Since 1946, Fargo has been a place of new beginnings for refugees from around the world. On this day in 2000, The Fargo Forum announced that a group of Sudan’s “Lost Boys” would soon be arriving in the city.
The Lost Boys were children caught in the devastation of the Second Sudanese Civil War. Over 20,000 were orphaned or separated from their families and fled to Ethiopia. When conflict erupted there, they returned to Sudan, only to be driven into Kenya by renewed violence. After thousands of miles on foot, they spent eight years in refugee camps.
Named after Peter Pan’s companions, the group was mostly boys, but also included some girls.
In 2000, the U.S. State Department and United Nations launched a program to resettle around 3,500 of them across American cities. Fargo, already home to about 800 Sudanese refugees, was one of the chosen sites. Most of the boys were just 16 or 17.
Haditha Suliman and her husband, Matiop Alith, refugees from Ethiopia themselves, had spent years separated from each other and their son before arriving in Fargo in 1998. When they signed up to foster one of the Lost Boys, their goal was simple: to give him love and a family.
Life in Fargo was both overwhelming and full of promise. The climate was shocking. Many boys had never seen electricity. New foods upset their stomachs, and classrooms could feel unwelcoming. Cultural misunderstandings sometimes developed with white foster families.
Boys over 18 moved into apartments together and often struggled to navigate adulthood alone. Loneliness and war memories lingered.
Still, the community stepped up. Fargo’s Sudanese families embraced the newcomers. Lutheran Social Services worked tirelessly to connect them with support. Volunteers at Moorhead’s St. John the Divine Episcopal Church welcomed the Lost Boys, with about 25 attending services weekly within two years. Oak Grove Lutheran School admitted older students, and many advanced to North Dakota State University, Concordia, and Minnesota State University Moorhead.
As they settled, they married, raised families, and gave back to the community. After South Sudan gained independence in 2011, some even returned to help rebuild their homeland.
And for some of those Lost Boys, it all began with people like Haditha Suliman and Matiop Alith, who opened their home and their hearts to them.
Dakota Datebook by Trista Raezer-Stursa
Sources:
- Associated Press. “3,500 ‘Lost Boys’ to find new homes in the U.S.,” The Fargo Forum, June 14, 2000, pg. A2.
- Associated Press. “Sudanese ‘Lost Boys’ Head for Fargo, Other U.S. Cities,” The Fargo Forum, December 22, 2000, pg. A2.
- Coomber, Sarah. “Sudan’s Lost Boys Soon to Find Home,” The Fargo Forum, September 23, 2000, pgs. A1, A14.
- Corbett, Sara. “The Lost Boys of Sudan; The Long, Long, Long Road to Fargo,” The New York Times Magazine, April 1, 2001.
- Gilmour, Deneen. “LSS Seeks More Foster Parents for War Orphans,” The Fargo Forum, September 11, 2001, pg. A1.
- Gilmour, Deneen. “Moorhead Church is a Haven for Sudanese,” The Fargo Forum, December 11, 2001, pg. E7.
- Hemme Froslie, Erin. “For Graduation, It Took a Village,” The Fargo Forum, May 23, 2004, pgs. A1, A9.
- Ingersoll, Archie. “Lost Boys All Grown Up,” The Fargo Forum, March 2, 2014, pgs. A1, A12.
