Since the 1950s, dispute has ripped through the north and south regions of Sudan. In efforts to control the south, the north rampaged through villages, killing and destroying homesteads. A generation has faced annihilation, and many were forced to flee their homeland. They became known as the Lost Boys. Today, there are approximately 200 Lost Boys living in Syracuse. Contributing Writer Amanda Riggio spoke with Dominic Mathiang, one of the Lost Boys, about his escape from Sudan, his hopes for America and his motivation to keep on surviving. Mathiang will speak Thursday night in Textor 102.

Amanda Riggio: What exactly happened to you, your family and your village? At what point did you escape?

Dominic Mathiang: It was 1983. My government introduced a law that was imposed on my area in the south. … People didn’t like it. The north kidnapped the young boys of the south … so in ten years time, there would be no young people left to complain. I was actually abducted by them, and I ended up in Ethiopia in 1988 where I spent four years on my own when I was eight years old. … It wasn’t easy for me to make an escape — I was so small and I didn’t know where to go to, but I thought why should I stay here? And why don’t I escape? So I decided that, and did that, till I ended up in a refugee camp.

AR: Was it at this point that you applied for immigration to the U.S.?

DM: I was in Kenya for five months in a refugee camp in 1991… I was very involved in the leadership of the camp. I was the youth leader, and involved in a group called youth and culture and I was well-off. I was wearing good clothes and I spoke very well. They said, “He’s not in need right now.” … There were Canadian universities giving scholarships for the [people] in the camps, so I began to apply for Canadian University. I was given an English exam course and I pass it with A-, so I was approved to go to Canada. But I did not like to go to Canada you know, because more of the people I knew came to the United States, so I decided, “Why go to Canada?” So I turned them down, still I had hope and waited till they called me back at the end for more interviews, and I came here in 2004. It was a long process.

AR: What would you say is your most prominent memory from escaping Sudan?

DM: The time I was running in a bush by myself with so many animals. I was scared and wishing to die, but I climbed up this tree and saved my life. So, I climbed up the tree, slept on the branch and waited till the morning.

AR: What motivated you to keep going?

DM: I hoped that was not the end of my life. I was thinking that there was another tomorrow.

AR: Once you arrived in the United States, what was the first thing you did?

DM: Everything was new to me, the place was new, the people were new to me, and I didn’t know where to begin. It was like, ‘wow, how will I survive in this place?’ … [But]

I thought of all those years, and if I survived in those areas, why not here? I decided first of all get a job, ... I got a job at Holy Shirt, they print T-shirts.

AR: Do you wish to ever return to Sudan? If you did, what would you like to do there?

DM: Before I didn’t want to. I was in America and I was going to live my life here, I wasn’t going back to that kind of life. But, in 2005, I got good news of my parents … I thought that I didn’t have parents [anymore]. The news came when a friend of mine went home, back to Sudan and found my mom and my dad, alive, and I was eight the last time I see them. So, I’m planning right now to go back and meet them again. After 20 years, I’m so excited. Right now, I talk to my mom on the phone every day. … They did not know I was kidnapped, they thought I was eaten by animals. They didn’t know what happened actually. They were just surprised by the news — that Dominic is in the US.

AR: What is your involvement with the Sudanese Lost Boys of Syracuse Cow Project?

DM: We are involved in the cow molding. We make cows from the clay. And we take them to a show when we are invited … I talk about the cows. … It is a way of raising money for education.

AR: What are your hopes for the future in America?

DM: My only hope in America is getting education. … Without education, I will not make it here in America. As a person who grew up in a refugee camp for all these years, I haven’t had the chance to go to school, and I knew education was the only way out, and with education I can educate many people about my past. When I came I thought of taking journalism classes, I thought, if I could write I would be able to describe my situation and write a book. But when I look into the idea of getting a job, that would take many long years, I need a job that I can do right now and get money. So, I went from journalism to computer information. I hope that I’m going to get my citizenship in 2009 — I’m hoping I will be able to work with the youth and the refugees from the camp in Kenya.

AR: If you could give any advice to anyone facing personal hardships like you have, what would you say to them?

DM: I would say to have a high hope in life, to never give up. When you think of giving up life, you are giving nothing to yourself, to your community, to your nation. What is important is to think ahead and think of others too. When I lived in a refugee camp, if I were to survive on my own, I wouldn’t have made it you know. But, with the help of others, with that effort, we survived. Life is your own making, you have to make decisions to live and survive. This world is a mess. We have to ask the young people to come up with one mind and see what is a better way of living again, and get the world to that time again with no fear at all. That’s the only advice I would give, to think twice and think of something that will help the whole world.

If anyone wishes to give a donation to the boys of  the Sudanese Lost Boys of Syracuse Cow Project, please contact assistant professor of anthropology David Turkon, Ithaca College Anthropology Department and Senior Advisor of the project.