$1 for each child that runs today

Today 1,000 newly orphaned South Sudan children will run from tyranny starving, dehydrated with only grass in their tummies to refugees camps to be interred indefinitely as the brutal conflict over oil continues in their homeland creating a new generation of Lost Boys and Girls. 28 family members  of Olympic marathoner Guor Marial were killed in the war when he was a boy in what is today South Sudan and he was one of those little Lost Boys like King Deng in the refugee camp. Guor has run and walked a lifetime and now these new Lost Children will endure every bit of the hardship he did.  They have experienced a depth of tragedy only their tribal brothers and sisters can understand.

But we have a choice--to hear their cries this time before tomorrow comes and another 1,000 orphans wander to this same destiny. We can do something. We can support King Deng in his dream of telling his story for the world to hear because seemingly, we have not or there would not be a new generation of Lost Children. Guor still awaits his visa to travel to London to run as an independent without a country under the Olympic flag yet the Visa commercial narrated by Morgan Freeman plays on to tug at our heartstrings to entice us to watch the coverage. Is sitting in our comfortable, air conditioned living rooms all we can do? I think not and I know not.

Guor is running for so much more than a race. He is running for freedom. He is running for the solidarity of his newly formed nation. He is running for his family. He is running for the new Lost Boys and Girls. He is running for his King. And he is running for Muturo, the word for God in his native language.

His family that remains in war-torn South Sudan will trek 40 miles one way to the one television there is to watch Guor run in the Olympics. When will this journey end? King Deng says it can end today. He believes with his entire being that peace will reign in his country. If we hear his story and message through our film, it can end.

Please send this YouTube link of the trailer for the film to your friends, followers and family: King Deng, The Original Lost Boy of Sudan. I believe if humanity really knew the devastation King and his people have been through, they would want an end to it immediately.

In order for King to return to his homeland and for us to film it, we must raise $1,000 each day for the next 49 days through our Kickstarter fundraising website, the funding platform Robert Redford created through the Sundance Film Festival. As you can imagine, to be selected by this highly prestigious organization is quite competitive. And they chose my project.

If you do the math, that's $1 per child each day. Sure we can do that...

These Colors Were Not Allowed To Run

Guor Marial, who we have all seen running in the global Visa television commercials narrated by Morgan Freeman promoting the Olympics, had been told by the International Olympic Committee that he was barred from representing his country of Southern Sudan and that he must run under the flag of the nation of his oppressors. I could not believe my eyes as I read this in the news. I thought, Who in what alternate universe demands that of someone?

I asked King today what he thought. He said, "This is shocking news for me as a King when I heard that my countryman and fellow Lost Boy Guor Marial is now known to the world as an athlete without a country. The world knows that Southern Sudan became an independent country in its own right on July 9, 2011, the newest country, 193rd in the world I believe. For me as King, I disagree with the decision of the IOC who disgraces my brother Guor Marial as runner now without a country. He is from Southern Sudan and he must carry his country flag.

I have seen first-hand the pride King and his People have as they state proudly that they carry an I.D. card proclaiming they are from Southern Sudan. In fact, I have it on film. I can't imagine the devastation Guor must feel today as the Olympics commence. He escaped genocide and ran for his life for safety in the hope of one day returning to a country at peace. He prepared his entire life to be an Olympian but more importantly he prepared to represent his country.

The levels of "losthood" are ever-present in their daily lives, like a wave that knocks you down over and over trying to force you under. But to paraphrase Maya Angelou, Slowly they rise. I marvel each day as King has a singleminded belief that one day Southern Sudan will be at peace. He has complete trust and faith in God in his every waking moment and a postive disposition that is infectious. Each day my King calls me to impart words of wisdom and hope. He bolsters my spirit and can hear when I am questioning the universe.

But in the end, he was pragmatic. King continued to say, "Today Guor had no choice. There was no way he could represent those that ran him out of his homeland but we will keep the faith that the world will do better tomorrow. For Guar runs as a free man with his brothers and sisters in his heart. And for the land in our hearts, these colors were not allowed to run."

South Sudan not eligible to compete in the London Olympic Games under IOC rules. (AFP) http://t.co/41leeXyJ