Sudanese Lost Boys

Dominic Mel's thoughts of Sudan and United States

Goal: Earn a business degree and become a businessman.

Memories of Sudan:

• Village: Awal, Sudan
• Age Left Sudan: 10 years old %u2013 1987

In Dominic's village he was responsible for maintaining the cattle and goats. When his father was out looking for more work to bring in more money for the family, Dominic became responsible for all of the household chores and maintaining the livestock. His father, Mel, was gone at times for several months looking for work. At the age of ten he had tremendous responsibility.

His step mother took care of the two sisters (Abuk and Agul) while Dominic attended to everything else. In Kakuma, Dominic became responsible for plantings of some agricultural crops and selling the crops for profit to the Kenyans. After he got money he would come back to camp and buy wheat flour, oil, and blankets. Dominic learned some business strategies and turned around a profit by selling goods back to the Kenyans at an increased rate. In 1998, Dominic went to primary school in Kenya and used some of the money that he gained in profit from his transactions to pay for this schooling. In 1999, someone had scammed him out of 10,795 shillings (about $700.00) and he was never able to retrieve the money that he saved.

Experiences in America:

The first time that Dominic came to the USA in June, 2001, Akol Madut called him and helped him find a job at Tower City for the American Building Company, where he worked until he got a job at Metro Health Hospital. Language was a very difficult barrier for him in his employment, and he had troubles with communication among his various employers. His supervisor in the Custodial department at Metro was very helpful to him in getting past the communication troubles that he experienced early on.

Goals:

Earn a business degree and become a businessman.

• Interested in possibly one day advancing at Metro to become a technician.
• Go back to Africa in the coming summer months so that he can visit with his son (Grarang) and his girlfriend (Stella) who he may marry one day.