The story of the Lost Boys is amazing. I first stumbled across their story when looking for materials to teach about Sudan and the conflict to my 7th grade social studies class in my local library. There is a beautiful picture book called Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan by Mary Williams and illustrated by Gregory Christie. It was an honor recipient of the Corretta Scott King Illustrator Award. It was amazed because I never heard of this before. I was shocked at the amazing journey these boys took together as a family clinging to one another as a means of survival. The older boys taking care of the young and providing comfort, it is beautiful. I had never really thought about what happened to the girls and why there were only “Lost Boys” until I was discussing the article with a friend. She asked what happen to the girls. How horrific the War in Darfur is for the young people? There, in Darfur, the Janjaweed and the government want the native African tribes to neglect their stories and their histories to be Muslim. There the government wants supreme authority without question. I can’t imagine living in a place where the government is trying to destroy your people and erase your culture from the map. These boys should tremendous courage and strength and as Perry found they are eager to preserve their stories. The oral tradition is already an art that seems a bit lost and removed from the high tech world we live in. It is true as Chol says to Perry when asked about storytelling happening here “it’s common, but we don’t-people go to work… In Africa, there’s not a lot of work, but people gather to tell stories.” The sense of communities found in these boys’ native tribes as well in the Kakuma Refuge Camp promoted storytelling and communication as an art to teach, to share, and to explain the world around them. Religion also was the based upon storytelling. It doesn’t surprise me that these boys felt it particularly important to try to preserve storytelling here, too. For them it is an important part of literacy learning. I think for some students, especially those from low socio-economic backgrounds, there stories are a vital piece of who they are and how they understand literacy. Instead of rushing them through, it would be beneficial to provide an outlet for that oral communication that is becoming more and more a lost art in our world. I know that at one point during a particular emotional conversation with my boyfriend I had to result to texting him to get him to respond to me. Sad, yes, but definitely true. We, as teachers, have to work to maintain storytelling as a viable means of communicating ideas in our classrooms. This is challenging, but one important lesson learned from this case study. I enjoyed the distinction that Perry made in her analysis of traditional storytelling verses transformed storytelling. It has changed, but in our students stories we can find invaluable comments about life and take a deeper look in how they understand the world around them. We often take for granted stories that students connect with as they read text, but storytelling is a purposeful way to interact with a text. It may not just be important for refugees, but also as a way to give our students a voice.
Amy Hardister