Sudanese ‘Lost Girl’ joins Guard

Sudanese ‘Lost Girl’ joins Guard
By Mila Koumpilova - The (Fargo) Forum via AP
Posted : Monday Nov 26, 2007 17:44:14 EST

FARGO, N.D. — The phone calls came, from the East Coast, from down South and all the way from Australia. In the tight-knit Sudanese expatriate community, news that Aja Galuak planned to enlist in the North Dakota Army National Guard spread fast. Her older brother, Akol Joseph Makeer, had some explaining to do.

After all, the callers noted, no woman had wielded a rifle in the 20-plus years of vicious fighting that flushed Aja and her siblings from their home village in southern Sudan.

No Sudanese woman had thought to become a soldier in Aja’s new homeland. There, men like Makeer are dubbed Lost Boys, and women like his sister, who came in much smaller numbers because the war was even less sparing of females, are by extension Lost Girls.

But Aja Galuak had made up her mind.

Since she joined the Guard last year, the 22-year-old North Dakota State University sophomore has inspired several Sudanese men to join and confront the prospect of fighting for an adoptive homeland where they came to get away from all the fighting.

When Aja Galuak approached him last year, Fargo Guard recruiter Eric Binstock was concerned. On the phone, her accent had made it hard for him to make her out. In person, she was polite, sharp and extremely soft-spoken and retiring.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/11/ap_lostgirlguard_071126/