US Congress approves fellowship for South Sudan lost boys JUBA (17 Sep.)

[Elisabeth Janaina]

US Congress approves fellowship for South Sudan lost boys
JUBA (17 Sep.)

The legislators in the United States have approved a more than two
years bill seeking support to allow transfer of knowledge and skills
acquired by the lost boys and girls after resettlement in the United
States after fleeing more than two decade North-South’s brutal and
which was one of the longest civil war in Africa before secession in
2011.

Congress member Karen Bass (D-Calif.) announced the approval of the
fellowship entitled the Lost Boys and Girls Rebuilding Infrastructure
to Sustain Enduring Peace in South Sudan Act (Lost Boys and Girls RISE
Act) of 2016. This legislation, introduced Tuesday, September 13th,
will create a fellowship program for Lost Boys and Lost Girls who wish
to take their acquired experience in the United States back to South
Sudan. Members of the Lost Boys and Girls, now men and women, met with
Members of Congress, including Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) and
their staff members to discuss support for the bill.

“Each time I‘ve met with members of the Lost Boys and Girls Community,
they have passionately expressed their desire to return to South Sudan
to share their acquired skills with the country they were forced to
leave behind,” said Rep. Bass. “The RISE Act will enable these men and
women to help build South Sudan’s infrastructure through the
transference of knowledge.” said Karen Bass.

Throughout the 21-year civil war in the Republic of Sudan, which
resulted in the creation of South Sudan, about 17,000 Sudanese boys
and girls known as the “Lost Boys and Lost Girls of Sudan” sought
refuge from persecution in their country.These refugees faced
tremendous difficulties, including dehydration, starvation and
inhumane treatment by military forces. In 2001, approximately 3,800
Lost Boys and Girls were granted resettlement status in the United
States.

The Lost Boys and Girls RISE Act would enable fellows to use their
expertise to educate and train the next generation of workers in South
Sudan by creating a three-year pilot fellowshipprogram through the
U.S. Department of State, under the purview of the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID).The program will link Sudanese
refugees to appropriate development, governmental, and civil
society-related positions in South Sudan and through the transfer of
expertise to South Sudan’s reconstruction, the program will provide
the basis for a stable partner in Africa.