God Grew Tired of Us
This was a very impactful film about three of the 'Lost Boys of Sudan' who fled war in Sudan and recount their experiences as they re-settle in the United States. The challenges they were forced to face in Sudan, then Ethiopia, and then Kenya were almost beyond belief. I have read two books on this subject - tens of thousands of boys as young as babies having to travel hundreds of miles, often without food and water, because their Muslim northern government decided to kill all male children from the Christian south end of the country. I am again trying to understand how people can treat others so horribly, and why they think they can do it in the name of religion or tribe or color, or any other reason that seems so insignificant and yet has resulted in such loss of humanity.
The film also focussed on the difficulty of three of these boys in adjusting to life in the US, as aspect I hadn't really appreciated before. A good thing for us to keep in mind when Rossland welcomes its two Burmese families next year. Some of you may want to become active in that process as part of your 'taking action' portion of the course.
If any of you would like to see the film, I will borrow it for you. I do recommend it.
I was very shocked that when the "Lost Boys" travelled to America they had to pay back the American government, and that they only had three months of supported living before they had to support themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe boys had only gotten some education in the refugee camps, how were they expected to earn enough money to support themselves with barely a high school level education. Yet these boys saved everything they could and sent it back to there camp or camps where there families had been found in.
If I was one of them I know I would not have been that brave and strong, I can understand why some boys became mentally unstable and went to hospitals. They had witnessed to so much trauma in their lives, had to run for their lives and now they are placed in a foreign place where everything was totally different than what there whole life had been, and they barely had any help it seemed.
I found “The Lost Boys of Sudan” to be a very powerful film, and would also recommend it to all of you! I find that such documentaries often do not do a good job of portraying the personal effects of the situation on individuals. Most focus on asking a few main people to be interviewed repeatedly, but their words are usually direct responses to answers. In this film I found the main boys were often just speaking to the audience without a specific question to direct their words to, and this was very impactful!
ReplyDeleteLike Megan, I was very shocked, or rather disturbed, that when the boys travelled to America they had to pay back the American government so quickly! The government expected them to become personally stable and financially secure within 3 months, and then pay them back within a year. I think the government should have supported them for a minimum of one year, minimal time to get some experience through education or job experience. After that year they should be expected to pay the government back a little bit every month over the following five years. They would still get back all their money back, but would carry through a much more effective refugee program. Another huge problem in the system that these boys had to face was culture immersion. The program basically gave them a 5 minute tour of their new home, and minimal community tours. These boys, coming from a very different culture isolated from western society, deserve a guide to work with them personally, everyday, for at least a couple months. These boys felt lost in this new world and there was nobody to help them with their daily complications.
Nonetheless, the efforts that were present should be recognized, for the cause is very
important.
This movie was great and as with Sam, I would also recommend it. It was interesting and depressing to see what these boys had gone through at a young age. The stuff that happened to the children in Sudan is almost unthinkable here in Canada. All this violence happened during the Civil War in Sudan. I had never heard much about it before this movie and the surprising thing is that the Civil War ended in 2005 and even though I as quite young when that happen I heard very little about it. I am glad that other countries took in some of the displaced boys but like Sam and Megan said, I was surprised by how quick the Us government believe that the boys could settle in and get back on their feet. To pay back their loans in a year on minimum wage is hard and these boys were trying to send money to the friends and families. Some were forced to get two jobs while some just cracked under the pressure. Movies like this one always make me wish I could do more to help people like these.
ReplyDeletefilm made me very happy in my choice for a post secondary education. In my future I was to be able to help people, and though it will most likely be dangerous for certain aspects of the job, I feel obligated to do something. Watching God Grew Tired of Us reminded me a little bit about the Holocaust, not only in the appearance of the boys, but also because it was some what like a genocide against the boys of Sudan. Like Jonas, I am very surprised that I knew nothing of this until I watched the video two days ago, how was it that this event was not in the media at all? The news is always about the worst stories, so why wasn't there anything on this?
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe how soon the American Government expected to be paid back after the boys came to America....it's just so baffling! They had to learn an entirely knew way of living, and then get jobs to pay back the government only after 3 months of living there? That just seems completely unfair.
The hardest part of the video for me to watch was the very end, when the one boy got reunited with his mother and his sister. That one scene just really pulled on my heart strings, and is very good motivation to help reunite families all across the world.