The odyssey was a stirring tale of survival. Thousands of young people, some as young as seven or eight, forced from their homes by a vicious civil war, wandering for years, sometimes literally without clothing, surviving on roots and leaves. The majority lost their parents. Some were killed by lions, crocodiles and bandits during their travels.

They eventually arrived at a refugee camp in northern Kenya where they sat in the swirling dust of the African plains for several more years.

Their story eventually seeped into the wider world. The United States agreed to resettle several thousand of these young people.

They were interviewed extensively by the media on their biblical wanderings and their collision with a strange new world which included cars, washing machines and television for the first time in their lives.

Everyone featured was a boy. Everyone resettled was a boy. The 'Lost Boys of Sudan' became celebrities.

The missing factor in this story was that many of the youngsters who survived were girls.

In exile, the boys managed to maintain their personal identities. It was thus perhaps easier to identify with them and help them.

The girls were often absorbed into foster homes, becoming domestic servants cooking, cleaning, chopping wood and on occasion entering into 'arranged' marriages and fetching a dowry for their adoptive parents. Their individual identities melded into the daily routine of the camp and they were overlooked.

The story of the lost boys and girls of Sudan neatly underlines the often differing problems and fortunes of refugee women and refugee men highlighted in this issue of the magazine.

It is undoubtedly true that progress has been made in the last two decades to tackle women's problems including adoption of international laws, national legislation, innovative programs and a greater awareness on the part of both humanitarian workers and refugees themselves.

It is equally clear more needs to be done – a renewed commitment by humanitarian agencies, programs reexamined and perhaps reshaped, new approaches tried.

One of the most fundamental problems, paradoxically, is the widespread attitude of looking at women merely as 'hapless' refugees and concentrating on their vulnerability to the detriment of developing their strengths.

Like the Sudanese girls, Vaira Vike-Freiberga fled a country at war and trekked through several countries for a number of years. Through her own strength, resourcefulness and a little luck her life changed dramatically. Today, she is the President of Latvia and as Refugees reports elsewhere in the magazine is determined to continue to fight for the displaced: "I don't know whether we can do it in the next five years or 50 or 100, but I do know we have no choice. We must act."

Source: Refugees Magazine Issue 126: "Women – Seeking A Better Deal" (April 2002). Download the complete issue (pdf, 1.3Mb) here