Flying home with the "Lost Boys"
February 15 2007
Field report from pilot Mike
Delorenzo
We descended through the haze, steering toward coordinates our
passengers had handed forward on a scrap of paper. The village of
Duk Paynel lay ahead. Panther Bior looked out the window of the
Caravan and began to smile. He recognized his home, even though he
had not seen it in twenty years. He and Samuel are among what
western media, and the world, have come to know as the "Lost Boys"
of Southern Sudan. Their stories have been documented in articles
and books over the past several years, and recently in a National
Geographic movie entitled "God Grew Tired of Us." The stories are
remarkable... how they survived years of wandering throughout Sudan
during the civil war which tore apart their homes. They were
children, without adult supervision. And they numbered in the
thousands. A fortunate few were plucked from the refugee camps at
Kakuma, Kenya and brought to America more than a decade ago. They
have grown up in a new land far from the one they called home. And
now they are coming back.
AIM AIR Pilot Linnie Weeks and I had the privilege of flying Panther and Samuel back home today, along with three men from their church in Skaneateles, New York. They are coming to build a health clinic for this community over the next several months. It is a blessing which these men long dreamed to bring upon their home village, overflowing from the grace of God they have known these past twenty years. It is a long time coming. Panther and Samuel fled this place in 1987, seven-years-old and destitute. Today they returned in a Cessna Caravan, speaking good english, and sporting still-childish smiles as they greeted a jubilant crowd at the airstrip. For the churches that took these boys in, it is another remarkable milestone in an accidental ministry to the people of Sudan. For us pilots, its another day on the job, albeit a special one - one where you catch a glimpse of your small part in a grander and sovereign Plan.
For more information about the clinic project, try these links:
First Presbyterian Church, Skaneateles New York
American Care for Sudan Foundation
Learn More about the Lost Boys of Sudan
God Grew Tired of Us
AIM AIR Pilot Linnie Weeks and I had the privilege of flying Panther and Samuel back home today, along with three men from their church in Skaneateles, New York. They are coming to build a health clinic for this community over the next several months. It is a blessing which these men long dreamed to bring upon their home village, overflowing from the grace of God they have known these past twenty years. It is a long time coming. Panther and Samuel fled this place in 1987, seven-years-old and destitute. Today they returned in a Cessna Caravan, speaking good english, and sporting still-childish smiles as they greeted a jubilant crowd at the airstrip. For the churches that took these boys in, it is another remarkable milestone in an accidental ministry to the people of Sudan. For us pilots, its another day on the job, albeit a special one - one where you catch a glimpse of your small part in a grander and sovereign Plan.
For more information about the clinic project, try these links:
First Presbyterian Church, Skaneateles New York
American Care for Sudan Foundation
Learn More about the Lost Boys of Sudan
God Grew Tired of Us