But the hard fact is that in the United States, Social Darwinism is still the operating principle. "As time goes by, we will have some Lost Boys who will be very successful, and we will have some people who will remain on the lower economic level, and we will have some people who will be frustrated," says Bol Biong Bol, executive director of the Sudanese Community Assn., a San Diego-based organization that helps refugees assimilate in America.
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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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As 2002 wound down, nearly all of the 100 Lost Boys were working again, 10 were in college and another 10 are expected to enter college in the spring.
Bernstein says her experience gave her a new appreciation for how difficult it is for newcomers to get ahead. It takes immigrants a long time to understand the opportunities in the United States and how to achieve them, "but before many of them can, they get so engulfed in the problems of just surviving here, trying to make ends meet at $6.75 an hour. Even now, those who are living in decent places, many of them are still driving or riding the bus for an hour and a half to go to work in a factory. They come home so exhausted they go right to sleep. So many of them never attempt to go to college. It's given me a much more visceral understanding of how it is to try to survive on the bottom rung and to try to pull yourself up from there."
One morning Bernstein received an e-mail from Benson. It began, "Dear Mama--" Bernstein stared at the screen, unable to get past those two words written by a young man who had not seen his own mother since he was 7. "You have taught me like your own son to discover this world," he later wrote. Benson continues to call her Judy when they see each other, but in the e-mails, it's always Mama.
The word spread quickly through San Diego's African refugee community last spring. A Hollywood casting director was coming to the Alliance for African Assistance to hold auditions for "Master and Commander," a movie starring Russell Crowe and directed by Peter Weir. It was to be a swashbuckler set on a 19th century English naval ship, and Weir wanted to include Africans in the sailing crew.
Benjamin joined the line of hopefuls. "I decided I need to be a movie star," he explains. Weir loved Benjamin's audition and soon Benjamin was on his way to join 50 American actors in Rosarito, Mexico, where the film would be shot.
