure exactly how many children fled Sudan or how manydied en route, but by some estimates, 17,000 — including a small number ofgirls — madeit to refugee camps in Ethiopia. Political turmoil there forced them out after four years, and manytrekked back to Sudan, and finallyto safety in Kenya. Refugee experts debated the question: Where is the best place for the children? For about 3,800 Lost Boys, the answer is America. For each, the move is a giant leap of faith, says Julianne Dun- ing of shoes — four pairs now. can, who recently spent a year in permarket. He nolonger faces ferocious beasts, just a harmless iguana — behindglassin his sci- Andpeace. Fighting and Famine: For Emmanuel and the other Lost Boys, the journeybegan in Sudan, a land wracked bya civil war that hasleft 2 million people dead from fighting or famine. Up to 4 million others have been displaced in the 18-year conflict thatpits the Islamic government in Kenya’s Kakuma camp and supervises refugee foster care at Lutheran Social Services of Washington and Idaho. They knownothing ofAmerica, she says, but are bold enough to take arisk, “Theysay,‘Idon’t havea future. Idon’t even havefood. Ijust have to take a chance and hope thatI will survive.’” measures a man’s wealth by ee ee a child, Emmanuel helped hutereal 100 cattle, goats and geo in their isolated village in southern Sudan, one ofthe poorest sense of whates beyond his narrow Toomanvets"wide forehead is scarred, indicating he went through a manhood ritual before he fled, which would make him older than 18, the estimated age given to him by reliefworkers. But no one knowshis age for sure. Emmanuel remembers little aboutthe nightthat gunfire spread pandemonium in his village. His mother and someofhis brothers andsisters ran one way. He ran the other. After hiding for days, Emmanuel joined thousands of Sudanese no time to bury bodies, no time to, rest. Emmanuelfounda place in the middle of the human caravan, knowing if he lagged behind and fell he mightnot be rescued Though weak, he helped an even weaker boy, feeding him corn kernels to keep him from giving up. “He fall down,”he recalls. “T pick him up. I give him three pieces ofmaize. He walks again.” Camp Education: After three months, Emmanuel’sblisteredfeet had carried him to Ethiopia. He had walked hundreds of miles. Hesettled in with thousands of camp, where they built huts, schools and churches from mud andfelled trees. Emmanuel began studying English in school, learning the alphabet and howto countto 100. With nopencils or paper atfirst, he and the other students carved letters and numbers in the dirt with their fingers. Eventually,reliefagencies brought food and books. 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