We were young boys when war broke out in our country. We had been living peacefully with our families in different villages.

Then the armies from the north attacked, and we ran for our lives. We escaped with hundreds of other young boys, running from the dangers we had just seen into dangers we had never witnessed before.

We kept each other alive as we fled to freedom. This book is the record of our escape.

The original print version of this book was produced in a limited printing. We are reissuing it now as print-on-demand so that it will be available in perpetuity.

A WORD FROM THE CO-CREATOR Echoes of the Lost Boys of Sudan was created from the human fiber of the four main characters themselves and from the dedication of the production team. The main characters offered hours / days / months of their time for interviewing and reviewing, while the team offered the same, taping, transcribing, drawing and writing.

More than once, one or more of the characters would be coming off a night shift, but would still present themselves for the work. Because we wanted their experiences to reach the heart in ways beyond words, we went through many artists until we found one who was herself dedicated to using the arts to promote human rights.

For this reason, all aspects of this book are of one piece. In this book Angelo, Matthew, Michael, and Santino represent the people of all the towns and all the villages in Southern Sudan.

Theirs is the kind of character, theirs are the kinds of values, theirs the kind of humanity, that the government of Northern Sudan targeted without mercy for extermination. What a great loss to the world, the more than 2 million civilians who were slaughtered in the war.

What a great gift to the world, these four children, now men, who survived to tell it all. Our goals: that their story be heard and that its telling benefit as many people as possible in as many ways as possible.

So it is intended not only for general audiences here and abroad, but also for at-risk youth who are the same age now that the Lost Boys were when they had to run for their lives. It is our great hope that their stories will be of benefit to you.

Susan Clark, PhD. .