UNCHR Flashback
The story of the “lost boys” is tragic. In 1991, a political change in Ethiopia led to violent attacks on the Sudanese refugee population. These refugees, many of them children, fled back to Sudan, a country locked in a decades-old civil war. They returned to grave danger and starvation. These young boys continued their trek to Kenya, arriving between 1992 and 1994. Only 11,000 were registered in refugee camps in Kenya. An estimated 14,000 youth died trying to find safety.

He takes nothing for granted – not his freedom, not his rights and especially not his personal safety. Though you wouldn’t know it from his sunny disposition, William Kolong Pioth is a young man who carries a past steeped in violence, pain and incredible hardship. He occasionally recalls his past to maintain perspective when dealing with routine “everyday problems”. Formerly a “lost boy” from Sudan, William was just 21 years old when he landed at Vancouver airport in the summer of 1998. He had spent the last five years in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya.

For William, coming to Vancouver was like entering a wondrous new world in some distant galaxy. Today, five years on, William works as a handyman in the building maintenance section of a large shopping mall. He is six months short of completing a social worker diploma. His dream is to return to Africa as an aid-worker and help in refugee camps.

William is constantly struck by how kind and caring Canadians are. He recounts how when he first arrived, an elderly couple in a park called him son in that casual way that seniors employ the term of fondness. This deeply touched him. “I really felt like I am the son of somebody!” exclaimed William who last saw his parents when he was nine years old.

William regularly visits other “lost boys” who resettled in the United States. He recently spent his holidays with a group who has settled in Seattle. He tries to keep in close touch with them, since in a way they are the only family he has. He insists that the most important aspect of his new life is the enduring sense of feeling protected. It is a sense of security that allows him to lead a normal life – to go to school, to have a job, to travel freely and to plan for the future. William marvels at the fact that his company offers a life insurance plan. “Canadians plan ahead” he exclaims. “In Africa you live day-by-day. I never knew anybody who had a life insurance plan back in Africa!”

William’s story of triumph against terrible odds is the story of many young refugees, although he recognizes that is lucky. Youth refugees require special attention and care, particularly when they become separated from their families. The UN Refugee Agency continues to work diligently on behalf of these innocent victims.

Photo captions
Top: A young boy from the Dorti encampment in West Darfur. © UNHCR/K.McKinsey
Inset: William Kolong Pioth in Canada. © UNHCR

TOP: Sudanese refugees are repatriated from Moyo in northern Uganda aboard UNHCR trucks. In July 2006, the number of Sudanese returnees under a UNHCR programme launched December 2005 passed the 10,000 mark. © UNHCR/M.Feixas Vihé