God Grew Tired of Us

Today I had the amazing opportunity to hear John Bul Dau speak. John Bul Dau is one of the Lost Boys of the Sudan. He is the co-author and subject of the book "God Grew Tired of Us" and the film of the same name. His speech was incredible and I just want to write a little bit about what stood out to me. He began by explaining a little bit about his history. He was chased out of his home and he and a large group of boys ages 8-15 stuck together as they endured horrific trials.

He explained that one day they reached a river that was filled with crocodiles. They spent a few days trying to build a rope swing, but before they could figure it out a militia came and opened fire on them. Boys jumped into the water. Some drown because they couldn't swim, some were shot, some were eaten by crocodiles and a lucky few made it across. John was one of the lucky few. They survived by eating anything they could find and had to drink urine to stay alive. John explained that he had been saved by the Almighty God and by his perserverance. He told us, "you must never give up." He could have given up so many times, but he never quit. He compared his commitment to keep going through everything to the students. He told us not to give up studying. It's hard to compare studying for a test to swimming across a river with crocodiles, but he managed to do it.

John was fortunate and was brought to America. He told some funny stories about seeing snow for the first time and going to a grocery store and seeing whole aisles of dog and cat food, he couldn't imagine a country having enough wealth that they were able to feed their animals like that. That is something that I have definitely taken advantage of in the past. As John compared his life now to what it once was he explained that success comes with struggle, they go hand in hand.

At the end of his speech he opened it up to questions and people asked him about the current situation in the Darfur. He explained that the real problem in the Darfur is that they don't have schools and hospitals, they don't have clean water. When you have nothing you fight, if they had hospitals and schools that would be destroyed by fighting they would stop. John then explained his goal. He talked about the earmarks in congress that everyone keeps complaining about. He said, 300 million dollars to the state of New York will make little difference to the people in New York. 300 million dollars in the Sudan could change lives. He wants to build up the Sudan and once peoples' needs are met they will stop fighting.

Overall I was incredibly impressed with John Bul Dau. He was very inspirational as he encouraged to keep going, to never stop fighting. It's easy to get discouraged, but as long as we stick to it, we can overcome all obstacles.