Sudan refugee is now 'running for fun'

EUGENE, Ore. -- Lopez Lomong went home to his village in Sudan for the first time in 16 years to exorcise a ghost. It was his ghost.

Presumed dead by his family, Lomong returned to dig up his own grave. Lomong's parents had buried only his necklace in a memorial to their son, one of the "Lost Boys" of Sudan. Lost no more, Lomong is on the cusp of the Beijing Olympics.

Now an American citizen, he is one of the favorites in Sunday's 1,500-meter final at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials.

Before the Trials, Lomong traveled home to reunite with his family and un-bury his spirit.

"I went to the graveyard where they held a funeral for me and had made a little pile of stones," Lomong said. "We had to dig me out. We dissected a goat and blessed it and did some ritual stuff and they brought me back to life."

The trip to Kimotong in December was another leg in an odyssey that is almost too arduous to imagine and too good to be true.

Lomong, 23, has gone from Sudan to Kenya to Tully, N.Y., to Flagstaff, Ariz., and perhaps in August to China. From penniless refugee to track star. From foster kid who didn't know how to operate shower faucets to college senior at Northern Arizona. From victim to advocate for the displaced people of his native land.

"I was running through the wilderness," Lomong said. "Now I'm running for fun. I want to compete for my country and pay back the people who helped me."

Lomong, a member of the Boya tribe, was one of 20,000 "Lost Boys" who fled their homes during Sudan's civil war to escape conscription by the government-supported militia. He was kidnapped at church, escaped and made his way across the country to the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. Half the boys were killed by soldiers, attacked by wild animals or died of starvation.

"I got separated from my family," he said. "For 12 years, I thought they were dead and they thought I was dead."

From age 6 to 16, Lomong lived in a camp with 70,000 others.

"In the camp you are hustling to get your own food, which is usually one meal per day," he said. "Maybe you go for a run or play some soccer just to get your mind away. I wanted to go to school, but we had no books or pens or paper. We learned to write in the sand."

One day in 2000, Lomong walked five miles and paid five shillings to watch the Sydney Olympics on a black-and-white TV. It was an expensive and rare break from the dreary routine at the camp, where Lomong earned his pennies by raking dirt. Lomong was captivated by Michael Johnson's victory in the 400.

"I said, 'I would like to run for that country some day,' " Lomong said. "I was so in love with the colors of the USA."

For 10 years, Lomong and the other Sudanese boys took care of each other until he became one of the 3,800 resettled in the United States.

He was taken in by Robert and Barbara Rogers of Tully, near Syracuse, who helped raise four other African kids. "I call them my dad and mom, and I talk to them every day," Lomong said.

The Tullys and their son Rob had to guide Lomong through culture shock.

"I was leaving the lights on at night because I didn't know how to switch them off," he said. "I was taking a shower with freezing water. I thought maybe this was how American people took showers and that's why they were white."

In 2003, Lomong received a phone call from his mother, Rita Namana. After exchanging information over six weeks of calls, they became certain they had found each other.

"We started crying," Lomong said. "We also realized we had been in the same camp at one point and never knew it."

He visited his parents and four siblings at Christmas and explained that he had embarked on a career as a middle-distance runner.

The favorite in the 1,500 will be Bernard Lagat, a two-time Olympic medalist for Kenya and world champion in the 1,500 and 5,000 last year. Also racing for the three U.S. spots are Alan Webb, who broke Jim Ryun's prep record in the mile here in 2001, and Leo Manzano, who outkicked Lagat at nationals in 2007.

Lomong has joined Team Darfur, a group that opposes China's financial support of the Khartoum regime through arms sales and oil imports.

He'd like to take his message to the medal podium in Beijing.

"I would hold an American flag and a Sudan flag," he said. "It would be a way to say, 'Here was a victim who had to run away, and look where he is now.' "

This story was originally published July 5, 2008 at 1:05 AM with the headline "Sudan refugee is now 'running for fun'."