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Zachariah Jok Char

My Life Story.

I was born in 1982 in a village called Dukpadiet in Southern Sudan. I was the middle of five children, four boys and one girl. My village had only one generator and no running water. We lived in grass huts with a chair or two. We farmed and cared for our cattle. My family was Christian; we had been baptised by Sudanese Episcopal priests and every Sunday we went to church. I spent a lot of time in church, and I knew I loved God and that He loved me. In Sunday school I learned to read and write Dinka, my language.

Sometime in 1987 when I was five or six years old, my village was attacked and bombed by the Sudanese government. The government was at war with the rebel forces of the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army (the SPLA). We had no defenses and the entire village was in flames. I ran away from the fire and the guns. I did not know where I was going. I was alone. My parents and my brothers and sister were gone.

I spent the whole night alone, and I did not know where I was. In the morning, I just walked and walked until I found an SPLA member to give me food and tell me what to do. I was crying because I was really hungry. But he had no food to give me.

So I found some other children who also did not know where their parents were, and members of the SPLA told us we must walk to Ethiopia where we could be safe. We were very young and the walk was more than1000 miles across the desert. We had no food or water with us. Many of the children died from hunger and thirst. Many were killed by lions and hyenas. Some just lay down and die because of the great heat. Some things about that long walk I have hidden in my mind; others I remember. The memories hurt me and make me very sad. Sometimes I am guilty that I lived and others died. I can only believe that I lived because God has work for me to do. God knows the reason. I must trust God, and I do.

I was in the Ethiopian refugee camp, Panyido, for three years. Because I could read and write in Dinka, it was very easy for me to learn the English alphabet. In the camp we boys worked together to make a community. And I still committed a lot of my time at church every Sunday.

In 1991 I was nine years old. We were made to leave the camp in Ethiopia because that country was at war. Ethiopians shot at us while we crossed the Gilo River to Sudan. That river is very wide and very strong. Half of us were killed by guns and crocodiles. I cannot swim but I made it to the other side. I felt a hand help me. Those of us who lived began again to walk 1000 miles across Sudan to Kenya. Now in Sudan, we were shot at by men in airplanes from the Sudanese government. We scattered and most of us lived. This time the Red Cross showed us the way to Kenya and brought us water and food.

In Kenya I lived at Kakuma Refugee Camp from 1992 to 2000. Life was really horrible at the camp. We had food for only one meal a day. I went to school in the morning and came home in the evening to do my homework and sleep. I did not have a job and I did not know where my family was. I was about to lose hope in life. The only thing that I could do was to go to church every Sunday and pray God every day that he would keep me in hope. When I pray, I feel happy. I believed that God would answer my prayers, and He did. God gave me hope that one day I would be independent and have my own job. My suffering could have affected my view of life, but my hope was that God knew my suffering and that he would someday take it away.

In 1994, when I was about 12, I realized that God was calling me to do something for His people. God had been calling me to lead since I was a little boy in my village, and I have been a leader ever since. When I was in first grade, I was chosen class secretary and I was reelected every year until we graduated in 8th grade from primary school. In Kakuma, I was elected to the Vestry from 1996 to 2000. In 1999 I was commissioned as an Evangelist. According to the policy of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, a commissioned Evangelist is an assistant rector or pastor. 22 others were also commissioned because we had a really big comgregation. I took some theology courses in Dinka, but most of my time was committed to helping those who needed help. I had many experiences as an Evangelist at Kakuma.

In 2001 I came to the United States with 3800 other Lost Boys (and girls). I came through Lutheran Social Services, and I was sponsored by the Evergreen Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. All my sponsors were members there, and I attended church services with my sponsors' families. My roommates were John Akech Manyok, John Bior Garang, and John Gatjok Met. Our sponsors treated us as if we were their sons. The United States government gave us money for three months rent and food stamps. After three months, we were on our own.

Mike and Dawn gave us rides to church and to the store for food. Mike and Ellyn taught us how to pay bills and use the ATM card for banking; they also gave us rides to church. The two families even gave us money to buy phone cards so that we could call our friends in Africa. They called us every morning and evening to check on us and ask how things were going.

The two families invited me to join them for lunch or dinner every holiday so we could be together as one family. Ellyn taught me how to drive with her father's small car. Dawn took me to her mother's house in Holland for a Christmas party, and her mother bought warm clothes for me to wear. I was really happy for that. Ellyn also bought me winter and summer clothes when the seasons changed.

I saved some money to buy a used car in October 2001. Fred Koning and his sons, Luke and Steve were mechanics, and they fixed my car for free when something was wrong with it. The Koning family was a great blessing to me. A young woman named Crystal Reeve taught me how to do school work on the computer and she was my personal tutor. Paul and Dorothy also did a lot of things for me. Paul taught me how to protect myself from young people in America. Paul bought me many books to read so that I could learn English better. Paul helped me to study at Kuyper College because he gave me a scholarship there. Paul had been a missionary in Sudan in 1954 in Pibor Town. I have learned a lot from him, and he has been very committed to me. I will graduate from Kuyper College in Summer 2009 with a Bachelor's degree in Social Work.

Life in America was very difficult for many of us Lost Boys because we were separated from each other. But I was doing okay because I knew that this is a different nation. I learned how to do things like cooking and washing dishes and cleaning the stove. This was good because Lutheran Social Services got me a job washing dishes at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids. I was paid only $6 an hour so I got $400 a month. Same for my roommates, but we prayed God would give us better jobs. Transportation was a big problem. If I missed the place where I should get off the bus, I would call Mike and Ellyn or Mike and Dawn, and they would pick me up. I am grateful for my cell phone. In the summer of 2001, I applied for a job at Kent Quality Food which would pay $10 an hour. I got the job after passing the math test and started working there making sausages and hot dogs. I am still working at Kent Quality Foods. After I got this job, I began to think I should be in school. So I went to the community college and they tested me in math and English. I passed, and I signed up for one class. I rode my bicycle to work and to school all year round in Michigan. I graduated from Community College with an AA degree in Social Science in December 2005.

During the summer of 2002 some of us Lost Boys met under a tree to talk about what we could do to bring the Lost Boys in Michigan together. Some said we should have a Sudanese Church; some said no, we cannot open a church right now because we lack money and transportation. Some said our sponsors would not like this idea. But the main reason we vetoed the idea of a church was that most did not have cars. We decided that as soon as we could get cars, we would talk again of our plan.

In the meantime we were happy to meet Manute Bol, the basketball player from the Chicago Bulls. He was invited to Grand Rapids by Bethany Christian Services and we had a wonderful party together.

The next summer (2003) we met again, we talked about a Sudanese church again, and most agreed that it was a good time to form a Sudanese congregation. They told me to look for a place to worship. I went to Grace Episcopal Church, and I talked with the Rector, Chuck Howell. Fr. Howell told me yes, you are highly welcome to use our building. I went back to my friends, and we decided to start our Sudanese Grace Episcopal Church on June 22, 2003.

31 people started our congregation. We elected a Vestry to run our church programs. Then I met with Bishop Gepert, Bishop of the Diocese of west Michigan. The Vestry reported to the Bishop that our church wanted to appoint two people, one who would become a deacon and one who would become a priest. The Bishop was happy with the idea. After that, the Vestry met and elected me to be their future priest, and they elected Abraham Anei to be their future deacon. Fr. Howell taught us about running a church and about church history. Other people at grace Church helped us in many other ways. We took classes at Trinity Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania and at Kuyper College. After I complete Kuyper, I will go to Seminary.

Grace Church understood our needs and made much good happen. We are especially grateful to Greg Hayes, Polly Hewitt, Brian Lennon, Kathy Brower, Margaret Burrows-Getz, and Tom DeLong and to all at Grace Church who love and support us.

In 2004 I returned to Kakuma to marry Tabitha. Now I have a son who I have not seen. I pray for the day soon when they can be with me.

In Dinka culture, we value our elders and we listen to them. When we boys leave Kakuma to come to America, the elders told us that it was God's plan that we would be ambassadors from Sudan. They told us to study hard and be educated, get a good job and work hard, be a good citizen, and remember our people always. This year in February, I earned citizenship of the United States of America at the Gerald Ford Museum in Grand Rapids with two other lost boys.

As my day to become a priest draws nearer, I have so many thanks. But the greatest is to God because from Him all blessings flow. I have lost so much É but I have found even more.
Thanks Be to God.

zachchar1982@yahoo.com