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NORTON - A refugee of the Sudanese genocide told Norton High School students Wednesday that the war on terror should include helping impoverished countries like his homeland.

Former "Lost Boy" Franco Majok spoke to about 42 Norton students studying genocide.

The students in Todd Kefor's English class have read the novel "What is the What," a firsthand account of the Sudanese genocide, social studies teacher Eric Greene said. In Greene's history class, the students also have researched the worst genocides in history.

Twenty-five years after fleeing the Sudanese genocide, Majok now runs a nonprofit organization that has built a primary school in the remote Wunlang village in southern Sudan. He expects the school, which has eight classrooms and two buildings for teacher offices, to open next month.

Majok said southern Sudan is "one of the poorest places on the Earth," and "al-Qaida is recruiting poor people, people who don't have anything to lose." "Osama bin Laden, when he started his organization, he started first in Sudan," said Majok, executive director of Village Help for South Sudan.

So, he said, helping build schools and hospitals in such countries would gain the United States a "big ally" in the long run.

Although the war on terror has focused on Iraq, "that is one piece of fighting the war on terror," said Majok, who gained U.S. citizenship in 2005. He now lives in Lynn.

"There should be another way for those of us in the U.S. to fight terrorism," Majok said.

Norton students said they'd like to raise funds to improve schools in the Sudan.

They also found Majok's slide show captavating.

"It's really informative to know what's going on, other than in your surroundings," freshman Sydney Colbert said.

Majok said Sudan, in northern Africa, is "the largest country in Africa in terms of land."

However, two civil wars between the North and the South have plagued the country for most of the late 20th century.

Majok fled in 1983, when fighting reignited after an 11-year lull. The Sudanese government targeted students from the south, he said. He said he spent two or three weeks walking north to safety.

Majok said his education helped him survive, because he knew how to read a map.

"People who didn't know how to read stopped in the middle and died," said Majok, who also helps "Lost Boys" as a bilingual, bicultural case manager with Lutheran Community Services.

Majok said one of his four brothers, Garang, died during the civil war.

Majok showed the Norton students slides of current conditions in southern Sudan, including children practicing writing "in the dirt on the ground," and buildings made from mud and grass.

One health clinic is served by two nurses and one doctor, Majok said, "and he has to see about 500 to 600 people a day."

Majok said he began raising funds for a new school when he returned to Wunlang in 2006 after a 23-year absence.

At the time, he brought school supplies for about 500 students.

"It was the first time in their lives they had pens, pencils, notebooks, and people were so appreciative," Majok said.

Majok said the new school cost $70,000 to $80,000 to the build. He needs to raise another $10,000 to buy doors and windows. He also needs to pay for the trucking of building materials.

One Norton student asked how to help.

Majok said his nonprofit has a program called Village to Village, in which schools and other groups sell paper bricks for $1 each and donate the proceeds to the Wunlang Project.

For more information about Franco Majok's Wunlang Project, visit http://helpwunlang.org/index.php .

MICHAEL GELBWASSER covers Norton for The Sun Chronicle. He can be reached at 508-236-0439 or at mgelbwasser@thesunchronicle.com.