Walk of Life for Lost Boy Runner

What an incredible story!

Until he was 9, Yuot and his family, who are Dinkas, lived in the city of Palek in southern Sudan in the midst of the religious civil war that has raged in Sudan for more than 20 years between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south. But when political unrest rattled the city, his parents placed him with a group that was caravanning children out of the country to escape the violence.

He was among more than 25,000 Sudanese boys who were sent away in similar fashion as their villages were burned and their livestock killed. To survive, they walked. They marched through their war-torn country, seeking refuge, first in Ethiopia, then Kenya and, eventually, the United States.

During the journey, many died of starvation. Many drowned. Some were shot. Some were devoured by crocodiles.

They became known as "The Lost Boys of Sudan," a name given the group by international aid workers.

And he's sure right about this:

There is no country in the world like America. I appreciate every single day, every single minute here. I have choices in America. I have choices to do things with my life and get an education.

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Walk of Life for Lost Boy Runner

By Joe Santoliquito
Special to ESPN.com

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=santoliquito/060420&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab5pos3

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

Still, 9-year-old Macharia Yuot walked. And walked. And walked.

He walked because stopping might mean death. Or enslavement.

Yuot's life depended on how fast and how far his tiny bare feet could take him every day, with hot sand prickling every step, for a thousand miles with little or no sleep, day after day, night after night, across Sudan, the largest country in Africa. So he walked. For his life.

Today, 14 years later, Yuot -- winner of the last two NCAA Division III indoor championships at 5,000 meters -- will not complain about another practice lap around the Widener University track. He will not complain about lungs that burn near the end of a race, about feet that blister in preparation for Widener's outdoor season. He will not complain, either, about thrice-weekly bus rides to a job at a senior citizen's group home, where he helps feed the residents, or about the late-night returns to campus.

He won't complain because the bus rides end. The races end.

But 14 years ago, the walking seemed to go on forever...