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The Lost Boys come to America (my title)
Dateline/me
| 9/9/01
| me
Posted on 09/09/2001 7:43:26 PM PDT by Bella_Bru
Did anyone else see Datleine tonight? I usually don't bother with it, but tonight it caught my eye.
It's about "The Lost Boys", young Christian men from Sudan who are brought to the U.S. by various churches. They followed 2 groups- one in Rochester, NY the other in Seattle.
Watching these young men was fascinating. All the things they are trying to learn, such as indoor plumbing, grocery stores, etc. In one shot they were in an airport in Europe. They were fascinated by the running water and the automatic faucets.
In Rochester they were taken to Wegman's to go grocery shopping. Now, I've been to Wegman's. They are HUGE. These young men were taken aback by the amount of food. One commented, "I see meet everywhere, but I haven't seen a cow yet."
There were also cultural differences. In Sudan, men can hold hands without it being thought of as something sexual. It's just a display of friendship.
In a more humorous moment, one of the men asked if there were crocodiles in Lake Ontario. He wanted to go into the water but was afraid of what might be in there.
Overall, I am learning something by watching this show. As much as we all complain around here about our leaders and this country, we still don't have it bad at all. In fact, we have it pretty good. Maybe we should all take a moment from our griping to remember that.
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: cathoilc; dinka; dinkatribe; lostboys; muslim; sudan; thelostboysofsudan
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1
posted on
09/09/2001 7:43:26 PM PDT
by
Bella_Bru
To: one_particular_harbour
ping
2
posted on
09/09/2001 7:43:46 PM PDT
by
Bella_Bru
To: Bella_Bru
I saw that documentary this evening, Bella_Bru, and I found it absolutely fascinating -- found myself almost laughing and crying at times, just as I'm sure you did as well. What struck me most about those young men was their intelligence and that they even spoke better English than a lot of young American men their age. It does make you realize how blessed we are to live in this great country of ours, where we have no infighting amongst ourselves. These young men have been through so much. I was touched by how one wants to return home to find his remaining family members and how another one wants to return home an educated man to help his fellow Sudanese. We should all stop to think and remember that we are all peoples of this planet and should help each other out whenever truly warranted. We should all try to put ourselves in others' shoes at times whenevere truly warranted as well. That's what makes us human.
3
posted on
09/09/2001 7:55:59 PM PDT
by
GOP_Lady
To: GOP_Lady Bella_Bru
Me, too! It was a breath of fresh air to see these young men not only grateful, but anxious to 'fit in' in this country.... Even eating all that 'foreign' American food put in front of them. (The poor guy that put that mayonnaise on his fruit!..*lol*)
To: LurkerNoMore!
I got a chuckle when they left the refrigerator door open. :-)
5
posted on
09/09/2001 8:06:11 PM PDT
by
GOP_Lady
To: Bella_Bru
A very touching and uplifting story. I have nothing but hope in my heart for them. The final question all the young men had was:
"how come America doesn't know what is going on in the Sudan?". Well, gee why is that Jesse? Could it be that the problem in the Sudan is black on black crime. Can't blame the white man. Hmmm...That said, the sponsors who are helping these young men in America are truly beautiful people. God bless them.
To: GOP_Lady
Or tried to use the can opener.... got frustrated and resorted to using a sharp knife and a rock...
To: Chuzzlewit
italics off.. sorry
To: Bella_Bru
Reminds me of 20 yrs. ago when I knew some folks in Atlanta who's church was sponsoring Cambodian refugees. They got them into apts. and loaded them up with lots of canned food, but couldn't figure out why they weren't eating it. Turns out they didn't know how to use a can opener. Duh!!! And my school teacher friend here in San Diego had a heck of a time getting the little Hmong girls to wear underpants under their dresses -- not a pretty sight on the jungle jim. It's always the simple things!!
9
posted on
09/09/2001 8:12:03 PM PDT
by
joey'smom
To: Chuzzlewit
still trying. off ?
To: Bella_Bru
Men can hold hands as a sign of friendship. WHAT!!! I think I'm gonna be ill.
11
posted on
09/09/2001 8:13:00 PM PDT
by
Vision
To: Bella_Bru, GOP_Lady, All
I saw it, too and am haunted by it. I, too have the same reactions as you do. I had a mixture of feelings watching this. These innocent young men seemed so intelligent and gentle, considering all they had been through.
It was funny at times....watching them trying to figure things out that we take for granted. I laughed out loud when they showed the refrigerator wide open...the guys oblivious to the fact that it needed to be closed.
They have so much to learn that I fear for them. I fear that they will wind up in a ghetto somewhere and be taken advantage of. I fear that they will not have the agressiveness needed to survive in our culture. Their sponsors seem wonderful, but how long can they help?
Another thought......there are so many of these types of refugees on this earth....we cannot possibly help them all. And, I wonder if this earth will ever see a time when there is peace and respect for all human beings?
To: LurkerNoMore!
LOLOLOL. Yes, that was a good one! :-) I really wished that I was that social worker trying to help them.
13
posted on
09/09/2001 8:14:16 PM PDT
by
GOP_Lady
To: Chuzzlewit
thought I knew how to do this. con sarn it! are italics off yet? if not maybe someone can help me out.
To: Swede Girl
Makes you wonder why other African countries did not get involved to stop horrible situations occurring in other African countries. Seems like no one stepped up to the plate on the African continent -- shame on them. Maybe the world will eventually learn to do that -- maybe even these young men themselves!
15
posted on
09/09/2001 8:20:42 PM PDT
by
GOP_Lady
To: GOP_Lady
Sudan is an enormous country in size, something like a third or more the size of our lower 48 states. It is not easy to intervene effectively in that situation, it would be very costly. The Sudanese actually raid villages in southern Sudan and take all the children. But it is not just southern sudan in which they do this. They do it in neighboring countries like Uganda. They travel very long distances simply to steal children to be used as slaves. So, you can see that the resources of the people who do the bad things in Sudan are very large and the resources of those who may oppose them in neighboring countries are not so large. Sudan's money comes from the oil and gas properties they have. Those have been developed by a Canadian company that gets financing in the US. The US Congress is considering legislation that would make it impossible for this copany to get financing in the US. It is the Republicans who are now preventing that legislation from passing. Before we criticize others for not sacrificing their lives to stop the bad things in sudan we should look to ourselves and ask why we have lawmakers who won't do what we can to deprive the sudanese government of resources.
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