The worst occurred when eight members of the Van Dyke street gang viciously battered Madhel Manyuon and Gabriel Majok. Madhel was sent to the hospital in critical condition after being knocked unconscious by a blow from a wine bottle. Gabriel is blind in one eye from a childhood bout with measles and is now ill with hepatitis B. He was knocked to the ground and kicked "until they finally got tired of kicking me and went away." A number of neighbors watched the beating impassively. Somebody called the police, but they didn't arrive for 20 minutes, even though a station was three blocks away.
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What the Lost Boys of Sudan Found in America
Cover story
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday January 18, 2003 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 12 inches; 431 words Type of Material: Correction
Sudanese refugees -- In the Jan. 5 Magazine article "What the 'Lost Boys' of Sudan Found in America," it was incorrectly stated that one of the Sudanese refugees, Buay Tang, will be shifting from premed studies to a career in acting. He is continuing with his premed studies while also pursuing an acting career.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday February 02, 2003 Home Edition Los Angeles Times Magazine Part I Page 6 Lat Magazine Desk 1 inches; 49 words Type of Material: Correction
In "What the 'Lost Boys' of Sudan Found in America" (Jan. 5), it was incorrectly stated that one of the Sudanese refugees, Buay Tang, will be shifting from premed studies to a career in acting. He is continuing with his premed studies while also pursuing an acting career.
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Gabriel recovered, but he needs a liver transplant because of severe damage from the hepatitis. Two months ago, the rescue committee succeeded in placing him on a transplant list at UC San Diego Medical Center, though there is no way of knowing if it will ever come. State disability payments currently cover his living expenses. But he remains underweight and weak.
Day after day, he sits in the two-bedroom apartment he shares with three other Lost Boys, hoping to get strong enough to resume his education. His sightless left eye is covered by a film. A pair of red shorts and a blue body shirt hang limply over his skeletal frame. All he can think about is getting well, he says. He sees his peers acquiring jobs, going to school, moving into the great confluence of American life--and leaving him behind. "Nobody is sick in America," he says. He knows this because as he watches TV day after day, the screen is filled with voluptuous, clear-skinned, lustrously maned people. "They all go to work. And I am here, the only sick person in America."
His manner is listless, but his conversation is punctuated by an occasional Lost Boy smile--a beaming crescent of white teeth, a sudden spurt of good humor and optimism. On the particle board coffee table is a study guide for the high school equivalency test. He opens it from time to time and tries to summon the concentration to study. He insists that he will get stronger, pass that test and go to college.
The truth is, Majok will never starve, for even if all government support dries up, his fellow Lost Boys will take care of him, just as they cared for each other in Africa. Whenever one of their number is in need, the Sudanese youths pass a hat and collect whatever is necessary to bail their brother out.
