ReUnited

May 16, 2007 - 4:00 PM by Stephanie

Increasingly, Sudanese fleeing the genocide in Darfur are arriving to Israel which is presenting a political conundrum; there are no official-like ties between Israel and Sudan and it’s a Muslim country.

So when refugees sneak across the Egyptian border the situation gets sticky. People are fleeing massacre but arriving to Israel where they’re being placed in detention. More recently, some are being absorbed onto kibbutzim or into society at large.

Okay so that’s the very brief, very jagged large picture.

Now a heart-string-puller: 15-year-old “R” fled Sudan for Cairo with his mother and siblings after his father was murdered by rebels.

While in Cairo, rioting erupted where they were staying and 200 Sudanese were killed by Egyptians; R was separated from his mom and siblings during the chaos. When he didn’t find them he assumed the worst.

In 2005 he came to Israel via the Sinai Desert and eventually landed in a multi-cultural youth village after serving jail time in Eilat for his illegal refugee status.

One day R got a phone call from a former Sudanese cell mate who had listened to descriptions of R’s family. He said he spotted the family in Eilat. R arranged travels to the city and indeed, was reunited with his mother and two brothers.

“For three years I was certain I was an orphan without any family left in the world,” R told Hebrew press. “My mother is alive and living in the same country I’m in.”

“I was sure he had been killed,” R’s mother said through tears. “It’s a miracle he’s alive”

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