by Michele Mccullough

Created on: January 03, 2010   Last Updated: January 04, 2010

This is a documentary that all Americans should watch to be able to understand how far off the mark our way of life has become. This is a story of three African boys known as part of "The Lost Boys", a group of boys forced to leave their homeland in Sudan, Africa when they came under attack and in danger of being killed.

Heartbreaking and touching,  this story makes one aware of just how jaded we are as Americans, and yet also realizing how far off the mark we have become as a nation when it comes to dealing with the true meaning of family and neighbors. As these young boys trek across the desert for weeks that turn into months, they find themselves often without food or water, eating mud and urine just to survive. Losing loved ones throughout their journey forces them to learn how to bury the dead and try to keep the group moving at the same time. Caring for one another is not an obligation to them, they are all family in their own eyes.

Eventually they arrive in Kenya after struggling through the deserts, where they find help and a place to settle down. They are given a basic education and some food, though the portions are meager. Together they thrive as they help one another mentally and spiritually, to deal with lost family members and the horrors of losing their homeland.Struggling daily to deal with their losses, their hope is still strong that they will be able to go home.

Along the way a program to help them is put together and the three boys, now young men, are chosen to go to America to start a new life. What follows is a wake up call for every American to pay attention to. Never having electricity or running water, every luxury we have is new and strange to these boys. From teaching them to be aware of the hot water to introducing them to potato chips, they are in awe.

As they struggle to find jobs and adapt to this new way of life, the boys are still terribly homesick. Their focus and goal is to find their families, hopefully alive, and to make money to send to them. Some are found alive, but in refugee camps and still starving.

With all of this taking place between the 80's and 90's, one can wonder how we here can be so spoiled with luxuries,  while in other parts of the world, people are living as though in ages past.

What moved me the most about this documentary is seeing the sad state we have blindly followed our fellow Americans into. Work is everything to us, family is next. With no time to spend with our families because we have to work so hard to pay the bills and buy our "toys" ,our family unit is breaking down. We were once a nation under God, friendly to everyone and not afraid to knock on our neighbors door. We now fear involving ourselves too closely in others affairs and the result of that is people who are evil are able to perform evil tasks right under our noses and not be found out for decades. Trust is no longer found among the average American and unloved individuals strike out in anger by hurting others and committing crimes.

It's a well known fact that people need each other and need love. As one of the boys says, people here are not friendly. As the years pass and technology grows, so does the gap between caring for each other from the heart and keeping up with a life that government and people themselves have boxed us into. I admire the heart of of these African people and pray the same for our own.

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