It is estimated that more than 30,000 Sudanese boys were orphaned or separated from their homes and families by the civil war that tore apart South Sudan between 1984 and 2005. Atem Aleu, from the Dinka tribe, was seven years old when his village was attacked. When Atem, out in the fields tending the cows with the other Dinka village boys heard the gunshots, they fled and began the one thousand mile walk, barefoot from Sudan to Ethiopia and finally to the Kenyan refugee camp in Kakuma.  The survivors of this tragic escape became known  as the ‘Lost Boys of Sudan.’

Atem eventually made it to the UNHCR refugee camp in Kenya. At fourteen years old, he began to sketch and paint the stories of what he and the ‘Lost Boys’ had been through, helping him begin to process his painful story and heal.

Today, living in Salt Lake with many university degrees and accomplishments under his belt, he is still healing himself and others through art and storytelling. In the following videos: Finding Home: The Journey of a Lost Boy of South Sudan Part 1, Atem explains the Dinka tribe and culture and then what happened when the militiamen backed by the islamic government from the North of Sudan made war on the southern villages. 

Part 2 is about life in the refugee camps in Ethiopia and the harrowing journey to Kenya where Atem started painting to process and heal.  The third video is about how Atem got to the US, what it was like to get on his feet, and where he eventually found home, started a family and continues his work here and in Sudan.