place for people to go when their country is not safe. The kind women stopped their washing and put us on the road to the camp.

In the refugee camp we met a man named Tom who was from the United States. His job was to help refugees like us.

“I will do my best to get you food and shelter,” Tom said.

Tom was true to his promise. For the first time in a long while, we ate every day. It wasn’t much, just lentils and flour, but after months with almost nothing to eat, it seemed like a feast. We were given tools to build our own mud-and-thatch shelters. To me they were palaces!

We also had the chance to go to school. In the beginning we did not want to go. We wanted to play and forget our hard times. The adults tried to bribe us with cookies, but still many boys did not go to school. The adults became upset with us.

One day a teacher visited me.

“Garang, you must make sure your group comes to school every day,” she said. “Education is very important. It can be like your mothers and fathers. It can speak for you in the future, when your parents cannot.”

The teacher’s words reminded me of how much I missed my parents. I decided to go to school to honor them and to feel they were still with me. My group began to go to school, too, even if there were no cookies.

English was my favorite subject. We didn’t have pencils and paper, so I practiced writing my lessons in the dirt with a stick.

We also learned to pray and worship. Many of us began to go to church every weekend. Faith gave us hope and strength. We began to tell people, “I am not lost. God knows where I am.”