All Things Really Are Possible

By the grace of god and hope, we raised the money for Jacob Dau to go back to Sudan. By "we" I mean this community. People gave a total of $4500 to help Jacob get back to his homeland. I am grateful for their generosity and so is Jacob. But even more, I am amazed at the curiosity and willingness to learn about his story and his culture I witnessed at the fundraiser we held this week at Traditions.

We screened the documentary Lost Boys of Sudan (www.lostboysfilm.com) . The place was packed with grandmas, children, and people from across the community who came to show their support and learn something about Sudan, a place that most of us have only heard about in news reports. After the film, Jacob and his two Sudanese friends spoke about their experiences. One told how it "changes" him to think about the past. They talked about the history and politics of Sudan, but in an intimate way because these politics continue to directly affect them. They know that Sept. 11th was the cut-off for Lost Boys entering into the US, not because they read it in the paper, but because their refugee community has not grown at the same rate since. They feel history and politics in a personal way and the audience responded to this. I'll never forget the image of three little boys in the audience, just about the age of Jacob and his friends when they got to the US, leaning forward in their seats to read the subtitled film text, really wanting to know these boys' stories.

It has me thinking about the power of stories, hope- the will to help and act to make a difference. When I found out two short months ago how much we needed to raise to get Jacob back home, my logical mind said, "There is no way we can raise that much." But hope has a way of overriding logic. What is it exactly that I was hoping for? What is it about Jacob's story that compells us to help? I think part of it is a need we have to go home again. Jacob's sense of home is real; there is a geographical place that he is going home to. There is also a sense of community, family, and culture he is going back to. Isn't that the kind of home we would all like to go back to? A place where we would feel known, loved, and accepted. Maybe we are helping Jacob in hopes that he can go back to this place for us. Maybe we need to know, through Jacob's journey that this place exists.

I once traveled across the sea to the same continent as Jacob to find that sense of home. I knew that genetically, Africa was at least partially my homeland. I knew that my people had been taken from there. I thought I would feel I was finally home when I arrived. When I got there, I experienced no such feeling. I felt more a stranger in that land than I did in my own. Was it silly for me to think I could find a sense of home in such a foreign land? I used to think it was...

What will Jacob find in his true homeland? He says he wants to make new memories of the place he remembers as war torn and ravaged. My own wishes for him are perhaps motivated by my own desires to feel understood and whole. For Jacob, the simple making of new memories is enough. That seems like a perfect hope to me.

Jacob will be updating his new blog from Africa (he leaves on June 13th and returns in mid August) whenever he gets a chance:
www.jacobhomeland.blogspot.com