In my last blog post I briefly discussed the history of the Lost Boys of Sudan and their lifelong journeys. I ended the post with a lingering and broad question about the ‘Lost Girls’ which is where I will pick up again with this post.

What I believe lead to my concern for the Lost Girls was attributed by Hilary Chute in her article The Texture of Retracing in Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis”. In this article, Chute calls out the New York Times Magazine saying it “virtually ignores graphic narrative work by women” (92). I had the same defensive reaction for the life narratives on women affected by the war in Sudan. While Chute proves the New York Times wrong by exploring the brilliant work of Marjane Satrapi, I unfortunately am unable to do so for the Lost Girls of Sudan. With so many unanswered questions I was struck by the lack of information I knew about them.

Questions that immediately came to my mind were: Who are they? Where are they? Why do I know so little about them?

Admittedly, these questions didn’t fully occur to me until I read What Is the What by Dave Eggers. More specifically, until page 140 where the topic of rape was first introduced. In this paragraph, the writer explains how some Lost Girls of Southern Sudan were “made to work in Arab homes, and later became concubines, bearing the children of their keepers”. The lack of women and girls’ stories in the meta-narrative of the Sudan civil war caught me off guard. How had I not given this perspective more thought? The idea of women being slaves, made to bear the children of their abusers was profoundly disturbing.

The following sentence, and rest of the paragraph left me angry and confused; leading me to even more questions that I still don’t know the answers to.

“Boys tended to livestock and were often raped, too. This, I have to tell you, is one of the gravest offenses of the Arabs. Homosexuality is not a part of Dinka culture, not even in a covert way; there simply are no practicing homosexuals at all, and thus sodomy, particularly forced sodomy upon innocent boys, has fueled the war as much as any other crime committed by the murahaleen” (140).

What struck me as infuriating and confusing here was the general disregard for the suffering and equally traumatic experiences of the girls. Understandably, the writer is telling a story from a cultural perspective that I am not familiar with that may not allow females the same basic rights and equalities. That said, I noticed a trend throughout not only this book, but also in the documentary God Grew Tired of Us, where Sudanese boys were repeatedly in the spotlight telling their stories.

Out of curiosity I continued to read about the Lost Girls online and was shocked to find that of 3700 Sudanese refugees relocated to the U.S., only 89 of them were women. This may have something to do with the lack of information and publicity they have received. Of those 89 girls, most of them were sisters or cousins of boys already in the U.S. (McKelvey).

The overall lack of information about these women is alarming.

What does this suggest about the relevance of female life narratives from the war in Southern Sudan?

For more information on the Lost Girls click on the following articles:

“Where Are The ‘Lost Girls?”

Kakuma refugee camp to Mississippi: Life & Dreams of “Lost Girl of S. Sudan

Lost Boy, Lost Girl: Escaping the Civil War in Sudan

Sudanese refugee chases her dream in civil war’s wake

Citations:

Abeng-Nsah, Lema. “Kakuma Refugee Camp to Mississippi: Life & Dreams of ‘Lost Girl of S. Sudan’ ADENG ABUR.” DUNIA Magazine. 20 Oct. 2014. Web. 14 Nov. 2014. <http://www.duniamagazine.com/2014/10/the-life-and-dreams-of-lost-girl-of-south-sudan-adeng-abur/>.

Chute, Hillary. “The Texture Of Retracing In Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis.” WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly 36, 1 & 2 (2008): 92-110.

Eggers, Dave. “XI.” What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng : A Novel. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2006. 140. Print.

Johnson, Virginia. “Lost Boy, Lost Girl: Escaping the Civil War in Sudan by John Bul Dau and Martha Arual Akech.” Librarypoint. LibraryPoint: Central Rappahannock Regional Library, 13 Dec. 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2014. <http://www.librarypoint.org/lost_boy_lost_girl_dau>.

McKelvey, Tara. “What Happened to the “lost Girls” of Sudan?” Slate Magazine. 3 Oct. 2003. Web. 14 Nov. 2014. <http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2003/10/where_are_the_lost_girls.html>.

Ramirez, Marc. “The Seattle Times: Living: Sudanese Refugee Chases Her Dream in Civil War’s Wake.” The Seattle Times: Living: Sudanese Refugee Chases Her Dream in Civil War’s Wake. The Seattle Times, 8 Aug. 2004. Web. 13 Nov. 2014. <http://seattletimes.com/html/living/2001998830_lostgirls08.html>.

In this two part blog entry, I’ve decided to split two different but very important perspectives from the genocide in Sudan because in my opinion, they both deserve equal time and coverage.

This semester in my ASTU 100 class we have read excerpts from various academic writers such as Hillary Chute, Kay Schaffer and Sidonie Smith. They have explored similar concepts of trauma, loss as consequences of war and the impacts associated with memory and remembering.

In reading What Is the What by Dave Eggers, these reoccurring concepts are easily connected and applicable. In this memoir, the reader is taken on a heartbreaking journey narrated by one man’s experiences as a lost boy in Sudan. This lost boy, Valentino Achak Deng shares his very personal account, with help from Dave Eggers, of his continuous struggle to survive his life’s journey from war-torn Sudan, to the Kakuma refugee camp, and later years in the United States.

Over time, the thousands of lost boys in the refugee camp of Kakuma developed friendships into families and communities. Similar to the story of Valentino Achak Deng in What Is the What, in the film God Grew Tired of Us, other lost boys were given the opportunity to share their stories while being followed and videotaped making the transition from refugee camp in Kakuma to an apartment in the United States. Several lost boys lost their fathers, mothers, siblings, neighbors, and friends to the war. Having survived together through horrific circumstances and tragic odds, their bonds became very strong. One of the boys in the film, John Dau, opened up about missing his friends who are still in the refugee camp, the community he was a part of, and the guilt and responsibility of leaving them behind.

While reading What Is the What, I was continuously shocked and emotionally overwhelmed. The traumatic events in this book and the thousands of stories that will be left untold are moving beyond words. Upon seeing real footage of hundreds of young, thin boys walking together in God Grew Tired of Us, I was taken to a whole other emotional level. Having read about it was difficult, having seen it was haunting. As Chute writes about the “ethical verbal and visual witnessing” (94) impacted by the graphic narrative genre in Persepolis, both What Is the What and God Grew Tired of Us combines are powerful in the same way.

As I learned more about the lost boys, it occurred to me that I know very little about the “lost girls”. Stay tuned for part two of this topic in my next post where I explore what this lack of lost girls coverage suggests.

Citations:

Chute, Hillary. “The Texture Of Retracing In Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis.” WSQ: Women’s Studies  Quarterly: 92-110. Print.

God Grew Tired of Us: The Story of Lost Boys of Sudan” National Geographic Films, 2007. DVD.

“Former “Lost Boy” of Sudan, Genocide Survivor, Social Entrepreneur and Humanitarian, John Bul Dau.” Welcome To DanaRoc.com. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.

Schaffer, Kay, and Sidonie Smith. “Conjunctions: Life Narratives In The Field Of Human Rights.” Biography 27.1 (2004): 1-24. Print.