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A review by alykat_reads
Running for My Life: One Lost Boy's Journey from the Killing Fields of Sudan to the Olympic Games by Lopez Lomong
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
For my Reading the World challenge, this is one of the books I chose for Sudan.
What an incredible read. From doing school lessons in the dirt with a stick, being forced into captivity to be a child soldier, living in a refugee camp for 10 years to then go on to become a college graduate, writing an autobiography, and becoming an Olympic athlete. It truly is an amazing tale, it is also very heartbreaking. Reading about the conditions he survived through while being a prisoner and a refugee is difficult. It very sharply puts things into perspective in your own life.
The war happening at that time (1991) was the second Sudanese civil war that went from 1983 to 2005, and ultimately resulting in South Sudan becoming their own country in 2011. This is separate from the current war in Sudan that began in 2023 but has roots that are similar - imperialism and the greed for wealth and resources. Sudan became independent from UK and Egypt in 1956 and has experienced more years of conflict than it has of peace.
I want to be clear that the criticisms I'm about to express are not about the author, but strictly about the global west's response to this violence and just some of our problematic culture. It is great that people are willing to open their hearts and their homes to refugees, however I couldn't be more appalled at how little was actually ever explained or told to Lopez throughout his first few years after being chosen as one of the refugees to go to America. They put him on a plane (multiple to make all the different legs of the trip) without letting him know that he could eat the food they provided because it was free. He was so hungry and it took almost 4 meals before someone finally intervened. When the cross country coach recruited him, no one ever explained how it worked so he spent the first race trying to outrun the golf cart. Time and time again he was confronted with strange situations to him and no one bothered to explain anything to him beforehand. I was extremely frustrated just reading it, I can only imagine how beyond frustrating it would have been experiencing it. We need to do so much better for these refugees.
While I appreciate the sentiment of "if I can do it, anyone can" to never give up or lose hope, the statement itself is just problematic and doesn't take into account any sort of privilege to even have the opportunities to be able to make certain choices in our lives. Lopez was able to leave the refugee camp before 9/11, when the only requirement was a 3500 word essay. He even mentions how the requirements changed, and for quite a while after 9/11 they stopped letting any refugees come for a long period of time because of the 'threat of terrorism' and that a 'terrorist' could be hiding among them. So had he been delayed even 3 months, he would have been stuck in the refugee camp for a minimum of another 3 years if he had wanted to take the same opportunity to go to the United States (pursuing other resettlement opportunities would have automatically disqualified him from the US resettlement opportunity). By then, he would have been 18 and wouldn't have been eligible to be placed with a family as he wouldn't have been eligible for foster care.
He was fortunate enough to be placed with a wealthy family who was able to go above and beyond for him, and this allowed him all the opportunity he had. He would have not had the same opportunities had he been placed with a family of different economic status. For example, when he was trying to get his brothers to America he was able to spend tens of thousands of dollars and months of time working to get it done. He does touch on this a little, which I did appreciate, and he also does recognize that many boys died in the camps or in captivity to be trained as child soldiers because they didn't have the same opportunities presented to them. He definitely shouldn't have 'survivor's guilt' or anything of the like, and this isn't to say he isn't deserving of everything he has or to invalidate all the work he had to put in to overcome the overwhelming amount of obstacles he did. The statement of "if I can do it, anyone can" feels disingenuous/the wrong phrase when he recognizes how absolutely lucky he was in every harrowing situation he was in and how easily it could have been him who didn't survive, as there are thousands who were in the same situations with dreams and hopes for a future that died or were killed before they could pursue their dreams. Again, no criticism with the author himself, but this problematic view that those who aren't "doing it" is due to some sort of moral failing because this specific person was able to go from 'rags to riches'. It's the same rhetoric used when people try to invalidate the very real struggle of BIPOC and impoverished people - because some celebrity came from nothing, so everyone else can too - and ignore the very reality that those who break free are the exceptions, not the rule.
What an incredible read. From doing school lessons in the dirt with a stick, being forced into captivity to be a child soldier, living in a refugee camp for 10 years to then go on to become a college graduate, writing an autobiography, and becoming an Olympic athlete. It truly is an amazing tale, it is also very heartbreaking. Reading about the conditions he survived through while being a prisoner and a refugee is difficult. It very sharply puts things into perspective in your own life.
The war happening at that time (1991) was the second Sudanese civil war that went from 1983 to 2005, and ultimately resulting in South Sudan becoming their own country in 2011. This is separate from the current war in Sudan that began in 2023 but has roots that are similar - imperialism and the greed for wealth and resources. Sudan became independent from UK and Egypt in 1956 and has experienced more years of conflict than it has of peace.
I want to be clear that the criticisms I'm about to express are not about the author, but strictly about the global west's response to this violence and just some of our problematic culture. It is great that people are willing to open their hearts and their homes to refugees, however I couldn't be more appalled at how little was actually ever explained or told to Lopez throughout his first few years after being chosen as one of the refugees to go to America. They put him on a plane (multiple to make all the different legs of the trip) without letting him know that he could eat the food they provided because it was free. He was so hungry and it took almost 4 meals before someone finally intervened. When the cross country coach recruited him, no one ever explained how it worked so he spent the first race trying to outrun the golf cart. Time and time again he was confronted with strange situations to him and no one bothered to explain anything to him beforehand. I was extremely frustrated just reading it, I can only imagine how beyond frustrating it would have been experiencing it. We need to do so much better for these refugees.
While I appreciate the sentiment of "if I can do it, anyone can" to never give up or lose hope, the statement itself is just problematic and doesn't take into account any sort of privilege to even have the opportunities to be able to make certain choices in our lives. Lopez was able to leave the refugee camp before 9/11, when the only requirement was a 3500 word essay. He even mentions how the requirements changed, and for quite a while after 9/11 they stopped letting any refugees come for a long period of time because of the 'threat of terrorism' and that a 'terrorist' could be hiding among them. So had he been delayed even 3 months, he would have been stuck in the refugee camp for a minimum of another 3 years if he had wanted to take the same opportunity to go to the United States (pursuing other resettlement opportunities would have automatically disqualified him from the US resettlement opportunity). By then, he would have been 18 and wouldn't have been eligible to be placed with a family as he wouldn't have been eligible for foster care.
He was fortunate enough to be placed with a wealthy family who was able to go above and beyond for him, and this allowed him all the opportunity he had. He would have not had the same opportunities had he been placed with a family of different economic status. For example, when he was trying to get his brothers to America he was able to spend tens of thousands of dollars and months of time working to get it done. He does touch on this a little, which I did appreciate, and he also does recognize that many boys died in the camps or in captivity to be trained as child soldiers because they didn't have the same opportunities presented to them. He definitely shouldn't have 'survivor's guilt' or anything of the like, and this isn't to say he isn't deserving of everything he has or to invalidate all the work he had to put in to overcome the overwhelming amount of obstacles he did. The statement of "if I can do it, anyone can" feels disingenuous/the wrong phrase when he recognizes how absolutely lucky he was in every harrowing situation he was in and how easily it could have been him who didn't survive, as there are thousands who were in the same situations with dreams and hopes for a future that died or were killed before they could pursue their dreams. Again, no criticism with the author himself, but this problematic view that those who aren't "doing it" is due to some sort of moral failing because this specific person was able to go from 'rags to riches'. It's the same rhetoric used when people try to invalidate the very real struggle of BIPOC and impoverished people - because some celebrity came from nothing, so everyone else can too - and ignore the very reality that those who break free are the exceptions, not the rule.