My love for the Sudanese Lost Boys began years before my “chance” meeting with two of them in my local grocery store in Ghent.

 

I had taken classes in African Cultural Anthropology in College which ignited my passion for African Cultures. I came across photos of Dinka tribesmen of southern Sudan whose eyes showed a wisdom and intensity I had never before seen.

 

In the mid-90’s I began reading about the Dinka Tribe and their slaughter by the northern Sudanese government which cost over 2.5 million lives, a loss greater than all of our wars
combined. I wanted desperately to help them and began sending letters to the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and United Nations High Commission on their behalf.

 

Then, in late’98 my life was forever changed by a serious work injury which left me sidelined. For most of the next 3 years I did not care to live, but then a miracle happened.

 

Unbeknownst to me, 3,800 Sudanese Lost Boys, whose majority are Dinka, began arriving in the US as war refugees brought over by our government. Just 4 months after their arrival in the US, I discovered Chol and Yaak working in my local grocery store in Ghent.

 

It seemed more than chance that I had been brought together with the very people I most wanted to help. God had answered my prayers to help the Dinka. Outreach Africa: Lost Boys Foundation was borne of that meeting and has evolved to answer their needs. Early on I sponsored 2 of their relatives to boarding school. People in our Hampton Roads community joined in and this has evolved into our African Boarding School Program which currently has over 100 of their relatives enrolled in school in Africa .

 

I have been given a second chance at life and the Lost Boys and Girls are my axis. Whenever they need me, I will be there.

~ Julie Hill, Director