Sudanese Civil War survivor speaks at Rotary Club meeting

Simon Deng was just seven years old, tending cattle in their small southern Sudanese village, when Islamic militants stormed their village and murdered his family. Deng, small enough to hide in the tall grasses, managed to survive.

However, before the Second Sudanese Civil War -- a conflict between non-Arab Christians in southern Sudan and the northern, Arab-dominated government from 1983 to 2005 -- was over, more than two million southern Sudanese were killed and another four million were displaced.

These days, the people of Darfur, the same people that were used by the Sudanese government to slaughter the southern Christians, are now being persecuted and killed in mass numbers by that same government.

Deng, speaking at the Fort Scott Rotary Club meeting Wednesday, explained why it is the southern Sudanese Christians that are now coming to the aid of the same people that mass murdered two million of their fellow southerners.

"To stand for a change in Darfur is the life I want to lead," Deng said.

Deng was accompanied by Rev. Tom Prichard, executive director of the Lenexa-based Sudan Sunrise, a group dedicated to furthering the work of Sudanese Christians to come to the aid of and to stand in solidarity with the people of Darfur. The ultimate goal of Sudanese Christians is to reconcile and reunite with the people of Darfur.

"When their persecutors, the Muslims of Darfur, became victimized by the same government that used them to kill southern Sudanese, southern Sudanese Christians said, 'Yes they killed our families, but we know what they're going through. We want to do what we can to come to their aid'," Prichard said.

The relief movement began in 2004 with southern Sudanese Christians who took aid to refugees from the genocide in Darfur. Their efforts have sparked a reconciliation movement between Sudanese Christians and Muslims and has inspired an equally heroic response among some Sudanese Muslims who are boldly reaching out to southerners.

Prichard said the efforts by southern Sudanese are nothing short of "extraordinary."

"It's one thing to think about forgiving somebody who killed your family," Prichard said, "it is another thing to put yourself at risk to come to their aid. Sudan has gone ahead of the world in dealing with fundamentalist Islam. I think there is something here that we can learn from these glimmers of reconciliation."

Deng, along with many of the young boys that escaped the killings, will travel back to Sudan in January to help with the relief efforts. On the trip, he will revisit the very village where his family was murdered for the first time. Deng said he is proud to help with the reconciliation efforts, yet it is something he never expected to do.

"I thought I left all this and would never see it again," Deng said.

A major part of Sudan Sunrise's mission is to spread the word about the genocide in Darfur to the people and government of the United States and to ask for their help. Deng said it can be difficult to make people comprehend just what is taking place over there.

"There has been no message to people," Deng said. "People didn't know. Nobody let the world know what was going on."

Prichard added that Darfurians are hoping that the United States will come to their aid.

"They'll say, 'We don't have any hope that Arab nations are going to come to our aid. Our hope is in the United States and our hope is in our southern Sudanese brothers', " Prichard said. "These are fundamentalist militant fighters that are now realizing that the southern Sudanese aren't infidels, they really aren't enemies, but they really our their brothers."

Deng was one of about 3,800 "Lost Boys of Sudan" who arrived in the United States on, of any day, Sept. 11, 2001. Because of the terrorist attacks of that day, the planes holding the Sudanese men were forced to land in Newfoundland, Canada. Deng said he was shocked to hear that Osama Bin Laden was behind the attacks, since Deng was in Kenya when bin Laden's followers attacked the U.S. Embassy there in 1998.

"We all thought, 'Is this guy looking for us?'," Deng said.

Before making it to the U.S., Deng and thousands of "Lost Boys" spent years trekking across desert, rivers and swamp lands in search of refuge. Deng's journey took him to Ethiopia, back to Sudan, to Kenya and finally to the United States.

Being a survivor of one of the deadliest wars in history and now taking part in aiding their former persecutors, Deng wants to spread to word of forgiveness and that people can make a difference.

"While you are still alive, you can still get out of (life) what you need," Deng said. "You can take your message to the government and your message can be heard. Take your message very strongly."