The South Sudanese Enrichment for Families organization (previously named The Sudanese Education Fund) began in 2000, when 150 of the “Lost Boys of Sudan” were newly arrived in the Boston area. For three critical months, these young refugees were supported by resettlement agencies and by an enormous swell of dedicated volunteers in the Boston area. The immediate crisis of physical and emotional support was daunting, but with time the crisis stabilized and permanent resettlement began in earnest. 

For perspective: these 150 refugees were survivors of Africa’s longest running war, in which more than two million South Sudanese civilians were massacred and another four million displaced from their homes. These 150 in Massachusetts were just children who had fled their villages and cattle camps when they were attacked by Northern Sudanese soldiers. All of them lost their families, homes, entire communities, as well as the innocence of their childhoods. 

After fleeing their homelands, thousands of these survivors, mostly boys and young men, eventually walked to Ethiopia; many died along the way. For five years they lived in an Ethiopian refugee camp until civil disruption arose there and they were forced to flee again. This time they walked to Kenya, where they sheltered at the Kakuma refugee camp and stayed for almost 12 years. Then in 2000, 4,000 of them were brought to America, including the 150 who settled in Massachusetts. After a lengthy period of intense acculturation, the “Lost Boys” in Boston desperately sought further education, having acquired basic English language and academic skills in Kakuma. SSEF began providing stipends for secondary-school and college enrollments. 

The years have gone by since that critical time of acculturation, and many of the “Boys from Sudan” have graduated from college, found employment, and earned their citizenship here. Over the last decade, many of them have returned to South Sudan to search for family members who survived the genocide. Many have also married women from their villages, started families, and returned to Boston to restart their lives.

Life is particularly difficult for these young wives and mothers from South Sudan, as they speak little or no English, have no driver’s licenses, and are homebound with young children. They lack the accustomed support of family and community, and have no access to English language except from television. The men usually have multiple jobs to support their families including relatives in South Sudan. The cost of living far exceeds the annual minimum wage so the challenges are great. As for the children, while preschools are so essential in laying an educational foundation, the costs in this region are largely prohibitive.