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Father of the Lost Boys
During the Second Sudanese Civil war, thousands of South Sudanese boys were displaced from their villages or orphaned in attacks from northern government troops. Many became refugees in Ethiopia. There, in 1989, teacher and community leader Mecak Ajang Alaak assumed care of the Lost Boys in a bid to protect them from becoming child soldiers. So began a four year journey from Ethiopia to Sudan and on to the safety of a Kenyan refugee camp. Together they endured starvation, animal attacks and the horrors of land mines and aerial bombardments. This eyewitness account by Mecak Ajang Alaak’s son, Yuot, is the extraordinary true story of a man who never ceased to believe that the pen is mightier than the gun.
232 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 28, 2021
As part of the Perth Literature Festival, I was just lucky enough to go and listen to Yuot A. Alaak the author of the memoir Father of the Lost Boys. Even luckier, his father, Mecak Ajang Alaak, the man the book is about, and his mother were there too. This is one book that should be read widely, one that can open up people’s minds and understandings about the trials refugees face.
Yuot’s father led 20,000 lost boys between the ages of 8-12 1000’s of km through the most dangerous of places to safety and stopped them also becoming child soldiers. More than 20 years on and unfortunately the refugee camp on the border of South Sudan and Kenya is the largest in the world with 180,000 refugees living there because it is still unsafe for them to return home.
His father was asked how he managed to logistically move that many boys. He made it sound so simple, but given the circumstances, it would have been anything but.
Review
As I sit with my feelings about the journey I have just taken, with all that Yout and his family and the 20,000 Lost Boys and thousands more refugees and South Sudanese people went through and continue to go through, I find it so hard to comprehend. To have survived what they survived is remarkable, to keep fighting (not with weapons) for the people of their country is a powerful insight into the strength and courage of these people.
Yout’s father, Mecak Ajang Alaak is an amazing role model, not just for the South Sudanese, but for everyone. The love he has for his fellow countryman regardless of which tribe or area they come from is wonderful. How he kept things together and organised keeping 20,000 boys safe on their perilous journey from one refugee camp to the next is incredible.
I feel honoured to have read Yout and his father’s story, and that of the thousands of people who shared that journey.
The brief history notes at the end of the book were an eye-opener. I truly had no idea of the way the British and the Arabs played their political games with the lives of these people. I had no idea how long they had been fighting to be independent. Another war wages now, it is hard to imagine there will ever be a time of peace, but I truly hope for the people of South Sudan, that they do get there.
Yuot’s father led 20,000 lost boys between the ages of 8-12 1000’s of km through the most dangerous of places to safety and stopped them also becoming child soldiers. More than 20 years on and unfortunately the refugee camp on the border of South Sudan and Kenya is the largest in the world with 180,000 refugees living there because it is still unsafe for them to return home.
His father was asked how he managed to logistically move that many boys. He made it sound so simple, but given the circumstances, it would have been anything but.
Review
As I sit with my feelings about the journey I have just taken, with all that Yout and his family and the 20,000 Lost Boys and thousands more refugees and South Sudanese people went through and continue to go through, I find it so hard to comprehend. To have survived what they survived is remarkable, to keep fighting (not with weapons) for the people of their country is a powerful insight into the strength and courage of these people.
Yout’s father, Mecak Ajang Alaak is an amazing role model, not just for the South Sudanese, but for everyone. The love he has for his fellow countryman regardless of which tribe or area they come from is wonderful. How he kept things together and organised keeping 20,000 boys safe on their perilous journey from one refugee camp to the next is incredible.
I feel honoured to have read Yout and his father’s story, and that of the thousands of people who shared that journey.
The brief history notes at the end of the book were an eye-opener. I truly had no idea of the way the British and the Arabs played their political games with the lives of these people. I had no idea how long they had been fighting to be independent. Another war wages now, it is hard to imagine there will ever be a time of peace, but I truly hope for the people of South Sudan, that they do get there.
May 24, 2020
Father of the Lost Boys is the true story of Mecak Ajang Alaak, a teacher who led 20,000 of the Lost Boys of South Sudan to safety during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1987-2005). This memoir is written by his son, who came to Australia with his parents as a refugee in 1995.
The book begins with the story of an idyllic childhood in the village of Majak in Sudan. It is 1952 and Ajang is born into a Dinka life where family is paramount and the foundation upon which the tribe stands. He turns out to be gifted and the elders ensure that he gets a good education, ultimately attending Rumbek Seconday School—the best school in South Sudan—because they hope he will make a terrific translator for them in their negotiations with the Anglo-Egyptian rules that govern Sudan. However, in 1963, when he is nineteen and in his second year there, war erupts between north and south. The school is regarded as a breeding ground for future leaders of the south and it is shut down, but Ajang and his fellow students walk for over three months through a barren landscape to Ethiopia, where the UN accepts them as refugees and after two years Ajang is able to finish his education with distinction.
When a peace agreement is reached in 1972, he returns to his village, and soon after he begins a career in teaching at the Rumbek Secondary School where he had been a student.
It was not to be. In 1983, trouble erupts again. The Islamic north imposes Sharia Law and Arabic on the south. The south rebels, in protest against a religion they reject and a language they don't understand. Ajang is away in Khartoum at the time, organising supplies for southern schools, but Yuot, his mother and siblings escape the fighting on foot, surviving the journey because uncles help with carrying the young children. They hear nothing of Ajang for three years, and then learn that he is a political prisoner in Malakal in the Upper Nile. Five months later, they hear a radio report that he has been executed.
Yuot is only seven, but he now carries his father's legacy.
While the memoir is primarily an homage to his heroic father, his mother Preskilla is also an amazing woman. She is courageous and enterprising, somehow keeping the remnants of her family together in circumstances that would crush a lesser spirit. Even when the report turns out not to be true and Ajang is restored to them, the situation is still desperate and she is the one who enables their survival because she is the one who adapts to a different life and learns to make saleable goods so that they can eat.
Yuot's own experience as one of the Lost Boys dragooned into becoming a child soldier is only a small part of this book.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/05/24/f...
The book begins with the story of an idyllic childhood in the village of Majak in Sudan. It is 1952 and Ajang is born into a Dinka life where family is paramount and the foundation upon which the tribe stands. He turns out to be gifted and the elders ensure that he gets a good education, ultimately attending Rumbek Seconday School—the best school in South Sudan—because they hope he will make a terrific translator for them in their negotiations with the Anglo-Egyptian rules that govern Sudan. However, in 1963, when he is nineteen and in his second year there, war erupts between north and south. The school is regarded as a breeding ground for future leaders of the south and it is shut down, but Ajang and his fellow students walk for over three months through a barren landscape to Ethiopia, where the UN accepts them as refugees and after two years Ajang is able to finish his education with distinction.
When a peace agreement is reached in 1972, he returns to his village, and soon after he begins a career in teaching at the Rumbek Secondary School where he had been a student.
He has a burning desire to educate every boy and girl in the country. His belief in education is almost religious. As he sees it, education is the only solution to the problems that his people and his country face. He has hope for the future of his people and country. His dream is to build hundreds of schools, technical colleges and universities across South Sudan. (p.19)
It was not to be. In 1983, trouble erupts again. The Islamic north imposes Sharia Law and Arabic on the south. The south rebels, in protest against a religion they reject and a language they don't understand. Ajang is away in Khartoum at the time, organising supplies for southern schools, but Yuot, his mother and siblings escape the fighting on foot, surviving the journey because uncles help with carrying the young children. They hear nothing of Ajang for three years, and then learn that he is a political prisoner in Malakal in the Upper Nile. Five months later, they hear a radio report that he has been executed.
Yuot is only seven, but he now carries his father's legacy.
To the other children in the village, I cease to be one of them. I become the boy whose father has died. I begin to wonder what I have done to deserve this, but really don't have time for self-pity. I must take care of my family, do whatever it takes to defend them. My spirit is strong, my age and size irrelevant. (p.25)
While the memoir is primarily an homage to his heroic father, his mother Preskilla is also an amazing woman. She is courageous and enterprising, somehow keeping the remnants of her family together in circumstances that would crush a lesser spirit. Even when the report turns out not to be true and Ajang is restored to them, the situation is still desperate and she is the one who enables their survival because she is the one who adapts to a different life and learns to make saleable goods so that they can eat.
Yuot's own experience as one of the Lost Boys dragooned into becoming a child soldier is only a small part of this book.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/05/24/f...
September 11, 2020
Not many books move me to tears, but this one did. It wasn't Yuot Alaak's descriptions of the traumas, the sufferings and the injustices of a childhood lived during Sudan's long civil war that got to me. It wasn't even his love and deep respect for his father, or his father's tireless and courageous work to keep the 'lost boys' safe, though all those things were heart-stirring. It was his description of how it felt to be accepted as a refugee by Australia that had me choking back the tears. How little we understand of what people have been through before they arrive here, or how much resilience it takes to have survived long enough to make it. How humbling it is to realise what even the smallest kindness can mean to them.
Yet Yuot tells his story simply and without self-pity. He doesn't labour the details of his experiences. His longing for his country to be free from strife and oppression, his honesty, faith and sense of humour shine through every page.
Yet Yuot tells his story simply and without self-pity. He doesn't labour the details of his experiences. His longing for his country to be free from strife and oppression, his honesty, faith and sense of humour shine through every page.
February 27, 2022
I could write a long and complex and emotive review, but ultimately it would finish with three simple words. So I will save you the read and go straight to the end:
Read this book.
Read this book.
July 6, 2020
"A pen is more powerful than a gun" - this exceptionally well written memoir explores the visionary, humble, and charismatic figure of Ajang Alaak, the Father of the Lost Boys, who envisioned a better future for 20 thousand displaced South Sudanese children that spared them from becoming child soldiers.
Yuot Alaak, Ajang's son, carries his legacy so well in this work, which highlights values of pride, humbleness, gratefulness, and endurance.
Personally, I felt "small" and "lucky" while reading this book. The lives of each and every single one of these Lost Boys are intertwined with our own on a daily basis, and we do not know it, and this brings tears to my eyes. Tears because their suffering is not to go unnoticed, tears because past must guide the future, tears because a pen must always be more powerful than a gun. Thank you Mr Alaak for your courage, and thank you for telling us the story of the Lost Boys and of their Father.
Yuot Alaak, Ajang's son, carries his legacy so well in this work, which highlights values of pride, humbleness, gratefulness, and endurance.
Personally, I felt "small" and "lucky" while reading this book. The lives of each and every single one of these Lost Boys are intertwined with our own on a daily basis, and we do not know it, and this brings tears to my eyes. Tears because their suffering is not to go unnoticed, tears because past must guide the future, tears because a pen must always be more powerful than a gun. Thank you Mr Alaak for your courage, and thank you for telling us the story of the Lost Boys and of their Father.
April 6, 2021
Thank you for this wonderful book. I was driving to work one day and managed to catch Yuot Alaak being interveiwed on the radio. So eloquent to listen to, as he described his story and his book. Telling how he wrote it in his lunch breaks at work. As an African myself who now lives in Perth and has in the last few months been fortunate enough to meet and work with some South Sudanese people, I was interested to read this story.
It did not disappoint at all, very well written and insightful. What an incredible family with an incredible story. I'm glad that it has been shared. I feel that I have a clearer understanding of the history of Sudan and the struggle of it's people. I hope that this work will open more people's eyes. I think that as a society we have become immune to the attrocities that have occurred through out the world and assume a knowledge that we don't actually have. This work has given me a yearning for more knowledge and understanding of other struggles throughout Africa, not just my own country's story.
Some of the editing does require a but of work... Tigers in Africa? And a few sections of repeated paragraphs. But this really does not bring the book down in anyway, so well written and easy to read.
It did not disappoint at all, very well written and insightful. What an incredible family with an incredible story. I'm glad that it has been shared. I feel that I have a clearer understanding of the history of Sudan and the struggle of it's people. I hope that this work will open more people's eyes. I think that as a society we have become immune to the attrocities that have occurred through out the world and assume a knowledge that we don't actually have. This work has given me a yearning for more knowledge and understanding of other struggles throughout Africa, not just my own country's story.
Some of the editing does require a but of work... Tigers in Africa? And a few sections of repeated paragraphs. But this really does not bring the book down in anyway, so well written and easy to read.
November 26, 2020
This memoir tells the amazing story of Mecak Ajang Alaak, a South Sudanese teacher, and that of his family, from the perspective of his son and author Yuot A. Alaak. It begins in the peaceful, idyllic village in South Sudan where Ajang and his family lived before the Sudanese civil war broke out, displacing them and countless others. It outlines the heroic work Ajang did to try to rescue and educate the thousands of orphaned Sudanese refugee boys, along with countless other displaced persons, from South Sudan to Ethiopia and then into Kenya. It describes his devout dedication to the idea that ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’ and his drive to educate South Sudanese people as the best way to liberate his country, despite many of his countrymen wanting the Lost Boys as child soldiers and threatening him for taking away this force. Furthermore, it tells the story of the conditions and torment experienced by refugees and their families during this, and the resourcefulness and determination that these people displayed, even when all was lost.
December 9, 2022
FATHER OF THE LOST BOYS is a seriously incredible read, and it has hit me quite hard. I just finished reading it for the second time and it has stayed with me for days. Yuot A. Alaak shows the realities of life as a refugee trying to flee (and sometimes being drawn back into) a war-torn country. This story is written with powerful honesty, visceral detail, tons of heart and moments of humour. There are many scenes that are confronting as they are told through the eyes of Yuot as a child - the struggle crossing the river at Gilo is harrowing, but so too is the wait to get food air dropped, or avoid bombs dropped by planes, or even just trying to get visas approved. If you have ever wanted a book that unflinchingly casts a light on the refugee experience and is simultaneously a beautifully-written story, read this book. It is extraordinary.
February 11, 2021
The story of the Lost Boys and their journey around South Sudan and neighbouring countries is well told. This book gives a great insight into the feelings of the family who relocated to Australia and their lives here.
March 10, 2022
A unique childhood memoir of leaving home - Alaak has incredible recall of his long, dangerous childhood journey on foot from South Sudan to Kenya and then Australia, and takes the reader with him through every moment of it. Such a great read – inspiring and beautifully written.
July 6, 2022
I had very little understanding of this conflict prior to this book, but after reading this first hand account, which was so easy to read, and at times unputdownable, I have a bit more of a grasp of the situation. Definitely, I have a lot more appreciation for why South Sudan seceded.
August 13, 2022
I heard Yuot Alaak speaking at our local library. He is both an excellent and interesting speaker and author. I wish this book could be standard reading for students. It gives insight into the trials and hardships of refugees. Some of whom have given their all to move to a safe place.
April 12, 2025
Yuot Alaak tells the story of his father, Ajang, and the South Sudanese nation during some of its most turbulent times. Thousands of ‘lost boys’ marched to various locations around South Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya in order to escape a genocidal militia and to dream of a better life.
August 31, 2020
Wonderful memoir. A good read. Yuot Alaak and his family were so brave to endure so much hardship.
September 7, 2020
Enjoyable book and a fascinating story. Amazing tall of bravery and courage. Put your own comfortable life in the western world in perspective. Love the resilience that shines through
October 14, 2020
3.5 stars
April 15, 2021
Truely amazing and inspirational memoir.
Great insight into human resilience.
Definitely a five star rating .
Great insight into human resilience.
Definitely a five star rating .
May 31, 2024
Brilliantly written very educational without being to over the top
May 28, 2023
This book was an education for me. The writing is good but that was really beside the point because the story was so engrossing that I couldn't put it down. If you want to read about some recent African history, this is for you.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews