Not Born In The USA

Not Born In The USA

During the documentary the “Lost Boys”, the main character Peter has several difficulties adjusting from the reasonable simple life of a refugee to, a part time American citizen. Peter as a refugee from war in Sudan knew of very few comforts in his life apart from his friends, family and community in Africa. Peter changes throughout the film while also trying to fit into his new role in this modern society in America. Peter lived a basic style of life in his Dinka refugee camp, but when he was introduced to new things such as different forms of: transportation, foods, education and electrical powered items/objects he was very new to them. Ever since Peter boarded a plane with several other Dinka friends he was surrounded by a world that he would have to fit in. You could see clearly that they had not known of many of the western foods because of the way that they were eating the butter raw without anything with it. After several months in this new environment he slowly started to assimilate into the new community in Houston. Progressively his job was promoted and he could enjoy the luxuries of having a car and a small house, which he paid for. However Peter felt that his life was going nowhere in Houston, Texas so he decided to move up North to Kansas to start a new way of life. This included the ability for him to get a more further education. A right few of his fellow Dinka people in the states didn’t have (including Santino) because many of them were not born in hospitals meaning they had no idea of their exact age. According to the documentaries’ perspective Peter seamed to be fitting into his new school and its education. Peter felt that he could connect to others through the sport of Basketball, which he did have some experience with in the refugee camp in Africa. Yet we do see a few scenes in the film of derogatory racism against the Dinka people and Peter in his recent schooling program. The people of Sudan from the Dinka tribe were refugees intent on creating a new life in America, where they thought they could escape all the war and violence of their life in Africa. Peter changed when he went to America he had a more developed education that he could spread to his people in the refugee camp and a new take on the world around him.