Rebuilding What Had Been Destroyed

Rebuilding What Had Been Destroyed focuses on how to rebuild your life and restore good human values lost from living through the Sudanese Civil War. It is also written as a testament to what the Southern Sudanese people underwent and how to safeguard oneself when your immediate environment becomes unjust, discriminatory, and corrupt. The book is designed to correct the erroneous behavioral and mental patterns that many Southern Sudanese have had to accommodate or tolerate during five decades of civil war.

Mariak Chuor, the author, is one of the lost boys from Sudan, a group of young boys and girls who were forced out by civil war in their homeland at a young age. The Sudan civil war has raged between the Arab Muslim of the north and the predominantly Christian in the south since his birth. He was born in a small village called Maper, (Twic Mayardit County), Warrap State in South Sudan in 1984. From being born into poverty in Southern Sudan and choosing to be a Christian, he learned early that it takes hard work, faith, hope, self-motivation, a positive attitude, purpose, dedication, commitment, patient, passion, self-confidence, self-control, consistency, and self-discipline to be successful in life. By 1991, Arab militias attacked his village and burned his village. They killed those who were unwilling to be their slaves. The young girls were sold into domestic service. They young boys were either forced to fight or be slaves. As result, Mariak Chuor was separated from his parents when he was eight years old and was forced to join the Sudanese People Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) when he was nine years old. By 1998, he came to Kakuma Refugee Camp, (Kenya) and from Kenya to USA as a refugee. He settled in Richmond, Virginia in December 19, 2000. He is now living in Garner, North Carolina and received his degree from ECPI in computer electrical engineering.

Mariak Chuor was featuring in the 2002 documentary, The Lost Boys Film , by Megan Mylan. Now he is telling his experiences as a Lost Boy in a book, Rebuilding What Had Been Destroyed, which chronicles his experiences and, most importantly, details his vision of the future. Rebuilding What Had Been Destroyed  focuses on building the core values of respect, positive attitude, encouragement, empowerment, and inspiration when one lives in a broken world.