A run for his life

Moses was 12-years old when the Mujahidin (Islamic warriors) attacked his village in Sudan. The militia was known for their harsh tactics:  forced conversion to Islam, massacre of those sympathetic to the Christian forces, forced conscription of children. During the attack his parents urged him to flee. Along with a group of other children he ran for his life, sadly never again to see his family.

An arduous walk to safety

The children eventually crossed the border into Ethiopia, part of an estimated 27,000 young people who fled on foot in the late 1980s to escape Sudan's Muslim government which had “pronounced death to all males in the Christian south.”   Their arduous journey across Sudan, Ethiopia, and eventually into Kenya took months during which thousands died from dehydration, starvation, and repeated attacks.  A mere 12,000 children made it to Kikumu refugee camp in Northern Kenya where they became known as the “Lost Boys (and Girls) of Sudan”.  Years later that very journey was chronicled in a film, “God Grew Tired of Us”.  Moses, however, never grew tired of God as he related the rest of the story to Bill & me a few weeks ago.

Journey to the United States

Moses spent five years in the refugee camp and was part of the 8,000 refugees eventually allowed into the United States in the 1990s.  The abrupt transition from living in a refugee camp to an apartment complex in Jacksonville, Florida was a culture shock for young Moses.   He enrolled in night school, hauled cement for a construction company, and ultimately gained entrance into a community college in upstate New York where he supported himself by working in a yogurt factory.  He graduated from college this spring. 

While still in college he saved money and traveled to the now-free South Sudan to find his family; a journey which brought him back to his native village, Jebel Lado.  The village chief warmly welcomed him then showed him where his family was buried; all killed during that horrendous attack.   Moses could have closed the chapter there and returned to start a new life in the United States which had since granted him citizenship.  His village chief appealed to him to help, “We have no school, no clinic”, he told young Moses, “you escaped but those who are here have no future”.

A global servant

We met Moses during his 3^rd trip back to South Sudan.   He has his Associate’s degree and still supports himself at the yogurt factory.  He lives in a one-room apartment in the Syracuse area and saves everything for these trips.  His sole possession is a car he bought for $300. 

In his hometown in the U.S. he volunteers at a community service center visiting the elderly and shut-ins bringing them meals.  He jokes that people used to be afraid when he visited their home (at 6’ 7” inches he has to lean down when he enters) but then learned he was the perfect height to change light bulbs on the ceiling. His smile and laugh are infectious.

For his community in South Sudan, he is a hero; one who has not forgotten them.  He is building a 4-room school. During his last trip he laid the foundation and today he is raising walls.  While in the US he speaks at churches, schools, and civic clubs. For this trip, he raised over $5,000, towards construction of the school. 

We joined Moses on a trip to Jebel Lado; this tall, gentle, and soft spoken giant. The children run to his side, the elders clap his back with pride (though the village chief wonders how one who lives in America can be so skinny), and Bill and I have a new friend.

Moses is one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan” who has come home.  Moses talks openly of his faith and conviction that God was with him on those long marches through Sudan and Ethiopia when he was a boy and of God’s daily provision of food and water.  He praises God for his good fortune, to have had the chance to come to America, to enter school, to find a job, and to be granted citizenship.     “God has been good to me", he remarks, "I want to do the same for others”.    This former 'lost boy' of South Sudan is today a man, who has truly found his way home!