Freddy - Lost Boys

I honestly chose this book because my good friend has relatives who were also fleeing Sudan. I didn’t really know anything about the incident. Only very basic facts like people having to leave their homes in fear of their lives. I brushed it off as some “African war shit” at the time because I was a very ignorant person at the time. After reading the first three stories about the three boys I gained a better perspective, a better understanding of African and human life itself.

Knowing how these boys lived before the Arab raids makes my heart ache. The story started extremely slow, but was pleasant and full of great imagery. My favorite part was Benson’s recollection of being circumcised. As I was reading I thought “Damn he’s screwed, they’re going to kidnap him or something!” up until his friend, Majok’s screams could no longer be heard and his father appeared telling him to be brave. I was sure they were going to die but it turned out to just be a rite of passage every boy had to go through. I’m pretty excited about finding out how Alpho’s going to turn out. How is such a lazy boy going to survive in the mother land with no mother? He reminds me so much of myself its gross. I wouldn’t last a few hours out there by myself or even with a few friends.

The description of how tall, powerful and beautifully black the Dinka people were makes me think of some of my own family members. It was refreshing in a way. When I think of African tribes my ignorance kicks back in and the image of a spear chucking click clacker appears. This book also coincides with the seminar the bridge students had to attend yesterday. Professor George Bailey broke down several different misconceptions if you will of the African people, here and overseas. If you take the tirbe in the story for example, the Dinka were a polytheistic people while the invading Arab people were monotheistic. They, being the Arab people, wanted the Dinka to follow Islam and the Dinka wanted to just prosper and follow their own, many gods.

They were also opposed to the idea of so much praying throughout the day, their reason being it interfered with their cattle schedule. This logic makes complete sense to me, but sense and religion don’t do well in the same room now do they. Until next time.