Lost Boys: Struggling and Succeeding

Peter “Nyarol” Dut is one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan”. He was part of a Forced migration caused by the conflicts and fighting in Sudan. He went to America after ten years in a refugee camp and had some trouble adjusting to American life.

Upon arrival, Peter was part of a group that moved to Houston, TX. He encountered many difficulties upon arrival, most revolved around racism and stereotypes, but there were also problems with his education. For the first four months that they were in Houston, the organization that moved them there paid the rent for all of them. In this time Peter was supposed to find a job to start getting income and to start his American education in high school. When Peter went to find a job, without his education, he could only get low paying jobs. One of his part time jobs was to collect shopping carts from the parking lot of a Walmart. He was not able to land a job inside the store, but one out in the hot sun all day. This was because the manager that hired him said that “Africa is hot so you can work outside”. Just because the Lost Boys are from Africa does not mean that they have been in the sun all the time. Another reason was “You’re already burnt”. That is just plain racism.

Another problem Peter faced assimilating into American culture was education. He did not know his exact age, and this made it hard for the public high schools there to place him in the correct level of education. Because of this, Peter moved to Olathe, Kansas to find a better job and to get an easier education. He got into school and had to deal with people who were unaware of his situation. When Peter went to the counseling department and told them that he wanted to apply for the National Honor Society and go to a four year college. The counsel who he was talking to did not expect him to go to a four year college but a two year community college. When the counselor said that the applicants need to provide a biography, Peter shocked him once again by telling him that he had already done it. When the counselor started to read it, he put it down soon after, saying that it was too sad and that he could not bear to read it. This again is discrimination, for the counselor had an opinion that Peter would not be smart and would need a lot of help. Peter was the opposite, being smart and independent.

Once Peter reached Houston TX, before he moved to Olathe, Kansas, he had to start dealing with the culture shock of changing cultures. In Sudan, there is a lot of tribal dancing and almost family like relationships between men who are friends. Coming to America, Peter had to observe the different culture and attempt to fit in. The other main thing was that all of the Lost Boys had to learn a completely different and new language, English. They needed English for their jobs, school, and to get new friends because there was only a very slim chance of meeting someone else who knew their own language. Peter and the others took it only one step at a time and observed how other people went about doing things.

Images taken from:

lostboysfilm.com

allmoviephoto.com