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South Sudan: Rebuilding Hope

Gabriel Deng, Koor Garang and Garang Mayuol, Southern Sudanese “Lost Boys” in the U.S., were forced to flee Sudan as children when their villages were attacked in 1987, finding safety for a time in a refugee camp in Ethiopia until needing to flee once more, this time to Kakuma camp in Kenya. Since leaving Sudan, they have scarcely been able to obtain news about their villages or families.

In May 2007, accompanied by filmmaker Jen Marlowe and journalist David Morse, Gabriel, Koor and Garang will return to Sudan to discover the fate of their homes and families. Gabriel will take the first steps toward starting a school in his village, and Koor will bring medical supplies to and volunteer at a clinic in his. They will also return to Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya.

Along the way, David and Jen will invite the thoughts and analyses of the people of South Sudan, two and a half years after the signing of the fragile Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Their reporting explores the connections between the conflict in South Sudan and in other parts of Sudan, including Darfur, probing the larger questions of identity and ethnicity. Through video and written pieces, they will attempt to gauge the current state of South Sudan — taking a pulse on the Southern Sudanese people’s hopes and fears for the future.

Related Pulitzer Center Reporting:

Sudan: The Forgotten North

Sudan: War Child

Darfur-Sudan

Another Darfur? The Beja's armed struggle on the Eastern Front

This project is part of the Pulitzer Gateway Fragile States, an interactive educational portal that helps tell the stories of the dangers weak states around the world pose -- and also the international interventions that appear to be making a difference. Fragile States also includes reporting from Pulitzer projects in East Timor, Bosnia, Haiti, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan and Guinea-Bissau. Join the conversation by sharing your story about fragile states. Learn more about the Pulitzer Center's Global Gateway.

David Morse

David Morse visited South Sudan in 2005. He is writing a book about South Sudan, and an article for a national magazine. His articles have appeared in magazines such as Esquire and The Nation, in various newspapers and on-line in Salon, TomDispatch, Mother Jones on-line, Alternet, Counterpunch and Truthout. His interviews appear on www.talknation.org and "Sprouts" (Pacifica).

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Jen Marlowe

Jen Marlowe traveled to Darfur with two colleagues to make the documentary Darfur Diaries: Message from Home and wrote the companion book Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival (www.darfurdiaries.org). She is a founding member of "Rachel's Words" (www.rachelswords.org) and is on the board of directors of the Friends of Jenin Freedom Theatre (www.thefreedomtheatre.org). She directed conflict transformation programs in Jerusalem, Afghanistan and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Marlowe’s writing can be found in The Nation, Alternet and Counterpunch. She is working on a book about Palestine and Israel.

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