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In 2001, intolerable living conditions in the refugee camp gave the United States government reason to resettle some 4,000 of these now young men in America.

the U.S. refugee Resettlement Program welcomed a new group of refugees that was unique in many respects

many boys left their villages for refugee camps in Ethiopia. Some traveled with friends or relatives, others slipped away on their own at night. Few had any idea of what lay ahead of them, believing that their journey would last only a few days. Continually under threat, they fled for their lives, losing their way in the wilderness. They lost everything en route to soldiers, swindlers, or bandits. Many fell victim to lethal diseases. Others were so weakened by hunger and lack of sleep that they could go no further and sat down by the roadside, prey for lions and other wild animals.

n 1983, civil war broke out between the northern Arabic-speaking government of Sudan and southern tribes seeking autonomy. Since then, nearly two million people have died and five million have been displaced. Among those displaced are at least 20,000 children, mostly boys, between 7 and 17 years of age who were separated from their families.

It's the largest resettlement of its kind in American history.

It's a group that's lost in time

Most were 7 or 8 when their troubles began in 1987. That's when their predominantly Christian villages in southern Sudan were attacked by Islamic forces from the north.

Joseph Taban arrived in Kansas City and Abraham Nial got to Atlanta four months before Sept. 11, 2001.

it reminded him of ho

"How can somebody handle just that small paper," he asks, "and say, this is money?"

The walking seemed endless. So did the sun, and the thirst. Every day.

And walked. And walked.

He walked because stopping might mean death. Or enslavement.

He was a young boy when Arab raiders ransacked his village, killed the men, and bound Dang and his mother to a camel.

They were then dragged away from their home in southern Sudan to a life of slavery.

"They let me sleep with goats," Dang told CBN News.

A notable quality among the refugees is their extraordinary ability to cope with chronic adversity and trauma even though some suffer from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

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esettlement experiences based on whether they were minors or adults. Minors had to adjust (and some who are still minors continue to adjust) to American schools and living in American foster families, having lived mostly in peer groups prior to resettlement.

“When the pain in James’ legs became too much to bear, one of the older boys would pick him up…when he had gone days without water, he sucked liquid from the mud, when he was so weak from hunger, he ate leaves and berries.