Lost Boy, Lost Girl: Escaping Civil War in Sudan

Оглавление

John Dau Bul. Lost Boy, Lost Girl: Escaping Civil War in Sudan

Lost Boy, Lost Girl

Table of Contents

John

Martha

John

Martha

John

Martha

John

Martha

John

Martha

John

Martha

John

Martha

John

Martha

John

Martha

John

Martha

John

Martha

John

Martha

John

Martha

John

Martha

John

Martha

John

Martha

John

Afterword

Selected Timeline of Sudan

Photographic Insert

Отрывок из книги

ESCAPING CIVIL WAR IN SUDAN

By John Bul Dau and Martha Arual Akech

.....

Narrow dirt paths link one village with another all over Southern Sudan. There are no paved roads and virtually no buildings of metal or brick. Mud, sticks, leaves, and grass are our construction materials. There are no phones, no computers, no cars, no kitchen appliances—virtually none of the conveniences that many people in the world take for granted. Our culture has not changed much in hundreds of years, and we like it that way.

Southern Sudan is very flat. The land is covered with grass that grows eight feet high between patches of forest and farmland. The year follows seasons of rain and drought. When it rains, the flat lands fill with standing water and our villages become like swamps. When the rains stop, the land dries to dust and the sun burns very, very hot. Some lands—in an area called the Sudd that separates Northern and Southern Sudan—never go dry. Even late in the dry season, these lands hold enough water to grow grasses to feed our cattle. Beyond those swampy lands is the White Nile River. It has crocodiles, mosquitoes, and hippopotamuses. For many centuries, the swamp and the dangerous animals that live in it served as a barrier to people who wanted to explore Southern Sudan. That’s why the Dinka lived in isolation until the nineteenth century, when British explorers and missionaries began pushing through the swamp.

.....