LOUISVILLE (WHAS11) -- A group of eighth grade students got a first-hand account of war-torn Sudan on Monday, Sept. 28. Local Sudanese refugees spent time at Myers Middle School helping students bring a book to life.
The eighth grade class at Myers Middle read the book "A Long Walk to Water". It's a story that takes place in Sudan during the country's violent war in the 1980s and on Monday two Norton Healthcare employees who survived the war as children shared their stories with the class.
The two speakers were two real life Lost boys from South Sudan. They brought a book to life for students at Myers Middle School.
"Everything that they read is true, the life that guy went through, he was with me," Abraham Aluel, one of the Lost Boys from Sudan, said.
"Maybe you are wondering how Lost Boys look like, these are two grown up people in front of you and they are Lost Boys," Solomon John, one of the Lost Boys from Sudan, said.
Aluel and John are two Sudanese refugees living in Louisville. They left their villages in Sudan during the 1980s and shared their personal stories of escape with the students.
"So, when your village was hit, you ran, and you would see the direction that many people went," John said.
"A lot of my friends lost their lives during that journey when we left our country," Aluel said.
The book, "A Long Walk to Water", details the journey of a group of refugees and Aluel was in that group. He talks about battling hunger, dehydration, disease and fear while crossing African borders as a young boy.
"Some people drowned and some people drowned each other because if you can't swim you jump on top of someone else thinking that person could help you," Aluel said.
Aluel survived the swimming and ended up in the jungle, facing many more hardships but finally making it to the United States in 2001.
"We survived by eating one time a day," Aluel said.
He now lives in Louisville and said he is grateful to be able to tell the story of the Lost Boys. He said he hopes the talk will inspire students to appreciate life and never lose faith.
"Don't give up on your life. Life is not easy but if you try, if you try, America is a land of opportunity. What I can tell them is to keep hope and put God in first place," Aluel said.
Aluel and John said about 125 Lost Boys settled in Louisville after leaving Sudan.
