Success Stories - A former Lost Boy helps others to find their way

January 2008

Although he was a “Lost Boy” when growing up in the Sudan, William has both found his way to a new home in Canada and is helping others to do the same.

When he was just nine years old, William fled from his home in South Sudan to avoid being killed or abducted by troops in the country's civil war.

He was one of the approximately 20,000 “Lost Boys of Sudan,” young men forced to look after themselves without parents or guardians as they walked through the African wilderness. Many were shot by soldiers and others died from starvation, dehydration and disease.

William walked for months to reach refugee camps, first in Ethiopia and later, Kenya. He became a social worker in the camps and, after meeting a representative of the Canadian embassy, applied and was accepted to move to Canada as a refugee in 1998.

“With all of the people Canada was taking, they hired buses to take us to Nairobi and gave us an orientation class on Canada so that I had an idea of what life was like here,” he says.

Even so, when William arrived in Vancouver that July, the 22 year-old was struck by the change in climate, feeling as if he was, “freezing in the middle of the summer.”

Three years after he arrived, William became a Canadian citizen and today, he is a maintenance worker at the Metropolis at Metrotown shopping centre in Burnaby, B.C.

William has embraced his new home and job and is helping other Sudanese people who come to Vancouver. He is working to establish a community centre for the African immigrants in Vancouver and is also helping to run a tutoring program for students from Sudanese families, many whose parents lack education in Canada.

“I remember when I was their age,” says William. “I know what it is like to be on your own.”

Last year, William returned to the village in South Sudan that he fled, finding the parents he hadn't seen or spoken to for more than 20 years.

“Going home was a bit of a shock,” he says of the reunion. “At first, my parents didn’t recognize me after 20 years and thought I was a U.N. worker. It was a very touching moment.”

It also took place just in time. Two months after his visit, William’s father passed away.

The trip inspired William to start raising funds to build a well for his village. The project will cost roughly $12,000 and he is aiming to undertake it with a visit in 2008.

“Of all these problems I witnessed, water stood out as the biggest and more pressing matter” he says. “People are still drinking dirty and contaminated water from local rivers and water pools. As a result, people are getting sick and many of them die.”

Information about the project it is at www.givemeaning.com/project/southsudanwell.

Read more Protecting Refugees stories.