"Anyone who saves a single soul, it is counted as if they save the whole world"  Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5
 
To read about the personal experiences of a couple of the Lost Girls who have resettled in Boulder, click on the following line:
 
Yom Kippur: Sudanese Refugee Story
 
Congregation Bonai Shalom raised funds and organized volunteers to help resettle three Southern Sudanese refugees in Boulder.  Those funds are now part of the Congregation Bonai Shalom Sudanese Scholarship Fund.  If you would like to make a financial contribution, please mail a check payable to Congregation Bonai Shalom (with a notation that it is for this Fund) to 1527 Cherryvale Road, Boulder, CO   80303.
 
The following is detailed background information about this project:
 

 

Background Information

 

There was a civil war in the South of Sudan for over 20 years between the mainly Muslim north and the Animist and Christian south.  The northern Arab Muslims persecuted the non-Arab Christians in the south.  That war is said to have taken the lives of 1.5 million people.  Since 1992 thousands of people have lived in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. 

 

There was special legislation that allowed 3,276 Sudanese boys who had been living in the Kakuma refugee camp to come to the United States since the year 2000.  These refugees are called “Lost Boys of Sudan.”  The focus of the legislation was getting boys out. Very few girls have found a way to leave the area.

 

We became aware of a commitment that Congregation Har HaShem (HHS) made to bring 10 Lost Girls to Boulder.  Members of HHS were put in touch with a German nun living in Nairobi, Kenya, who has been helping young refugees immigrate to the United States, Canada, and Australia.  Her name is Sister Luise Radlmeier.

 

Sister Luise has a compound outside Nairobi, Kenya.  Kenya is adjacent to Sudan.  The  Kakuma refugee camp is close to the border.  Sister Luise has taken girls out of the refugee camp and arranges for them to go to a boarding school to learn English and other subject.  The women are between the ages of 17 and 24.  Sister Luise is in contact with the Joint Voluntary Agency, a World Church Services organization that partners with the U.S. government to conduct preliminary interviews to determine refugee status.  She helps the girls complete their applications and write their personal stories. These girls have had their first round of interviews.  They are seeking a new classification of “extreme risk.”

 

Susan Glairon, a member of HHS, has traveled to Nairobi, met Sister Luise, and visited her compound.  She has met the young women who are planning to immigrate to Boulder.  Susan has written an article that is highlighted in the September edition of Reform Judaism magazine.

 

Inspired by HHS’s project and commitment, we at Congregation Bonai Shalom contacted Sister Luise and indicated our willingness to help additional young women settle in Boulder.

 

As of August 2008,  37 Sudanese refugees of all ages have arrived and settled in Boulder. 
 
Bonai Shalom was assigned three young women and a baby.  The women are approximately 19 years old and have refugee status.  As of Spring 2008, two of the orignially assigned women and a substitute for the woman with the baby are living in Boulder.
 

  

Co-Partnership with Lutheran Family Services 

 

The refugees were “clients” of Lutheran Family Services.  LFS is a resettlement agency that has been recognized by our government as an agency that may have direct responsibility for helping and placing refugees. They work with the International Office of Migration (IOM). 

 

LFS provides case managers and an employment specialist.  LFS helps find employment and a place to live. 
 

Southern Sudan News Update

 

In January 2005 the 21-year civil war in Southern Sudan came to an end.  A few weeks following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the current government in Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M), Dr. John Garang from Southern Sudan, was sworn in as First Vice President of Sudan. 

 

Dr. Garang died on July 30 in a plane crash. As a result of Garang's death, violence has broken out across Sudan between northerners and southerners. This is a devastating development; our local southern Sudanese community is grieving.

 

 

 

 

 

Information sources:

 

Joint Voluntary Agency:

http://www.churchworldservice.org/jva-ope-nairobi/history.html

 

 

Articles: 

Lost Girls Arrive in Boulder (July 18, 2006)
www.dailycamera.com
 
Sudan Refugees Adjust to Life in Boulder (July 19, 2006)
www.dailycamera.com
 
Do Not Forget the Lost Girls of Sudan: 

http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/article/detail/788/

 

BBC news article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2031286.stm

 

Sudan’s “Lost Girls” Fear Repatriation after Peace Deal:  UN Official

http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=

8103

Country Profile:  Sudan

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/country_profiles/820864.stm