With wooden swords and slingshots, the Lost Boys of Never-Never-Land defended their home from a band of inept pirates.

But the whimsical fairy-tale charm of “Peter Pan” is lost on Kuek Garang, a lost boy who eventually found himself in Chicago. Garang assumed the lost boy label after a civil war waged over religion and oil tore his home country of Sudan apart about 20 years ago. Now, Garang is hoping his passion for education will motivate local students.

Garang recently spoke at Riverside Brookfield High School, detailing his experiences of escaping a war zone and adjusting to life in the United States.

“The war broke out when I was 2 years old — in 1987, it began,” Garang said.

About 27,000 lost boys traveled to Ethiopia, but when the boys had to travel back to Kenya, only about 16,000 made it safely. In 1999, the United States sent for many of the lost boys of Sudan and brought them into the country to escape the war.

“I was the luckiest one to be on that list,” Garang said. “I came to Chicago.”

Currently, Garang attends the University of Illinois at Springfield and has been eager to complete his education.

Riverside Brookfield High School invited Garang because the students had just finished researching the war in Darfur and he could provide his personal experience of living through war and his move to the Unite States.

Freshman Dovas Lietuvninkas said Garang’s story was incredible, and that he was mostly amazed by the amount of travel Garang went through to get to a refugee camp.

Grace Wojcik, a freshman at RB, said it was amazing that his favorite part of coming to the United States is his ability to get an education. She said most students can’t wait to be done with school. Dovas agreed, and said Garang’s emphasis on education has inspired him.

“If someone from Sudan can go to U of I, it is more inspiration,” Dovas said.

Dovas, Grace and Vilija Aleksa, also a freshman, were invited to have lunch with Garang. The three wrote an essay on how they give back to the community to earn spots at the table.

All three of the students said they would have liked to hear about more personal experiences. Vilija said she would have liked to hear about specific moments Garang remembered, things about his family and more about his move to Chicago.

After researching Darfur, the students felt a strong connection to hearing about someone’s personal experience.

“When we heard, we had the opportunity to talk to someone, how could you pass this up?” Grace said.