Former “Lost Boy” Shares His Story with HHHS Students
“Imagine going to school one day and finding out you could never go home or see your family again.”
So began Bol Riiny’s moving presentation to the district’s ninth graders on November 16. Riiny, one of the thousands of Lost Boys of Sudan, came to the high school to share details of his childhood, which was upended during the second Sudanese Civil War in the late 1980s.
Riiny’s presentation, a powerful story of survival in the face of unthinkable adversity, was arranged through a partnership between the ENL (English as a New Language) and English departments and was funded via a Hendrick Hudson High School PTA grant.
For the Hen Hud ninth graders, it was a powerful insight into global affairs and the privilege of being American.
At nine years old, Riiny was forced to flee his hometown with only the clothes on his back when government-backed militias attacked his village. He lost his family in the chaos and joined thousands of other children making their way out of Sudan, ultimately arriving in Ethiopia as refugees.
The students listened captivated while Riiny painted a vivid picture of his harrowing journey of more than 1,000 miles; how, barefoot and exhausted, he and the other boys would take turns sleeping on the ground, while others kept watch for lions.
“We would hide during the day and walk at night,” he said. “It was extremely dangerous. We became each other’s family; we had no other family.” Surviving on leaves and dead animals found along the way, he and his group finally made it to an Ethiopian refugee camp.
During his two years there, he taught himself to swim, motivated by the sight of a mango tree bearing fruit across a river. “You should all learn how to swim,” he told the students. “It is a really important life skill to know.”
When war broke out in Ethiopia, Riiny found himself on the move again and wound up at an overcrowded refugee camp in Kenya. Provided with only one meal a day, he was always hungry and learned to eat at night so he could sleep without waking from hunger.
Ultimately, Riiny emigrated to the United States, where he attended college in New York and settled in Massachusetts. He committed himself to helping children back in his hometown of Thiou, in what is now South Sudan. He raised funds to build a new school there; prior to its construction, children walked two hours each day getting to and from school.
“You are so lucky you get to go to school every day and that everyone has that right,” he told the audience. “You have all the resources you need and families to support you. In South Sudan, you can’t attend school if your parents can’t pay.”
Following his presentation in the auditorium, Riiny met with groups of students in classroom breakout sessions. In these smaller group settings, students were eager for more details.
“Have you experienced discrimination since you’ve been in the U.S.?” one student asked. “Yes,” Riiny answered. “All the time.”
“How afraid were you during your journey across the country?” asked another. “We were afraid all the time and saw death every day,” he said. “We got used to it.”
Additional questions ranged from asking Riiny how he got his hair cut while escaping the war (friends did it) to how hard it was for him to learn English (very!). The students were fascinated by his tales of adjusting to life in the United States, from being afraid the first time he saw snow to not knowing how to use household appliances.
“I didn’t even know how to turn on the lights, let alone a microwave!” he laughed.
Riiny ultimately reconnected with some members of his family. He has been able to visit his hometown and continues to raise money for schools there. His foundation, Village Help for South Sudan, has successfully created four classrooms in Thiou and is currently fundraising to build more.
“Don’t take your freedom or your education for granted,” he told the students. “Here you are free; you can travel, choose a college or job, and move anyplace you’d like to live. In most parts of the world, people don’t have that kind of freedom and those opportunities.”
Riiny said that sharing his story was life-changing for him. “I share these experiences to honor those who didn’t make it,” he said. “It makes me feel better.”
He said that he was very happy that the Hen Hud students asked so many questions and were clearly engaged in the conversation. “The students were amazing,” he said. “Often, I hardly get any questions at all.”