Out of Africa: During a Civil War, thousands of Sudanese boys fled through the bush, facing death at every turn. Now the survivors are moving here. This is their story.(Society)

Publication: Newsweek

Publication Date: 19-MAR-01

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An hour into his round-the-clock journey from Nairobi, Kenya, to Grand Rapids, Mich., Aciek Ateng Nai got a first taste of his life to come. High over Sudan, a flight attendant set down a plastic tray in front of him. It was typical airline fare: a mysterious meat sauce over rice, wilted salad and cold, dry bread. Yet to 19-year-old Nai and the 45 other Sudanese refugees on board--orphans who had survived an almost Biblical thousand-mile trek across Africa in search of a home--it might as well have been a feast. Nai picked up the frozen pat of butter from his plate. Not sure what to do with it, he popped it into his mouth and chewed. His seatmate poured a carton of milk over the lettuce. "We are going to eat twice in eight hours?" Nai's companion marveled. The meal was one of many firsts that January day. The young men had never so much as seen an airplane or a refrigerator or a telephone. Shivering in the air-conditioned cabin, they wrapped themselves in blankets like mummies, staring out the window at the vast continent they were leaving behind.

There they were known simply as the Lost Boys. Left parentless in Sudan's brutal civil war 14 years ago, Nai and more than 20,000 other boys--many younger than 10--were left to flee across the wastes of sub-Saharan Africa, drinking from fetid puddles and eating dried leaves. Many died along the way, succumbing to disease or starvation or mauled by lions. By the early '90s, the few thousand who survived...

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