‘Lost boy’ reunited with his parents after twenty years in exile
By Bonifacio Taban Kuich
November 19, 2010 (PAYINJIAR-BENTIU) – A ‘lost boy’, who was displaced by Sudan’s north-south civil war, returned home to Payinjiar county in Unity state on Thursday after not seeing his family for twenty years.
Joseph Gatyuong Khan Gatluak, the ‘lost boy’ told Sudan Tribune on Thursday that was very excited to meet both his parents after so long.
In late 1990, seven years into the conflict, Gatyuong left his home village of Duong in Nyal Payam (ward) to study outside Sudan.
The 21 year conflict between the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army and various northern governments ended with a 2005 peace deal which gives the south the chance to become independent through a referendum in January 2011.
Gatyuong said he has spent most of his half life without his parents’ guidance, which was why he and others like him are described as ‘lost boys’. He left Kakumu refugees camp in 2001 for the United State of America where he stayed for eight years.
When he reached Nyal Payam around a hundred relatives greeted him with traditional songs and prayers to celebrate his safe return.
His mother Nyakuok Rundial Top told Sudan Tribune, that she has missed her son and he had always been in her thoughts since he left.
Gatyuong broke into tears when he saw how old his mother had become in the time he had been away.
(ST)