The legislators in the United States have approved a more than two years bill seeking support to allow transfer of knowledge and skills acquired by the lost boys and girls after resettlement in the United States after fleeing more than two decade North-South’s brutal and which was one of the longest civil war in Africa before secession in 2011.
Congress member Karen Bass (D-Calif.) announced the approval of the fellowship entitled the Lost Boys and Girls Rebuilding Infrastructure to Sustain Enduring Peace in South Sudan Act (Lost Boys and Girls RISE Act) of 2016. This legislation, introduced Tuesday, September 13th, will create a fellowship program for Lost Boys and Lost Girls who wish to take their acquired experience in the United States back to South Sudan. Members of the Lost Boys and Girls, now men and women, met with Members of Congress, including Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) and their staff members to discuss support for the bill.
“Each time I‘ve met with members of the Lost Boys and Girls Community, they have passionately expressed their desire to return to South Sudan to share their acquired skills with the country they were forced to leave behind,” said Rep. Bass. “The RISE Act will enable these men and women to help build South Sudan’s infrastructure through the transference of knowledge.” said Karen Bass.
Throughout the 21-year civil war in the Republic of Sudan, which resulted in the creation of South Sudan, about 17,000 Sudanese boys and girls known as the “Lost Boys and Lost Girls of Sudan” sought refuge from persecution in their country.These refugees faced tremendous difficulties, including dehydration, starvation and inhumane treatment by military forces. In 2001, approximately 3,800 Lost Boys and Girls were granted resettlement status in the United States.
The Lost Boys and Girls RISE Act would enable fellows to use their expertise to educate and train the next generation of workers in South Sudan by creating a three-year pilot fellowshipprogram through the U.S. Department of State, under the purview of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).The program will link Sudanese refugees to appropriate development, governmental, and civil society-related positions in South Sudan and through the transfer of expertise to South Sudan’s reconstruction, the program will provide the basis for a stable partner in Africa.