The Next Struggle:

Sudanese Women Refugees Seeking Freedom

The multiple genocides in our history validate the statement, “If you don't know your history, it will repeat itself.” The crusades were an example of genocide. Christians tried to convert numerous people to their religion through force. Those people who did not succumb were murdered. History repeated itself during the Holocaust. Again, people were sought out and murdered because they were of a different religion. German Nazis killed millions of Jews and other victims. In the United States, Native Americans were pushed from their homeland and forced to walk across the West during the Trail of Tears. Now history is repeating itself again in Sudan where hundreds are killed each day. Some of the victims are boys and girls. Although many are murdered or taken into slavery, some are able to escape and walk to safe refugee camps in nearby countries. These young people are now known as the “Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan” and have amazing stories to tell. For many of these girls, however, their struggle is not yet over.

Stephen Deng has a story that is similar to other “Lost Boys.” He was around five or six years old when soldiers stormed his village. It was a terrifying experience. Stephen lost his family that night, but he managed to hide in the bushes unharmed with nine other children. However, the danger was not over. Soldiers searched the bushes looking for survivors, found the children and took them to a hut to be executed. Stephen escaped again, but this time he was hurt. His ear had been cut off almost completely. He ran frantically for two days until ICRC workers found him and sent him to Ethiopia with other boys. The journey was hard, but Stephen made it and eventually was able to come to the United States with many other boys. He is now receiving an education and is with people who care about him.

The stories of women like Grace Anyieth, Ayen, and Aluel do not have the same ending as Stephen Deng and other “Lost Boys”, many who are resettled in the United States. After escaping their war torn homes and traveling in horrible conditions with little food and water, each of these women reached the refugee camp of Kakuma in Northern Kenya. But their future was not hopeful.

“Why not the girls?” is a question asked by seventeen year old Grace Anyiek who lives in Kakuma. The refugee boys were kept together waiting to be resettled, while the girls, like Grace, were put into the care of foster-parents. However, these foster-parents aren't fulfilling their jobs. Grace describes herself as a servant rather than a daughter.

Ayen's story is similar to Grace's. Ayen is eighteen and wants to continue with her studies. However, she fears that her foster-parents will find a rich man and marry her off for a good price. The Kakuma society is not safe for women. Aluel, unlike Grace and Ayen, is an outcast. She was attacked by a man and is now a single mother of her two-year-old daughter, Monday. These three women, along with others, suffer immensely, even away from the dangers of the civil war.

All four of these survivors, and countless others, battled poisonous snakes, militias, famine, disease, armies, and animal predators on their journey to safety. Many found refuge in Ethiopia until the war hit there and the children were forced to leave again, surviving on leaves, grass, mud and animal carcasses, and travel to the Kakuma Rufugee Camp. Most of the survivors came in 1992, an estimated 3,000 women and girls. Most have disappeared from public records.

Young women and girls have escaped the conflict in their villages, only to be faced with another situation possibly even more difficult than the first, escaping Kakuma. Unlike the boy refugees who made it to Kakuma, the girl refugees have not received the same fair and equal treatment. The refugee boys were resettled to the United States in a huge program starting in November of 2000. Already, 3,700 refugees have been relocated through this program. But only 89 are young women or girls. The rest are still living in Kakuma. These women are living as young brides in forced marriages; single mothers considered outcasts, or servants to their foster families waiting for their grim future to occur.

The refuge woman sought in Kakuma from their villages has not been ideal. Sexual harassment, beatings, and attacks occur regularly. Girls were given foster-homes in the hope that they would be safer living with their own people. However, this proved to be false. Foster families see the girls as a way to make a profit. Kakuma has few resources and services, and poverty is common, making women valuable. Young girls can be sold at a good bride price, often between five and fifty cows, a fortune for their foster families. Sudanese leader Gideon Kenyi describes the way foster parents see the girls as economic profits: “The issue of dowries has become a priority to the people who own the girls. They see the girls as a way of generating wealth, by marrying them or by giving them to someone rich,” said Sudanese leader Gideon Kenyi. It has become such a major problem that the community hid the girls when international funds were researching the boys to insure a profit. The female refuges are struggling with these issues.

Why are the “Lost Girls” living a miserable life, while many of the “Lost Boys” have been resettled to the United States? There are many possible sources of blame. Some of the blame goes to the Sudanese community for hiding the young girls. Others mainly blame the UNHCR agency that was in charge of the refugees. They overlooked the girls, helping the boys instead. The UNHCR kept the boys together with little supervision, and separated the girls into foster homes. When boys were chosen to be resettled, only a few girls went along because their brothers or cousins insisted. The UNHCR knew about the refugee girls but neglected them. Many think the UNHCR should be finding the young women and girls and helping them to resettle, but the agency is not trying to help them. In fact most international agencies are not helping the “Lost Girls.” Thus, the United States does not know much about the fates of the girls. Until the international community steps up, the “Lost Girls” will remain victims of both the war and the customs at the Kakuma Refugee Camp.

Resettling the boys and overlooking the girls is unfair, but it is not unusual. Women are often neglected in societies. Although, the young women and girls long to escape Kakuma and be able to come to the United States, they fear this will not take place. Their future does not look promising. Grace Anyiek points out, “In our culture, women are being dominated. Not just in Sudan, but in all of Africa. Maybe people don't think we did much, because they see us as followers of the ‘Lost Boys.'” Because of the attitude in many African societies that men are superior to women, the plight of the “Lost Girls” has been overlooked. It is the twenty-first century and societies still have not ensured equal rights for men and women. Modern societies continue to fall short of equality. Women are not the only victims of this system. Many other cultures are still discriminated against and don't obtain the respect they deserve.

History has been repeated many times, including not giving equal rights to all members of society, especially women. Women have been discriminated against in many places, including the United States. Some of this discrimination has been dealt with, but it still happens over and over again. The fact that the young women and girls of Sudan are displaced, when many boys have been resettled, is not right. Because it is taking place today, the international community has a chance to take action and should or more of these girls will be lost.

Works Cited

Hecht, Joan. “The Journey if the Lost Boys.” Allswell Press . Amazon. 5 Feb. 2007

http://www.thejourneyofthelostboys.com

Mathson, Ishbel. “The ‘Lost Girls' of Sudan .” BBC News World Edition . 7June 2002. BBC News. 6 Feb. 2007.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2031286.stm

McKelvey, Tara. “Where Are the ‘Lost Girls?'?” Slate . 3 Oct. 2004. Washington Post. 7 Feb. 2007.

http://www.slate.com/id/2089225

By: Hanah Karpel