God Grew Tired of Us: a must-watch documentary, now on Showmax

The war between North and South started in 1983, and since then Sudan has been split in two to try to appease both sides, but the brutal fighting continues to this day. Find out the survivors of the Sudanese genocide adjusted to “normal” life in the aftermath, in the uplifting and tragic documentary God Grew Tired of Us, narrated by Nicole Kidman, now available on Showmax.
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The horror

The seeds of war were sown in the 1950’s when the British began decolonising Northern Africa. During their retreat they hastily combined two territories to create Sudan, which in itself caused immense conflict.

Then add opposing religions and oil to the mix and you have a dire situation. This ignited a civil war that pinned the Arab North against the Christian South.

In 1987 (five years into the civil war) the Sudanese government announced that all male children in the South be killed, regardless of their age.

This caused thousands of young boys to flee their homes and begin a journey spanning thousands of miles across the Sahara Desert on foot.

In the documentary you’ll hear the survivors speak about how the Sudanese armed forces massacred them, with one man saying that in his village all the young boys were gathered and put into one home, which was then burnt.

Where did The Lost Boys go?

They trekked for weeks in the scorching desert heat without food or water and eventually made it to a refugee camp in Ethiopia where they stayed for three years.

But when the government of Ethiopia toppled in 1991, the boys were forced to flee again, this time to Kenya and, once again, on foot.

Almost 20 000 boys embarked on the five-year exodus out of Sudan, and by the time they got to Kenya only 12 000 were still alive.

Stars and stripes

Some survivors resettled in America where they got jobs and a place to stay. But here they entered another battle – one of culture clash and isolation as many of the refugees deeply missed their homeland.

God Grew Tired of Us delves into the men’s inner conflicts and the difficulties they faced in trying to adjust to a very modern, very urban world. Some of them had never used electricity before they landed in the States.

Above all, the documentary shows the strength, hope and resilience of these men who had to flee their homes as boys, learn to acclimatise to life in a very different world, and somehow also manage to live meaningful, fulfilling lives.