African Week at UNL features films, lectures on Sudan

The Office of Academic Support and Intercultural Services and the African Student Association at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will host events during "African Week: Past, Present and Future," April 1-3.

This year's events focus on the experiences of the "Lost Boys" of Sudan. The genocide that took place in southern Sudan left at least 80,000 boys between the ages of 3 and 13 without parents. Of the original 80,000 Lost Boys who fled civil war in Sudan, 18,000 made it to a United Nations refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya. Of the 18,000 Lost Boys living at the Kakuma, 3,800 were accepted as refugees by the United States. At least four are now undergraduates at UNL.

A complete schedule of African Week events follows. All events begin at 6 p.m. in the Crib area of the Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., and are free and open to the public.

April 1 -- Film screening: "Lost Boys of Sudan" is the award-winning story of two boys who traveled across several African countries before arriving in the United States to start new lives. This film documents their lives as they attempt to learn the cultural realities of life in the United States.

April 2 -- Film screening: "God Grew Tired of Us" follows the stories of three Lost Boys of Sudan. The film documents the trials the three young men faced as they left refugee camps in Kenya and sought asylum in the United States.

April 3 -- "The Lost Boys and Print Media: An Examination of Refugee Resettlement Policy, Programs and Culture," a presentation by Mary Willis, associate professor of anthropology at UNL.