Learning from Sudanese Refugees
"Lost Boys" find community in mid-Michigan
story by Eric Fretz and Shruti J. Vaidya
photo by G.L. Kohuth

The Sudanese Youth Project (SYP) is helping young African refugees resettle in mid-Michigan, adapt to American culture and maintain a sense of community. The project is also giving MSU faculty a unique opportunity to research human resilience and learn what enables children and youth to succeed in spite of great hardships.

Victims of the Sudanese civil war, thousands of children were separated from their families and forced to flee refugee camps first in Ethiopia and then in Kenya in 1991. After surviving displacement, hunger and malnutrition, disease, and even attacks by wild animals, the fortunate ones lived in peer groups without adults for almost a decade before the United States agreed in 2001 to resettle more than 4,000 youth. When 130 of the Sudanese refugees, called “Lost Boys,” arrived in Lansing, MSU and community agencies formed a partnership to help them build a new life and to study the factors that contribute to their successful adaptation after facing such violence, trauma and adversity.

“The youth are “remarkably resilient,” says Tom Luster, professor of Family and Child Ecology, and co-leader of SYP. The project has established a weekly recreational program that brings the youth together to socialize, learn about United States youth culture, and interact with MSU students. Community organizations are providing trained counselors to offer services through individual and group meetings with the boys and girls. “Yeah, it’s good to talk about it, sometimes it takes the stinging away from my mind,” said one youth.

“The focus groups are helping researchers understand the youths’ past and how they will negotiate their futures here in the U.S.," said Deborah Johnson, professor of Family and Child Ecology. In the focus groups, the youth voice their struggles and successes to the researchers, who have found a pervasive commitment to achieve among the Lost Boys.

Education, religiosity, and support from Sudanese peers, foster families, mentors and caseworkers are key factors in helping them integrate into American culture while maintaining their African heritage. While most are making progress (28 out of 84 youth earned high school diplomas or GEDs in 2002), they still struggle with cultural, psychological and social pressures. Project leaders say that understanding these layers and complexities could lead to novel youth development approaches and strategies for aiding other refugee groups.

“MSU faculty bring world-class research, and the social service agencies bring sensitivity and a depth of understanding of the emotional needs of the Sudanese youth,” said Laura Bates, project partner and research assistant.

MSU Outreach Partnerships, the FACT Coalition, the Institute for Children, Youth, and Families (ICYF), Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, Catholic Social Services of Lansing/St. Vincent’s Home, Inc. and MSU Extension’s 4-H Youth Development Programs have effectively drawn on the strengths of the community and MSU research facilities.

“What makes this program unique is that it is a totally joint effort,” Abrams explains, “It goes beyond collaboration into active engagement.”

Thanks to the work of the SYP, the Sudanese youth have become regular fixtures in the Lansing community--attending local high schools and community colleges and working in area businesses. Some are preparing to attend MSU. Project leaders have also become closely involved in the youth’s lives. Luster and his family mentored some of the youth and four Sudanese faces smiled on their family holiday card. “A little more than a year ago,” Luster says, “These kids weren’t a part of my life. Now they dominate my thinking.”

Eric Fretz is Assistant Director of Service Learning and Volunteer Programs at Colorado State University

Shruti J. Vaidya is Communications Director for the MSU FACT Coalition and Editor of Connect.

To learn more about the Sudanese Youth Project, contact Laura Bates.

For more Research Now stories, see pages 3-6 in MSU Connect.

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