Father of the Lost Boys

by Yuot A. Alaak

Overview

During the Second Sudanese Civil war, thousands of South Sudanese boys were displaced from their villages or orphaned in attacks from northern government troops. Many became refugees in Ethiopia. There, in 1989, teacher and community leader Mecak Ajang Alaak assumed care of the Lost Boys in a bid to protect them from becoming child soldiers. So began a four year journey from Ethiopia to Sudan and on to the safety of a Kenyan refugee camp. Together they endured starvation, animal attacks, and the horrors of land mines and aerial bombardments. This eyewitness account by Mecak Ajang Alaak's son, Yuot, is the extraordinary true story of a man who never ceased to believe that the pen is mightier than the gun.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781925815658
Publisher:	Fremantle Press
Publication date:	06/01/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	232
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Yuot A. Alaak comes from the village of Majak in South Sudan's Jonglei State and migrated to Australia as a refugee with his parents in May 1995. He now calls himself a proud South Sudanese Australian and lives in Perth with his family.

Table of Contents

Map of Sudan and Ethiopia, early 1990s 8

Map of Kenya, early 1990s 9

Author's note 11

Prologue 13

1 Shattered dreams 20

2 Resurrection of a father 27

3 Seeking refuge 30

4 Escape to freedom 44

5 Pinyudu: home of the Lost Boys 55

6 A child soldier 69

7 A great exodus 78

8 Gilo: the river of death 89

9 Pochalla: a place of mixed blessings 103

10 Food from the clouds 116

11 A long walk to freedom 128

12 Safe at last 139

13 Kakuma: a new home 147

14 Leaving the Lost Boys 154

15 Nairobi: the beginning of the end 165

16 Seeking an escape 175

17 Down Under: to the ends of the Earth 186

18 Becoming Australian 191

19 A return to Majak 195

20 A dream realised, but… 204

Epilogue: where are we now? 209

Historical overview of conflict in the Sudan 215

Glossary 227

Acknowledgements 229