The Lost Boys of Sudan

Every year in Social Science class, I teach a large unit on Africa. The topics included in the curriculum are obvious- colonialism, religion, war, AIDS, poverty, etc. It's almost impossible to give justice to all the important topics to cover in this region of the world in the amount of time given. I try to make these topics relevant to the students. In the past, I've invited Gabriel Dut, a Lost Boy from Sudan and representative of the Lost Boys Chapter of Chicago, to come in and speak to the entire freshman class. Through Gabriel, I get an idea of his past and current struggles in life. He is a very nice and upbeat person despite the fact that he has bloodshot eyes from working long shifts as a taxi driver. Last I heard, he had to defer his enrollment to U of I's law school because he didn't have enough money to pay for the tuition. I also show my students clips of the Lost Boys of Sudan documentary that highlight a group of Lost Boys and their difficult transition to America. There's one scene in which the new arrivals are in their first apartment and they are being taught how to use the stove, oven, and disposal because they have never encountered these seemingly mundane appliances before. In the freshmen classes, we learn about these things and try to put idealism into action. A component of the unit is to learn about compassion. What little we are able to fundraise in class goes to the Chicago chapter to, hopefully, help those like Gabriel in need.

Despite all these experiences, I now realize that I haven't truly understood the plight of the Lost Boys. It is true that books bring a reader into a new world or a whole new level. The book, What is the What, gave me a greater understanding of Sudan's history and present.
The memoir is written by Dave Eggers, but is the life story of Valentino Achak Deng. This book is shocking, disturbing, and extremely sad. It is not an easy book to read. Nevertheless, it is a necessary book to read. It is necessary for the sake of understanding history, for celebrating the resilience of humans, for knowing the presence of evil, and for verifying that there is compassion in the world.

There are so many awful and shocking stories in the book that they are truly overbearing at times. It is unbelievable that Deng survived all the atrocities and hardships. There are airplane bombings, kidnappings, lion eatings, random shootings- how did he continue to live? All these stories show me that the person I invite every year to speak, Gabriel, is an incredibly fortunate man. He survived incredible odds and it is an honor to know him. These stories also confirm that what I do for a living, teaching youth, despite how idealistic as it sounds, is a worthy profession.

This post is a rather difficult one to write because I'm not a sensational writer. I'm unable to give the book literary justice. Just take my word for it- read the book when you're ready to read something heavy. Nick and Heidi gave this book to me as a birthday present. I kept putting off reading it because I knew the subject would be grave. Now, I am more than grateful that it was given to me and that I took time to read it.