VOA标准英语2011--'Lost Boy' Returns to Help South Sudan Village

'Lost Boy' Returns to Help South Sudan Village

 

Like many college students, Aruna Kenyi went home over the summer to see his family. Unlike most of his peers¹ though, the 22 year old's journey took him halfway² around the world to his native Sudan - or to what used to be Sudan - and is now the new independent Republic of South Sudan.

It was the first trip home in 16 years for the University of Maine-Farmington senior. When he visited his birthplace of Kansuk, the memories came flooding back. His recollections are of civil war and how, as a 5-year-old boy, he and his three brothers were separated from their parents when militiamen ransacked³ his village.

Thinking their parents had been killed, the brothers joined thousands of other so-called ‘Lost Boys,’ wandering from village to village, fleeing war and famine.

“We ended up in a camp in Uganda. That's where we filled the applications for coming to the U.S.," he says. "And in November 2003, we finally were moved to the U.S.. The first state that we lived in was Virginia, and after that we moved to Maine because we knew some people that we used to live in the camp with that live in Maine so we decided⁴ to move here.”

Aruna Kenyi took this picture of a teacher with his students in Kansuk, South Sudan, where Kenyi hopes to establish a free lunch program.

But Kenyi never lost the connection he feels to his homeland. In 2005, he learned that his parents had survived the war back home. Earlier this year, he voted in elections for South Sudanese independence.

And, as part of his studies at the University of Maine where he is majoring in community health education, Kenyi proposed setting up a high school lunch program in Kansuk.

“I really feel the need that if children are fed they are more likely to learn better, and perform better in school," Kenyi says. "It also improves their health. So I went there with the thought of wanting to start a school lunch program, but it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to be. I didn't have enough funding to start the program.”

Before the trip, Kenyi set an ambitious⁵ goal of raising $90,000; the cost of providing a daily meal for all 500 kids at the local high school for one year. With the $2,600 he did collect, Kenyi bought water containers so the students have access to clean drinking water. He also set up a sponsorship program to pay volunteer teachers at the village kindergarten.

During his trip, Kenyi discovered that the children needed a lot more than school lunches.

University of Maine student Aruna Kenyi set up a fresh drinking water program in his native South Sudan village and hopes to follow up with a free school lunch program.

“They have so much need at this school, needs such as a library. They don't have textbooks at this school. There are about one textbook for one class, and they don't even have enough chairs and tables for students. Some students sit on the floor at this school.”

There's also a critical shortage⁶ of teachers even though the average class size is about 100 students. But Kenyi's primary concern remains⁷ the school nutrition program.

The school cannot provide lunches and, he explains, that means many kids have nothing to eat all day.

“So they go from eight to four, and once they get home they get to eat something if there is food at home. But at school there is no food,” Kenyi says. "So the students, sometimes at lunch break, they get an hour for lunch. For most students, the distance from school to home is about two hours. A lot of them just decide to go home and not back to school.”

Kenyi is determined⁸ to continue fundraising to meet his goal of setting up a school lunch program in Kansuk. He's approaching church groups, schools and colleges in New England and beyond, for financial support. A successful nutrition program in Kansuk, he hopes, will provide a model for other districts in South Sudan to do the same.

And one day, he says, he plans to return to his country to work as a teacher.

1 peers   

n.同等的人，贵族vi.凝视，窥视vt.与…同等，封为贵族v.凝视( peer的第三人称单数 )；盯着看；同等；比得上

参考例句：

• She enjoys the respect of her peers. 她受到同侪的尊敬。
• She peers into my eyes. 她盯着我的眼睛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

3 ransacked   

v.彻底搜查( ransack的过去式和过去分词 )；抢劫，掠夺

参考例句：

• The house had been ransacked by burglars. 这房子遭到了盗贼的洗劫。
• The house had been ransacked of all that was worth anything. 屋子里所有值钱的东西都被抢去了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 ambitious   

adj.有雄心的，劲头十足的，有野心的

参考例句：

• One may be poor but never ceases to be ambitious.人穷志不穷。
• He is an ambitious young man full of enthusiasm and vitality.他是个充满热情与活力的有远大抱负的青年。

6 shortage   

n.缺少，缺乏，不足

参考例句：

• The city is suffering a desperate shortage of water.这个城市严重缺水。
• The heart of the problem is a shortage of funds.问题的关键是缺乏经费。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。