Running for My Life: One Lost Boy's Journey From the Killing Fields of Sudan to the Olympic Games Read Online Free Page B

me from the Bible. She told me that Jesus said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven. “That’s why it is so important for us to sacrifice cows to give thanks to God,” she said. “Our cows are what make us rich.” Her words rang in my ears that night. The hole in that fence was the eye of the needle I had to pass through to be saved.
    My third friend forced himself through the hole. The moment he was through, two friends grabbed me on either side, and we ran for our lives. I moved my legs as fast as I could, trying to keep up. When I couldn’t keep up, my friends lifted me off the ground and carried me along. None of us wore shoes. Rocks cut into the soles of my feet. We kept running. Bushes suddenly appeared in front of us. We hardly slowed down. The branches reached out and slapped at my legs. Thorns tore my skin open. I barely felt a thing. We kept running. And running. And running.
    I listened for the sound of soldiers chasing after us, but all I could hear was my heart banging in my chest and my heavy breathing. My legs started to give out. Even with a friend helping me on each side, I could not keep going. One boy paused for a moment. Reaching around me, he swept me on his back and off we went. Big trees came up over us. I knew a lion or a leopard might be hiding in one, waiting for an antelope to come by. My friends didn’t even look up. They kept on running, carrying me with them.
    The forest disappeared behind us. My friend lowered me down so that I could run on my own. Tall savannah grass enveloped us. We found a game trail and ran and ran and ran. My legs gave out and I stumbled and fell. My friends helped me to my feet. “Just a little while longer, Lopepe, and we will stop to rest,” he said.
    “Okay,” I muttered. I could hardly speak.
    We ran through the tall grass. Hours had passed since we slipped through the eye of the needle, and still we ran. I do not know how we could run so far and so fast and so long. We did not run with our own strength but with strength from God. That is the only explanation.
    The sky above our heads turned from pitch-black to midnight blue. Soon the sun would be up. My friends slowed down. One took off a little ways off the path. A few moments later he came back and motioned for the rest of us. Another picked me up and carried me through the tall grass. The third boy walked behind him, fluffing up the grass behind us to hide our trail from anyone chasing us.
    The four of us collapsed on a bed of grass about fifteen or twenty yards from the trail. “Rest,” one said.
    I fell back onto the soft grass. It felt so much better than the hard hut floor. The sky grew lighter. I looked down at my legs. Dried blood covered them. One month earlier I would have cried over such a sight. Not now. Bleeding legs was a small price to pay to be free. “That way,” one of my angels said as he pointed into the distance. “Everyone lie down facing that direction.”
    “Why?” I yawned.
    “That’s the direction we will run after we rest. It is easy to get turned around out here. If we are not careful, we may end up running right back to the prison camp.”
    “I don’t ever want to see that place again,” I said.
    My angel smiled. “Don’t worry,” he said. “You won’t.”
    I did not reply. My eyes grew very, very heavy. I fell asleep and dreamed of home.

FOUR

Running Home
    I woke up running. Something must have happened on my first morning of freedom before we took off running under the bright, hot, summer African sun, but I do not remember it. I opened my eyes and found myself between two of my friends, running as fast as I could go down a game trail with tall grass and an occasional acacia tree flying past us.
    My feet screamed in pain with every step, but I did not dare listen to them. Somewhere up ahead my mother waited for me. I would not slow down until I found her. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. I