“The Good Lie”

“The Good Lie”

Photo credit: Janet Donovan

“I was one of the ‘lost boys’ from Sudan,” Manyang Reath Kher, Founder and CEO of Humanity Helping Sudan Project, told Hollywood on the Potomac at a dinner hosted by Franco Nuschese at Cafe Milano. “I was born in Sudan and separated from my family by war.  We walked 200 miles to Ethiopia. We were looking for food.  We were just a group of ‘lost boys.’  The reason they called us that was because we lost our parents, homes, and everything.  We were just bums.”

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Ger Duany and Manyang Reath Kher

Kher is not a bum. He is hard working, smart, open, friendly and engaging with a generous smile. It’s hard to imagine how that was considering the trauma he had gone through.  According to Richmond, Virginia social worker Kathleen Hornick, the story goes like this:  “Manyang first came to the US via the Commonwealth Catholic Charities. He was an unaccompanied refugee minor which is a program that is funded by the government whereby the children are placed through catholic charities and given homes.  Richmond is one of the cities where they do a lot of placement of the child refugees so he lived at the refugee home for boys and girls. I was not his social worker,” she told us, “but I was on a team of social workers that had a lot of the unaccompanied minors.  Basically their lives were taken away from them overnight. They watched their families being torn apart, their parents killed. They basically had to leave. The papers are created through our government which is essentially set up in these refugee camps and they select those that don’t have families. Manyang didn’t know it at the time, but his father was definitely killed and he thought at the time his mother had been killed also.”

“We’re trying to draw attention to the situation because there are so many Sudanese children still living in camps and are dealing with starvation and their lives are just in total squalor. The war has town families apart and has created a state of desperation,” she added. “We actually meet them off of the plane and placed them in foster care and provided them with clothing . They don’t know you from anybody. They just have a folder. Manyang came here when he was seventeen and didn’t know a lick of English. That was ten years ago. Your at the airport, it’s ‘hi this and hi that’  and then you go and put them in a situation where they are either living with a family or are going to be. They have gone through so much. They all have that story.”

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Ger Duany and Manyang Reath Kher 

Ger Duany was also among the Sudanese that were displaced and came to America early in the ’90s.  He’s been here for the past 22 years. 

“He has inspired me in many many many ways. He is one of the reasons that we are here tonight and this is going to be the first of several dinners that I am going to host for the children of Sudan,” said Franco Nuschese.  “I don’t know if all of you have seen The Good Lie but I was fortunate enough to attend the Washington screening through executive producer Molly Mickler Smith (“The Blind Side”).  It was an amazing experience.  I was profoundly touched by this movie and today I’m proud to support the Humanity Helping Sudan Project.  There is no reason we should not raise awareness of these children. We need to pick something and then pay a lot of attention to it. What I am planning to do tonight is the first of many dinners like this and  is going to be a working night. My focus is to be sure the foundation gets the right credibility.”

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“Orphaned by the brutal Civil war in Sudan that began in 1983, these young victims traveled as many as a thousand miles on foot in search of safety.  Fifteen years later, a humanitarian effort would bring 3600 lost boys and girls to America. In “The Good Lie,” Philippe Falardeau brings the story of their survival and triumph to life.  Academy Award® winner Reese Witherspoon stars alongside Sudanese actors Arnold Oceng, Ger Duany, Emmanuel Jal, and Nyakuoth Weil, many of whom were also children of war. Mamere and Theo are sons of the Chief in their village in Southern Sudan.  When an attack by the Northern militia destroys their home and kills their parents, eldest son Theo is forced to assume the role of Chief and lead a group of young survivors, including his sister Abital, away from harm.  But the hostile, treacherous terrain has other dangers in store for them.”  Production 

As the tattered group makes the difficult trek to Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, they meet other fleeing children, forging a bond with Jeremiah, who, at 13, is already a man of faith, and Paul, whose skills become essential to their survival. Thirteen years later, the now young adults are given the opportunity to leave the camp and resettle in America.  Upon arriving in Kansas, they are met by Carrie Davis (Witherspoon), an employment agency counselor who has been enlisted to help find them jobs—no easy task, when things like straws, light switches and telephones are brand new to them.  Although Carrie has successfully kept herself from any emotional entanglements, these refugees, who desperately require help navigating the 20th century and rebuilding their shattered lives, need just that.   So Carrie embarks on her own unchartered territory, enlisting the help of her boss, Jack (Corey Stoll). Together, against the backdrop of their shared losses, the Lost Boys and these unlikely strangers find humor in the clash of cultures, and heartbreak as well as hope in the challenges of life in America.”  Production 

Alcon Entertainment, LLC and courtesy of TIFF : Reese Witherspoon as Carrie Davis, and Ger Duany as Jeremiah, in a scene from the film, “The Good Lie.”

“Early on, just like the movie was talking about, there’s a culture shock to you. Those are things that we had to experience. I was among the kids that came here and tried  to survive,” Ger told us.  “After we had peace in south Sudan, which was 2011, I went back home for the first time to go find my own family. Because we came here, we spent a lot of time here and built lives here, and now you have to go back to go and find our loved ones. I was among those too. My family was there; my mom, my dad, my brothers.  I go back and forth all the time now although not currently because we have a conflict in the country. The same thing that happened during our time is happening all over again, so when I go, I just go to the regions east of Akobo. That’s near Kenya.  I live now in New York and also Los Angeles.”

Through the American Red Cross, Manyang also was able to locate family members. “That’s how I found my sister in 2012,” he said.  “I’m like a Red Cross groupie, hallelujah. You have to write a letter and the Red Cross will send it back. I kept doing that for a long time and I finally reconnected with my uncle, then my mother and then my sister.”

“Ger is doing something that no one could ever imagine that these kids could do. The most amazing thing about him is that he is incredibly humble. Ger is supporting Manyang in raising money to send back to Sudan to the refugee camps so the people can sustain themselves and not wait for the bags of food to fall out of the sky,” said Hornick. 

“I work closely as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador to advocate for the refugees that are being displaced from the region and also around the world.” said Ger.  As for his future plans?  “The future always takes care of itself, so I don’t have any big plans or anything like that. I’m just dealing with the movie that we have now.”

“The Good Lie” trailer:

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