John Bul Dau, who also goes by the name Dhieu-Deng Leek, was born in Sudan during a rare peaceful period in 1974. However, in 1987 his village Duk Payuel was attacked by Arab soldiers from the north, and his life was changed forever. He became known as one of the Lost Boys, a group of roughly 20,000 young boys, mostly under the age of 12, who walked over 1,000 miles to seek refuge from Sudan’s civil war. Although the Muslim north was hoping to establish Sharia law throughout the entire country, John clung to his Christian faith to get through the most difficult parts of his journey.

Dau grew up with five full siblings, although his father had 18 children from different wives. When Dau was separated from his family on the night of the attack, he assumed that they had all died, although he always held on to hope that they might be alive. While he reunited with many of his family members after nearly 15 years of separation, many of the Lost Boys weren’t as lucky. In the Introduction Dau explains that although he may be just one Lost Boy with a familiar story, he hopes that telling his story will bring awareness to his cause and make Africa and

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