Courageous Journey. Barbara Youree

      Table of Contents

       Title Page

       Dedication

       AUTHORS’ NOTE

       Preface

       ONE - GRIEF AND JOY

       TWO - SMALL TALK BRUTAL EVENTS

       THREE - FLEEING TERROR

       FOUR - FEAR LURKS

       FIVE - LAKE OF DEATH

       SIX - INCHING FORWARD

       SEVEN - GRIEF AND WELCOMES

       EIGHT - HUNGER’S LESSONS

       NINE - FINDING A BROTHER MAKING A NEW FRIEND

       TEN - VIVID MEMORIES

       ELEVEN - “SEEDS OF THE NEW SUDAN”

       TWELVE - A BREWING STORM

       THIRTEEN - WAR AND PEACE

       FOURTEEN - CROSSING THE GILO RIVER

       FIFTEEN - STARVATION

       SIXTEEN - GOODBYES

       SEVENTEEN - BLOOD SMOKE AND EARTH

       EIGHTEEN - “HOW ARE WE TO LIVE?”

       NINETEEN - FORMING NEW TIES

       TWENTY - FAMILIES LOST AND FOUND

       TWENTY-ONE - OSAMA BIN LADEN

       TWENTY-TWO - VYING FOR A LOST LOVE

       TWENTY-THREE - HEALING EMOTIONAL SCARS

       TWENTY-FOUR - RAYS OF HOPE

       TWENTY-FIVE - THIRSTY FOR KNOWLEDGE

       TWENTY-SIX - KNOCK AND IT SHALL OPEN

       TWENTY-SEVEN - PAINFUL FAREWELLS

       TWENTY-EIGHT - U.S.A.: DREAMING AND REALITY

       TWENTY-NINE - A ROMANTIC CALL

       THIRTY - STRIVING FORWARD

       THIRTY-ONE - AMERICAN LIFE, SUDANESE DREAMS

       ENGLISH/DINKA TRANSLATIONS

       Copyright Page

       DEDICATION

      This story is dedicated to those who sacrificed their lives in Sudan’s civil war, those injured and mutilated by it and those displaced with no hope of returning to their homes. In a larger sense, we want it to bring hope to oppressed people everywhere who are in crisis—particularly children—looking for solutions as they remember the turmoil they endured. We pray that their dreams may become reality and the legacy of their suffering turn to happiness through that struggle. With faith in God, we hope that one day these people will find support and comfort by sharing stories of their painful journey as we have done in sharing ours.

      —Ayuel Leek Deng and Beny Ngor Chol

       AUTHORS’ NOTE

      These are the actual experiences and personal histories of Ayuel Leek Deng and Beny Ngor Chol, and this book reflects their opinions of the past, present and future. The personalities, events, actions and conversations portrayed within the story have been reconstructed from their memories, documents, letters, personal papers, press accounts and the memories of other participants. Events involving the characters happened as described; only minor details have been changed.

      In an effort to safeguard the privacy of certain people, some locations, individuals’ names and identifying characteristics have been changed. Some minor characters are composites.

      Map of Africa courtesy of the CIA World Factbook

       PREFACE

      Sometimes we look through a single window at one of the world’s many tragedies and are touched so deeply that we are forever changed. That happened to me when I met Ayuel Leek Deng and Beny Ngor Chol and heard their incredible story.

      I knew Sudan was in Africa, but I had not been aware of the civil war between the North and the South, in which more than two million Sudanese had died and even more displaced. The war was still raging in 2001 when I first learned of the so-called Lost Boys of Sudan. Since I rarely miss a news cycle and am especially interested in global situations, I was shocked to learn that thousands of displaced children had walked for months across Sudan’s barren land, menaced by starvation, disease, wild animals and shrapnel from their own government’s helicopter fire. The world community made little effort to relieve their suffering. Though the peace accord was signed in 2005, a similar crisis