![]() There Salva had the good fortune to get a sponsorship to travel to the United States in 1996. Salva led a group of 1,500 “lost boys” who walked hundreds of kilometres over 18 months, through the desert and across three countries, to reach Kakuma refugee camp in northern Kenya. Salva was among some 20,000 children, mostly boys between 7 and 17 years of age, according to UNICEF, who were separated from their families during the war and ran into the bush and who came to be known as the “lost boys of Sudan”.Īfter six years at the Ethiopian refugee camp, it was time to move again. Upon reaching neighbouring Ethiopia, they were sent to Itang refugee camp in the western part of the country. He joined a group of villagers from his Dinka ethnic group who walked for two months, with many succumbing to hunger, dehydration and famished wild animals along the way. He escaped before seeing his parents or knowing whether they were alive or not. This marked the beginning of a long odyssey for Salva and the other boys from Loun-Ariik village fleeing from war. Suddenly it was no longer safe for the students to remain at school, and the teachers ordered them to run and hide in the bushes, because they knew their villages would be attacked soon. Rebels from southern Sudan had taken up arms against the government in the north in a war for independence. “Get down, lie on the floor,” the teacher cried out to the frightened pupils. The year was 1985.Īfter a single gunshot, the teacher peeked outside, just as more gunshots rent the air. An infernal civil war had ignited in his native South Sudan. Salva Dut was 11 years old, sitting through the last lesson in class and looking forward to the trip home with his schoolmates.
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