MY AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: The Lost Boys

#LEAPOFHOPE

I remember watching a LOST BOYS movie one afternoon in Nairobi. My roommate, brother and friend Githinji Mwai​ had uploaded bunch of movies on my Laptop to keep me busy before leaving for Christmas-2014. I had no money to travel to Pokot and join my family like everyone was doing. Nairobi was starting to be vacated as people takeoff for the holiday to visit their relatives in the rural. So, instead I was dumping myself into more working hours and Githinji realized that I needed to do something different. 

My footage working at HAO Hub in Nairobi.

                                                      

I watched the lost boys of Sudan. The movie started with a village familiar in my mind. I related with the state of the shelters (they are huts not houses). I related with the children playing and herding. I related with the satisfaction of the locals despite the apparent scarcity. I related with the women going about with their chores. There was life-Until something happened that I didn't understood.

All I was watching were shootings and displacement. Children, young as 7 years of age, we trekking thousands of miles through different Countries to Kenya. I was crying profusely. I was hurting. I thanked heavens that my role at Hifadhi Africa ​is to link humanity with opportunities for progression and not destroying and subjecting innocent children to torture and unimaginable poverty condemnation. I was crying loud like I was possessed. I was possessed-by a demonic movie. A true story based movie. I promised to rededicate, like Charles, Jovenal and I had, 60% of our lives into building an Organization that will encourage community empowerment, equality and individual success. To be the reason behind smiles of joy. To father blooming careers. To quench thirst in arid lands. To cause peace and coexistence. To increase maternal healthcare access by the minority.

Fast forward into 2015, and unto our second week at Arizona State University under the Young African Leaders Initiative-YALI. I met a young, slim man from South Sudan. We briefly conversed and he mentioned to me that he was scheduled to give us a talk. We parted ways. It was a networking dinner for the Mandela Washington Fellows organized by our host university. There were many people to talk to and less time to chat about whether it was raining or not in Africa. After all, I was interested in knowing about America while he was interested to hear more about his motherland Africa. We exchanged smiles and contacts before parting ways. “I will read your book before the session with you guys”. He said something along those lines. 

Director of Lost Boys-Jany Deng and I.

Jany teaching MWF 2015 at ASU.

As fate would have it, Jany Deng was among the children I was watching on the movie in Nairobi. He survived brutal war and massacres. Over 2,000 of his countrymen did not. Jany and I would spend the rest of the next weeks together, including hiking at the Grand Canyon. I also got to meet his family and friends. 

 

Jany, John from Texas and I at Grand Canyon hike

Jany, Abba from DR Congo and I at Grand Canyon hike

He’s been in the States for 20 years now yet he’s still so young. You may be tempted to calculate his age while trekking from the horn of Africa to the further corner of Kenya. You may be tempted to calculate his robed years as a child. You may be tempted to hear how he eventually made it here and what he does. Well, ask Jany. I can just tell you for now that he is the executive Director of THE LOST BOYS. The organization named after the movie I was watching in Nairobi. He does what I do-dedicating the rest of his life to building capacity among minority communities. Keep it here for more articles.