Following the attack on his village by Arab Muslim militia, Angelo, who was approximately eight years old at the time, was separated from his parents and taken captive by Baggara tribesman from the North of Sudan. He remained there for three years, sleeping in a makeshift stall along with the animals that he tended by day. He eventually escaped fleeing to Khartoum, the capital city of Sudan. Miraculously, he located an uncle living there who agreed to take care of him. Even more incredible, he was allowed to attend a local school, a privilege not generally granted to children from the South. However, Angelo later learned that his education came with a tremendous price. Upon graduating from High School, he and other young men from the South were taken captive by the Sudanese government and forced to enlist in the Army. Their intended mission was that of returning to their homeland to kill their own people. Equally distressing to them as Christians, was the fact that they were forced to pray to Islam.
One day, while marching on the outskirts of town, the young Soldiers, approximately 250 in number, attempted their escape. At a predetermined signal, they scattered in all directions. Those running the farthest were shot by government soldiers; many were killed. Others like Angelo, who were not so fast on their feet, were grabbed and at any signs of struggle, their throats were slit. Such was the case of Angelo, who received three slits to his throat, before being tossed by the roadside where he was left to die. He somehow made it to a nearby tree where he remained for several hours until aid workers from the Red Cross found him.
Angelo, barely alive, was loaded onto a flat bed truck and taken to a squatter camp for Southerners in Khartoum. There, a Sudanese doctor crudely stitched his neck back in place and agreed to hide him for several weeks until he was latter smuggled out of the country to Egypt. Eventually he received refugee status to the US, but unfortunately his problems were not over.
Angelo developed a condition known as keloid (an over healing of the skin), that resulted in large scars like thick ropes that wrapped around his neck. Even more troublesome, the site of the scars often became infected requiring frequent visits to the hospital. On one such visit in the summer of 2004, Angelo incurred a $17,000 hospital bill.
Unemployed, uninsured and a full time college student, this became a bigger burden than Angelo could bear; that’s when the Alliance for the Lost Boys stepped in to help. After contacting a local charity (who wishes to remain unknown), his hospital bill was wiped clean. We also contacted a good friend and local Cosmetic Surgeon, by the name of Dr. R. Gregory Smith, who generously donated his time and services to remove the scars from Angelo’s neck.
Three surgeries later, the scars are now gone and with further treatment, we’re hopeful that they won’t return. When speaking about his surgery Angelo says, “I have always been known as the guy with the scars on his neck. Maybe now, I can just be known as Angelo.”
Angelo is studying to become a doctor so that he can return to Southern Sudan to help his people. He is one of the college scholarship recipients of the Alliance for the Lost Boys of Sudan.
