The Second Sudanese Civil War started in 1983 when Sudan's Muslim government tried to impose sharia law on the non-Muslim southerners. The Sudan People's Liberation Army was made up of mostly Sudanese people from the southern region, objectors to the government. The war between the two factions unfortunately caused the people of Sudan to suffer the worst.
The government destroyed Cities and villages suspected of harboring SPLA members. Entire families were brutally murdered by the murahaleen, a group who was promised fertile Dinka land for their help in the war. Those who were left alive began migrating to Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda in an effort to escape the horror in their home countries.
With over 20,000 boys from the ages of 7 to 17 displaced from their homes in Sudan, the aid workers in the refugee camps created a name for the boys who had no place to call their own. They were dubbed the Lost Boys of Sudan.
Once these boys reached the refugee camps, though, they were not safe. Many boys were forcefully enlisted in the SPLA and made to fight in the war.
Once the situation became more prominent in the American media, the Lost Boys Foundation began to bring over thousands of displaced Sudanese men and women in an effort to provide the refugees with a better life. Many have returned to Sudan, though. They have reunited with their families and strive to rebuild their homeland with more educational opportunities to better resources.
