Imagine you’re a young boy—maybe as young as three or four—separated from your family by civil war, traversing deserts and mountains with little food or water, no medical care, and no protection from wild animals.
Imagine watching hundreds of boys perish around you from hunger, disease, injury, and exhaustion. To most of us, it is unimaginable, but this was reality for “The Lost Boys of Sudan,” thousands of young boys who were separated from their families and forced to travel for more than two years and 1,000 miles to find refuge from war and certain death.
In 2001, approximately 3,800 Lost Boys were granted refugee status in the United States, and through a program with the United Nations and Lutheran Social Services, 85 of the boys came to Jacksonville in the summer of that year (We now have 135) .These young men needed instruction in the most basic requirements of daily life, such as how to flush a toilet, use running water, sleep on a bed with a blanket and pillow, and use electrical appliances such as lamps and stoves. Although it has been difficult, the boys have worked diligently to assimilate into American culture. Education, which is granted only to the wealthy in their native Sudan, has become a beacon of hope for these young men, many of whom work two jobs so they can pay tuition expenses.
Because the boys have been malnourished for most of their lives and have also been subjected to a variety of life-threatening illnesses and disease, most still suffer from health and dental problems. For this reason, Joan Hecht founded the Alliance for the Lost Boys of Sudan Foundation in 2004, to assist with the medical and educational needs of the Lost Boys living both in the U.S. and Africa.
