RES 5535: Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (summer 2010)

Many thoughts crossed my mind as I read this article; first and upmost my sorrow for the young men who had to flee their country because of civil war. As I continued to read I quickly began to discover these men who fled their country at such a young age knew more about their community and heritage than I do.
I grew up in North Carolina with my parents and two brothers. We normally set together every night at dinner. What we didn’t do was tell stories. Well maybe we told stories about our day, but we didn’t discuss the past. My mom and dad never really spoke of their childhood. Snapshots occasionally at Christmas time when my mom would see a Christmas ornament that had been on her tree as a child. They never really went into great detail though about our heritage. Daily life was the culprit. My parents worked full time jobs, and were busy raising three children. We also had a TV in the house, which I remember watching at night. To my disappointment there wasn’t time for stories.
My husband however said he remembered visiting his grandfather and listening to his grandfather tell stories. His grandfather grew up on a farm and told stories about traveling by house and buggy. He told how he walked to a one room school and worked the farm (without a tractor). His grandfather also went into great detail about his ancestors. My husband was very fortunate he experienced storytelling first hand.
Ezra, Chol, and Francis spoke of how stories were told by the elders in their community. They went on to say there was time for storytelling because “In Africa, there’s not a lot of work, so people gather together to tell stories.” The elders told the stories orally, and the stories were not put in writing. Francis described how family and community members often gathered in the evenings to hear stories. The community elders told the stories to the young people of the community. This type of storytelling is referred to as traditional storytelling.
Ezra, Chol, and Francis were part of a group referred to as the “Lost Boys.” They fled their native home in opens of surviving. They knew that if they stayed in Sudan they would be forced to fight. These young men walked for thousands of miles and ended up in a refugee camp in Kenya and eventually moved to homes in America. Even though they distanced themselves physically from Sudan they did not want to forget their home. More importantly they wanted others to understand what was going on in their homeland. In addition they wanted future generations to know the culture and heritage of Sudan. Ezra, Chol, and Francis began using transformed storytelling. This type of storytelling is told to the outside world to educate others about your community. They begin to tell and write about their experiences in Sudan to inform others of their experiences, and to call on others to help the people of Sudan.
I think Ezra summed up this article best when he said, “The new generation will not know anything about the old generation, so this group will be a different group.” With the loss of storytelling cultures will be lost. I know our society as a whole must continue to grow, but this article made me realize how important it is to know where you come from. Pam Aubuchon