The Lost Boys
International Academy of
Peace Building and Reconciliation
After decades of catastrophic conflict, the people of Southern Sudan thirst for peace. A sense of community, compassion, character, courage, and conflict resolution are the defining characteristics of the people and the communities of Southern Sudan. These characteristics have enabled the people of Southern Sudan to remain resilient and hopeful, and to courageously protect their children throughout decades of civil war and genocide. The Lost Boys International Academy was founded to rebuild and expand the characteristics that have provided resilience to the communities of Southern Sudan and to add an essential 5th characteristic--- peace building.
The first tier of the Lost Boys International Academy is the Peace Maker program. The Peace Maker program will provide education in conflict styles, conflict coaching and problem solving strategies such as mediation, conflict resolution, and dialogue strategies. The second tier initiatives will introduce peace building by exploring economic and environmental sustainability projects and by celebrating community peace building projects through the arts, cultural activities, and the Southern Sudan Story Project. The third tier of the Academy is the Peace Ambassadors program which will provide opportunities for community members to share their stories, their successes, and their peace building skills with regional and global communities through presentations, film, and the Southern Sudan Story Project.
Tier 1- The Peace Maker Program includes:
Conflict resolution, conflict coaching, mediation skill building, an introduction to dialogue methods and class/community meetings using the Lost Boys International Academy book, Common Ground.
Tier II- The Peace Builder Program includes:
Education and exploration of projects that increase economic and environmental sustainability, enhance community health, and enhance inter-tribal communication and understanding. Tier II will include the Southern Sudan Story Project which involves gathering stories and engaging community members in the peace building strategies known as Envisioning and Appreciative Inquiry dialogues. Envisioning and Appreciative Inquiry techniques will be employed to help community members work together to increase understanding and create a positive vision of a peaceful, strong, and prosperous future for Southern Sudan. Following the envisioning process, community members will work together across tribal lines and with their international partners to create plans moving them toward shared goals.
Tier III- Peace Ambassador’s Project includes:
Establishing opportunities for community members to share their strategies for successful peacemaking and peace building projects as well as their stories with the wider community.
JOHN MALUK YAK
Although John Maluk Yak is an American citizen, he was born in a beautiful village in Southern Sudan. As one of the Sudanese children who the world community call the Lost Boys of the Sudan, John's life experiences with different communities around the world have given him a unique perspective and sincere appreciation of the educational opportunities he has had in America.
John Maluk Yak spent half of his life as a refugee, far from his parents, his friends, and his childhood home. Separated from his family and community by the 1986 Sudan civil war, John experienced unimaginable horrors. As the armies of the north followed their orders to kill the Christian boys in the villages of the south, John and his fellow Lost Boy survivors escaped the murderous invasions by fleeing into the wild---walking 1,000 miles through thick tropical forests, deserts and wild lands of Africa. The starving children survived the trek by chewing the leaves and bark of trees. As they escaped, the children swam across the strong currents of rivers filled with crocodiles while dodging the spray of aircraft bullets and bombs that were aimed at them as they fled their homeland. As John recalls his experiences walking over a thousand miles nearing starvation with thorns piercing his festering heels, he explains that the boys often suffered the most from missing their parents and feeling alone and homesick. Although the Lost Boys courageously protected each other from bullets, bombs, animal attacks, and from the elements, their numbers dwindled. Twenty-seven thousand children fled Southern Sudan but only ten thousand children lived to see the temporary sanctuary of the UN Camps. Terrified, emaciated, helping their sick friends and clutching their Bibles, the world finally began to hear the Lost Boys' stories for the first time.
The Lost Boys arrived in Ethiopia hoping for refuge, but after a few years they were forced to flee again as a war erupted in Ethiopia in 1990. The Lost Boys walked back to Sudan and then on to the safety of UN camps in Kenya in 1992. At this point John realized that he must create his own home and he knew that his fellow Lost Boys would forever be his family.
Arriving in Kenya, John Yak quickly learned Kenya's local language-
"I wanted to learn their dialect so that I could have better personal communication with the people from Kenyan communities, but at the same time I found myself as the language translator between two tribes in the market and within the Sudanese communities."
John's communication and mediation skills were quickly recognized and embraced by the local community leaders. Every time a problem occurred between the Kenya's local tribe and the Sudanese communities, they called on John for language translation and problem solving. John recalls, "I was so excited because I was helping my people. It was a great experience. Today I realize that I was not just a language translator but, since I was dealing with both individual and tribal issues, I was a counselor and mediator for these two diverse communities."
After spending half of his young life away from his family, and his culture and growing up in different communities with different cultures, beliefs and ways of communication, John Maluk Yak settled in America in 2000. His journey in America has been as courageous as his travels through Africa. As John explains, "My life experiences inspired me to achieve a bachelor's degree in communication arts and sciences. I understand that language, culture, and beliefs are the most significant factors to consider in human communities. Experiencing this diversity of communities has inspired me to pursue my master's degree in the Art of Humanities. My education in the humanities program has enabled me to understand more about human disciplines, philosophies, who are we today in our messy world, what people believe and how they define who they can
be in the modern world. My experiences and my education help me understand our day-to-day issues and challenges. My education in the Humanities has given me an opportunity to fulfill a dream; I am confident that this dream will lead my spirit and help me honor the memories of the Lost Boys who we have lost forever while creating a brighter future for those who remain. I have a dream to go back and work with the Sudanese people to promote human rights awareness and to promote peace and reconciliation among Sudanese tribes. We hope to establish effective peace building strategies and strengthen our community with peaceful dialogues to prevent the next generation from growing up and living in a war zone again. The world called the Sudan's children the "Lost Boys and Lost Girls" of the Sudan. As a member of this lost generation, I will make sure that there will be no second lost generation in the Sudan. My American education has given me a great opportunity. I look forward to taking these experiences and skills back to my homeland--- Sudan."
DR.ROBIN & DR.WARREN HEYDENBERK
As a university professor, Robin has taught multicultural education
and conflict resolution education courses. Robin and Warren have
decades of service in conflict resolution program research and
curriculum design and have served as the research coordinators for
several nonprofit organizations. Warren is a faculty member at Lehigh
University where he teaches language arts and conflict resolution
courses. Warren has taught in elementary through adult levels in
public and alternative education programs and he has two decades of
work in conflict resolution.
The Heydenberks are recipients of numerous awards for their research
and writing. They have served on national and international peace
education boards. The Heydenberks are trained in varied school-based
mediation models and Robin is a certified workplace mediation trainer
and both of the Heydenberks are trained in dialogue models. The
Heydenberks are the authors of
A Powerful Peace: The Integrative Thinking Classroom, Allyn & Bacon, 2000, a children's conflict resolution book, and numerous scholarly articles. For more information on their related research, please see www.heydenberk.com or the links
below:
http://www.mediate.com/acreducation/pg5.cfm
http://www.mediate.com/acreducation/docs/spring-07.pdf
Expanding_Definition_of_Education_ACResolution.8.2.pdf
