Name: __________________________________

“God Grew Tired of Us: Lost Boys of Sudan” and

“Rohingya: Twenty-First Concentration Camps” Video Assignment
Due Tuesday, October 31, 2017

The first video this week is from 2006, and introduces us to three of the Lost Boys of Sudan. These men
(Panther Bior, John Bul Dau, and Daniel Abul Pach) were all children living in South Sudan in the 1980s
during a brutal civil war between the government of the north (based in Khartoum and run by
conservative Arab Muslims) and rebels in the south (a mostly Black Christian population). The northern
government troops set southern rebel villages on fire, burning people inside their homes, as well as raping
women and girls and forcibly sterilizing south Sudanese boys and men. As the government bombed the
south, everyone fled in all directions, and families were separated. Almost 30,000 children who lost their
parents walked to Ethiopia and then Kenya looking for refuge, well over a thousand miles. On the way
they faced starvation, dehydration, rushing rivers, bomb raids, and wild animals. Once they arrived in
Kenya, they settled into a refugee camp for a decade until 3,600 of them were given the chance to move to
the United States. Here, they’ve faced entirely new challenges.

The second video is on the Rohingya, the minority Muslim group in Myanmar who are not considered
citizens but (illegal) immigrants, even if they’ve lived in Myanmar for 100 years. They were stripped of
their citizenship in 1982 and are now the largest stateless population in the world. They have no legal
rights, are victims of discrimination and violence by both the government and some Buddhist nationalists,
and have been forced into refugee camps they can’t leave.

Task #1: Please watch at least 45 minutes of the documentary “God Grew Tired of Us” (here are two
links you can access the film through):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5N_qKbHHWw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3YdAcMENbk

Task #2: As you’re watching, take notes on what you see and hear about Sudan, the war, and life as a
refugee. Then, write a paragraph or two describing what you’ve just learned, as if you were telling
someone who knew nothing about the situation. Give some details about the challenges each of these men
faced as they transitioned from living in a refugee camp to living in an American city. What thoughts pass
your mind as you watch this film? What would it have been like for you, if instead of going to Cal Poly,
you moved to a new country halfway around the world?
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Task #3: Please watch “Twenty-first Century Concentration Camps” at this website:

https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000002939059/21st-century-concentration-camps.html

Task #4: Write a paragraph answering these questions: Who do we meet with the reporter at the very
beginning of the video, and why is there a serious health emergency? Why can’t help be accessed? We
then learn that Rohingya are no longer in the main city (in Rakhine state) – why? What happened to
them? What are conditions like in the camps they’re in now? What does the reporter say is the most
urgent issue? Why has the situation worsened? We travel to rural Muslim Rohingya villages – who guards
them? What does the man in the village say is the biggest issue for him? What does the government
official say about the Rohingya? What does the well-known Buddhist monk (Ashin Wirathu, the first
monk the reporter meets) say about the Rohingya? What does the second monk (Ashin Agga Nyana) say
about Muslims? How do ordinary Buddhists see the Rohingya (the men playing soccer, the young boy)?
Back in the camps, the reporter helps the pregnant woman – what does he do? What happened then? In
the end, what do you think of the situation? Does any of this surprise you?

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