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  • Title: Dying to go to school.
    Author: Shearar A.
    Journal: Afr Insight; 1997; 27(3):166-70. PubMed ID: 12294200.
    Abstract:
    In southern Sudan, the recent war sparked a mass migration of boys aged 5-18 who traveled through perilous terrain to the borders of Ethiopia in search of promised security and schooling. Thousands of these children died from hardships suffered in the wild, from the inadvertent or deliberate attacks of warriors, from hunger, from thirst, or from disease. Those who endured the hardships and arrived at their destination were shocked to find only military training centers or rudimentary schooling for those who were too weak or too young to be trained for battle. Eventually, the refugees were forced back into Sudan, and today about 20,000 of these unaccompanied children are displaced. Several nongovernmental organizations are running family reunification projects, and follow-up activities carried out among the reunified children reveal that they carry the scars of their trauma. The drawings the children produce as art therapy usually include the image of a young child holding a school book. While these children have a constant struggle with their memories, those who have not returned home or who have lost their families to war or disease are even more forlorn. As food rations have been halved in the refugee camps, many children are pursuing any possible alternative living arrangement. Some attempt to travel to South Africa or Egypt and some join an army in an effort to overcome the desperation of their present situation.
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