Thousands of southerners had lived in Khartoum’s impoverished outskirts for decades. Some were born there; some had been there for generations. Reports from the move were heartbreaking--with accounts of tear-filled farewell parties for long-time workers, who were sacked and told to “go home”. The Sudanese people are world-renowned for their hospitality, but many I talked to felt “hurt” by the south’s decision to split by a nearly 99 percent vote. 

What is the What is a story of just one of the thousands of the Lost Boys, a group of refugees who escaped their hometowns on foot during the Second Sudanese Civil War starting in the 1980s. Almost every one of them young and orphaned, these boys walked from their destroyed homes in South Sudan through unbearable circumstances. Every day the group lost more children to hunger, disease, enemy fire, even lions and crocodiles, all while gaining more displaced boys along the way. Those who survived the 800-mile journey weren’t met with a much better situation once they reached their destination, a refugee camp in Ethiopia.