A Lost Boy of Sudan tells of his journey home

The rebels attacked just after dawn, as 7-year-old Dut "Daniel" Akech played with his friends on the outskirts of their village in southern Sudan. In the confusion and killing and horror, Akech and other children ran to a nearby village, hoping to meet up with his parents. Instead he ended up on a hellish, monthslong journey during which he saw many of his friends starve, get shot or drown trying to cross rivers. Those who lived eventually walked all the way to neighboring Ethiopia.

Akech is now 28, and he's one of thousands of refugees known as the Lost Boys of Sudan, children who escaped that country's civil war. Many spent years in refugee camps and had no contact with people back home.

Akech grew up in camps in Ethiopia and Kenya before coming to the United States in 2004. He now lives in Virginia Beach and is a full-time student at Tidewater Community College.

Until recently, he had not seen his parents since the day of the rebel attack in 1987.

Two years ago, he tracked down his mother and called her. It was the first time she had used a telephone. Once he convinced her he was really her son, she begged him to return to Sudan before she died.

In December, with help from American supporters, he made the two-week trip. He reconnected with his parents, met other relatives and friends, and explored his dream of opening an orphanage to help children who are still in Sudan, suffering.

"What I saw was not what I was expecting," he said after his return. "I was sad and shocked. It was worse than I thought."

He endured trials small and large, from undependable flights, to nights in grass huts without mosquito netting, to an 11-hour march through swamps and raging rivers.

But he also hugged his mother for the first time in 21 years and presented his father with new clothes.

He paid particular attention to children, some playing the same games he did as a child, others forced to sell goods on the street in order to go to school. They strengthened his resolve to complete his education here, in international relations and law, and one day return to Sudan.

"That is where my heart is," he said. "When I see the children I think of my own suffering. Now I have a vision of what I will do. I'm really, really glad I went."

Here, in his words, are recollections of the trip, along with photos he took.