Seed of South Sudan: Memoir of a Lost Boy Refugee

One of the most extensive books on the Lost Boys of Sudan since South Sudan became the world’s newest nation in 2011, this is a memoir of Majok Marier, an Agar Dinka who was seven when war came to his village near Rumbek in southern Sudan. During a 21-year civil war, 2 million lives were lost and 80 per cent of the people in South Sudan were displaced. Majok and tens of thousands of boys like him walked from their mostly rural villages in southern Sudan, escaping the Sudanese Army that wanted to eliminate them. Surviving on grasses, grains and short term help from villagers along the way, Majok walked nearly a thousand miles to a hurriedly-built refugee camp in Ethiopia. Civil conflicts in two countries where he went for safety resulted in his travelling to a third country, a final camp in Kenya. Majok and 3,800 like him immigrated to the US in 2001 while the civil war still raged.

Seed of South Sudan tells Majok’s story, as well as that of others who similarly adapted to America. Stories of many who helped them are included. The book looks at their lives 12 years later, the difficulties of honouring the commitment to their home country that drove them here in the first place and at prospects for the new democracy’s survival.