captioning funded by cbs and ford >> pelley: on this special edition of "60 minutes presents: tales of survival..." >> all of a sudden, it's just this eruption of gunfire. >> pelley: tonight, we have the story of the rescue of jessica buchanan, a secret mission by seal team six. i don't know this group of men who's risked their life for me reks me to lie down on the ground because they're concerned that there might be someone out there, and then they make a circle around me. and then they lie down on top of me to protect me. >> simon: this is a story so rare, "60 minutes" has been following it for 12 years. it's about the lost boys of sudan and how they found their way out of a country terrorized by civil war and landed by the thousands in america to make new

homes. >> i would say this is one of the most successful resettlements in u.s. history. >> wow. >> simon: they came to a new world in every possible sense of the world, never imagining things we take for granted. >> wonderful machine. >> simon: tonight, a story about survival and hope. [ lillian ] i would get hit with that pain of sensitivity.

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>> pelley: good evening. i'm scott pelley. tonight, on "60 minutes presents," two tales of survival-- one about an american who nearly lost her life in africa, the other about africans who found their lives in america. we begin with the rescue of jessica buchanan. it is the story of a secret mission by seal team six that few people had heard about until we first reported this story last year. on a january night in 2012, members of seal team six jumped from a plane into the skies of somalia. jessica buchanan was being held hostage, and the seals were descending just in time. buchanan was a humanitarian aid worker who had come to help children in one of the most dangerous places on earth. hers was an ordeal that ended in a flash of violence, but had begun 93 days earlier when her

car was stopped by bandits in a place she calls hell. >> jessica buchanan: we stopped very abruptly, like, so abruptly that i felt, like, everybody just fall forward. and then, i started hearing all of this pounding on the windows and the windshield, and all this shouting in somali, and there is a man standing there screaming. and he has an a.k.-47, and he is shouting and pointing it at us. and then, he climbs into the car next to me and he points an a.k. into my face. and they're hyped up like they're on speed, and all of a sudden, we just take off. the driver just takes off, and we just start slamming all over the place down these camel tracks. >> pelley: what did you think they were going to do? >> buchanan: i figured they were going to rape me and then kill me. and i just keep thinking, "this can't be the end.

this can't be the end of my life. i'm only 32 years old. i haven't had any children yet. i didn't get to say goodbye to erik. i didn't get to say goodbye to my dad. like, this can't be the end." >> pelley: jessica buchanan was facing the end at the end of the earth. somalia, on the farthest tip of africa, is war torn and lawless. this is essentially no man's land. militias battle over an unforgiving land, as we saw while covering a famine there in 2011. it was the same year that buchanan was with a danish charity teaching children how to avoid landmines. on october 25, her car was hijacked. >> buchanan: the driver is driving like just a madman. we are bouncing all over the place. my head keeps hitting the

window, it keeps hitting the roof. i'm holding onto the side, the handle on the land cruiser, just trying to keep myself steady. >> pelley: what happened next? >> buchanan: it gets dark, and we've changed vehicles a couple of times. more people have come. they're screaming, and i hear from behind me a higher pitched voice going on and on in somali, and i think, "my god, they have a woman involved in this." and i turn around, and i see a small child in the back of the land cruiser with an a.k.-47 draped in ammunition, and i think the irony of why i came to africa in the first place. >> pelley: exactly the kid you were trying to save? a child soldier? >> buchanan: yeah. >> pelley: what was he doing? >> buchanan: learning the trade. >> pelley: she'd been kidnapped along with a coworker, poul thisted.

they drove into the night and then were ordered to march into the desert. >> buchanan: and they tell us to get down onto our knees. and i think, "okay, this is it," and i'm bracing myself to be shot in the back of the head. and i think that there's mercy in the fact that maybe they're not going to rape me first but that it's just going to be quick. and i'm waiting and i'm waiting. and then, all of a sudden, somebody shouts from behind us, "sleep." and i'm thinking, "oh, my god, i didn't hear that correctly, did i? he just said 'sleep'?" >> pelley: she collapsed, slept through the night, and the next morning was met by the man who led the bandits. >> buchanan: and we ask him, "are you going to kill us?

is that why we're here?" he says, "no, no, no. money. we just want money." >> pelley: how much were they asking for? >> buchanan: they started out at $45 million. >> pelley: they thought you were pretty valuable. >> buchanan: i guess so. >> pelley: the bandits used her cell phone to call her husband, erik landemalm. the two had married on an african beach two years before, but his number and the numbers of buchanan's family had all been disconnected. it was part of the charity's emergency plan. the one number that worked was her nairobi office with a hostage negotiator standing by. and so began months of talks. where did they keep you, day in, day out? >> buchanan: under trees and outside. >> pelley: you were outdoors for 93 days? >> buchanan: yep. and at night, they forced us to sleep out in the open. >> pelley: what were the nights like? >> buchanan: long and cold.

then, the rainy season hit, and it would rain all night long. and you're already freezing, so then you're sitting there wet. >> pelley: what were you eating? >> buchanan: tuna fish, maybe once a day. we would get a small can of tuna fish and a piece of bread. >> pelley: did you feel like you were beginning to lose your humanity at any point? >> buchanan: yeah. i mean, they treated us like animals. to be so sick that, you know, you're vomiting behind bushes. and you can't walk straight, and you're laying in the fetal position on the ground under a tree. and they don't even... they don't care. their duty was to keep me from dying because then i wasn't worth anything. >> pelley: they were in the hands of men and boys who were chewing khat. it's a plant with the same effect as amphetamines. >> buchanan: they were so hyped up on speed.

it was like drinking pot after pot of coffee. and then, the crash would come. and... and then, it brought a lot of belligerence and... and a lot of anger. and a lot of temper. >> pelley: you and poul came up with nicknames for a lot of the people who were keeping you. it's one of the ways you kept yourself occupied. >> buchanan: we did. >> pelley: the ten-year-old boy? >> buchanan: "crack baby," because he was cracked out all the time. he was chewing khat, and he had two blacks holes for eyes. there was nothing inside. >> pelley: this is one of the camps where she was held. the bandits hit her, pointed their guns at her, and put a knife to her throat. but it was exposure that took a toll. she lost 25 pounds. after three weeks, the bandits made a video to prove that she was alive. have you seen the video? >> buchanan: i have. i can tell i'm starting to lose

hope at that point. >> pelley: but hope would have to last for two more months. as the many weeks went by, did you think, "the american government is watching me? they know where i am, and somebody's going to get me out of here"? >> buchanan: no. >> pelley: why? >> buchanan: because i'm just an aid worker. >> pelley: you didn't imagine that the president of the united states knew your name? >> buchanan: never. never in a million years. >> pelley: after three months in the desert, buchanan had a serious urinary tract infection, and, in a final call to the hostage negotiator, she said this: >> buchanan: i'd become so ill that i couldn't stand up. i couldn't walk, i was in so much pain. and i said, "i think i have a kidney infection." and i started to cry, and i said, "i think i'm afraid i'm

going to die out here." >> pelley: when that call was received here in nairobi, it set off a chain of events that led all the way to the oval office. the f.b.i. and the military consulted doctors who said that if jessica had a kidney infection, she might have just two weeks to live. that was transmitted to the president, who was also informed that in just a few days there would be a new moon-- perfect darkness for a seal team rescue. jessica buchanan had chosen a star in the somali sky to represent her mother who had passed away a year before. she spoke to it every night, and, with no moon, it was especially bright on january 25. what did you say that night? >> buchanan: "please tell god that i need some help. we need to get out of here." >> pelley: you couldn't have known that that prayer would be answered that night? >> buchanan: i had no idea. >> pelley: she was on a mat, trying to sleep, when she heard

a faint scratching noise. one of the bandits she nicknamed "helper" heard it, too. >> buchanan: and then, i see this look of just sheer terror on helper's face. and then, all of a sudden, it's just this eruption of gunfire. and i think, "okay, well, this is it. this really is truly the end." and i cover up with my blanket again, and i just start saying, "oh, god, oh, god, oh, god." and i just remember thinking... or maybe i'm saying out loud, like, "i cannot survive this." >> pelley: she thought she was being taken by a rival group-- maybe al shabaab, the islamic extremists who would surely kill her. >> buchanan: and, all of the sudden, i feel all these hands on me, roughly grabbing at me. and i try to protect myself, and i pull the blanket closer on top

of me. and then i hear my name. but it's not a somali accent, it's an american accent. and i can't compute. like, i can't understand that somebody with an american accent knows my name. and they say, "jessica, we're with the american military. we're here to take you home, and you're safe." i pull the blanket down from my face, and all i see is black-- black masks, black sky-- and all i can say over and over is, "you're american? you're american? i don't understand, you're americans"-- thinking, how did you get here?

and i'm still alive, and they ask me where my shoes are, and i don't know. and one of them picks me up and starts running. he runs for several minutes and puts me down on the ground. and then, they identify themselves and that they knew i was very sick. and they have medicine and they have water. they have food, and they've come to take me home. at one point, i think they thought they heard something. i don't know this group of men who's risked their life for me already asks me to lie down on the ground because they're concerned that there might be someone out there, and then they make a circle around me. and then they lie down on top of me to protect me.

and we lay like that until the helicopters come in. >> pelley: when all of those seals laid down on top of you, you were the most important thing in the world to them. >> buchanan: it's really hard to comprehend. >> pelley: they were going to take a bullet for you? >> buchanan: uh-huh. and they are so kind and they're so gentle. and they are trying to assist me to get to the helicopter, but i think i've been out here for months, i can run to this helicopter myself. and so, i just break away and i just take off running through the scrub, through the bush, and i throw myself onto that helicopter and push myself up against the wall. and i don't start breathing until we actually lift up off the ground. and they hand me an american flag that's folded. >> pelley: what did you think of that? >> buchanan: i just started to cry. at that point in time, i have never in my life been so proud

and so very happy to be an american. >> pelley: the seals left on other helicopters. she didn't see their faces, didn't hear their names. they appeared, and they were gone. the only thing left in the camp were nine dead bandits. >> mr. speaker... >> pelley: it all ended just hours before the state of the union address. as the president walked in, he had a secret with defense secretary leon panetta that almost no one understood until later. >> president obama: good job tonight. good job tonight. >> pelley: after the speech, president obama called buchanan's father. jessica met her husband erik at a u.s. base in italy. >> buchanan: i just couldn't believe he was standing there and that i was standing there, and we had... we had a second chance. and then, later, we flew to portland, oregon, and i was reunited with my father and my

brother and my sister and her husband. >> pelley: what was the first thing you said to your father? >> buchanan: "daddy... i'm... i'm so sorry that you had to go through this, but we made it." >> pelley: and so did her danish co-worker, poul thisted, who was also rescued by the seals. he said later that his lucky break was being captured with an american. jessica buchanan has told her story in a book, "impossible odds," published by simon and schuster, which is owned by cbs. you may recall that she said that her first thought when being taken was that she was too young to die because she hadn't had children. well, she's taken care of that, too. she and her husband have a baby boy, and they've moved from east africa back to the u.s., near

washington, d.c., to be close to jessica's father. >> good evening. it's a big week for earnings. more than 60 members of the s&p 500 reporting. iran says it found car parts made in the west. and thieves stole more than $700,000 worth of watches this weekend. i'm jeff glor, cbs news. iran says it found car parts made in the west. and thieves stole more than [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work.

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we can't keep them on the shelves. >> simon: 12 years ago, "60 minutes" aired a story about lost boys from sudan who fought off unspeakable dangers and then

flew off to the united states. it all began in the 1980s, during sudan's civil war in which more than two million people died. the boys' parents were killed; their sisters often sold into slavery. many of the boys died, too. but the survivors, thousands of them, started walking across east africa, alone. five years later, they walked into a refugee camp in kenya. that's where we first met them, when many were hoping to go to the united states. well, 3,000 did, as part of the largest resettlement of its kind in american history. we followed the boys for more than a decade and couldn't resist revisiting them, to see how they're doing. but first, we'll take you back to northern kenya, to the kakuma refugee camp, springtime 2001.

nothing drew a crowd like the list. once a week, the lost boys saw their destiny on a bulletin board, the staples of life. on this day, 90 learned they'd be going to america. >> boston. >> i'm going to flororida. >> flororida >> flororida. >> simon: every sunday, a plane arrived at the camp to take the boys from nowhere to somewhere, from kakuma to j.f.k. and beyond. not all of the lost boys got to go. joseph taban rufino had walked to the board so many times, he tried not to get excited. what's new? >> joseph taban: something new. yeah, i've seen my name on the board. >> simon: your name is on the board, huh? where are you going? >> taban: that's kansas city. >> simon: kansas city. do you know where it is? >> taban: i don't know. >> simon: abraham yel nhial was taking this walk for the 25th time.

he was an ordained minister of sudan's episcopal church at kakuma. he looked at the board as if it were a holy scroll. >> abraham yel nhial: i'm going to chicago. is it interesting? >> simon: oh, it's very interesting. ( laughter ) >> yel nhial: thank you for that. >> simon: they were called the lost boys because they were between five and 11 when their christian villages in southern sudan were attacked by islamist forces from the north. when they saw their villages burning, they started running. streams of boys became rivers. hundreds became thousands until an exodus of biblical proportions was under way. they walked for three months across sudan barefoot. 12,000 found refuge in ethiopia. but after four years, they were chased out at gunpoint, chased to the gilo river where the waters did not part. for joseph taban, that day will never go away. >> taban: we saw so many people who were just floating on the

river. >> simon: dead bodies. >> taban: dead bodies, yeah, who are floating on the river. >> simon: many were shot, many drowned, many were eaten by crocodiles. zachariah magok was there. >> zachariah magok: 1,000 to 2,000 who died in that river. >> simon: 1,000 or 2,000 died in that river? >> magok: yes. >> simon: it wasn't much better on the other side. they walked across deserts, over mountains. they had no food or water. paul deng was seven when he started the walk. >> paul deng: you have to urinate so that you drink your own urine. >> simon: did you ever do it yourself? >> deng: yeah. i didn't want to die. other people didn't want to die. >> simon: in the spring of 1992, after walking more than a thousand miles, the boys made it over the border into kenya, to a desolate place called kakuma. for the u.n., it was an emergency of vast proportions,

these emaciated children. for the boys, it was the safest they'd been in five years. joseph became a medical assistant at the camp clinic. ( singing ) abraham found a job preaching the gospel in a church built of mud. the lost boys couldn't go home to sudan, and kenya didn't want them. then, in the year 2000, the state department decided they deserved a break and invited them to come live in the united states. >> sasha chanoff: what we want to do is give you a correct understanding of what life will be like in america. >> simon: before they took off for their new lives in the new world, sasha chanoff, a teacher from boston, gave them a crash course: america 101. >> chanoff: does anybody know who the president in the u.s. is now? >> george bush w. >> simon: things they could not imagine, like winter.

>> chanoff: this is a little what winter in america feels like. ( laughter ) what does it feel like? >> it's very cold! >> will you die because of that coolness? >> chanoff: no, people do not die because of the coolness. >> simon: he had three days to prepare them for a leap of a thousand years. >> chanoff: many of them have never been exposed to lights or to a fork and a knife, or seeing a tv. it's a group that's lost in time. >> simon: they had four days to pack their luggage. they took little, left less behind. >> abraham yel nhial! >> simon: abraham was taking a book he'd been carrying for ten years. you still have the bible that you carried from ethiopia here? >> yel nhial: yes. it's my life. i have been called a lost boy,

but i'm not lost from god; i'm lost from my parents. >> simon: as in any farewell, the lost boys were saying "see you soon," but they knew better. kakuma was losing its doctor and its priest. >> take it together, and put it in. >> simon: the boys had never been on a plane before. they'd never even been on a bus. five planes in two days. first initiation rite: airplane food... >> here you go. enjoy your meal. >> simon: ...and then changing planes in brussels, getting their feet on the ground in the western world.

next stop for joseph taban and his brothers: kansas city. >> perkins: there it is. >> taban: oh, yeah. >> perkins: you see the buildings? that's kansas city. >> taban: i did not know that this place is so big like this. >> simon: abraham the preacher man was supposed to go to chicago, but, at the last minute, that was changed to atlanta. volunteers introduced them to their new apartments, to american mysteries like a sink or a stove. >> don't touch because it burns. >> it's hot. >> simon: ...a vacuum cleaner or a can, let alone a can opener. >> want to try it? >> wonderful machine! >> simon: within a few weeks, joseph had his first job in a sweltering fabric factory. when he got home from work at 11:00 at night, he stayed up

studying for that medical career he'd always dreamed of. ♪ you won't be surprised to learn that abraham found his salvation in church-- all saints, one of the largest episcopal churches in atlanta. a month after his arrival, he was invited to be a guest deacon. >> hallelujah, hallelujah. >> thanks be to god. hallelujah, hallelujah. >> you were terrific, abraham. you were so good. >> simon: a big problem was the sheer size of america and everything in it. home depot was a long way from home. >> yel nhial: this store is too big. >> clerk: oh, i know it is. >> yel nhial: this is confusing. >> simon: confusing? try to imagine what a fountain looks like to a man whose walked a thousand miles through a desert. sasha chanoff, who taught the boys back in kenya, said it was not easy for them to distinguish between what was real and what

was pure fantasy in america. >> chanoff: they're hearing that people have gone to the moon. if you're telling me people have gone to the moon, then they're seeing on tv that a horse can talk. why is a horse talking so different from someone going to the moon? it's hard for people to distinguish what is reality and what is not. some boy saw a street sign that said "dead end," and they thought, "well, if i go down there, am i going to die?" >> simon: then came 9/11 just a few months after the boys got here. they thought they had left that kind of thing far behind forever. >> yel nhial: and it seem that war is following us. wherever we go, war came after us. >> let's pray. >> simon: as it did, once again. the boys weren't surprised by it, not the way americans were. for them, islam and terrorism went together. always had. their reaction was immediate: help the victims. in atlanta, they offered to donate blood to the survivors in new york, but they were turned

away. >> yel nhial: so, what we did, we did collect some money-- $2, $5-- because we have nothing, and we give about $400. >> simon: $400? >> yel nhial: yes, and that's amazing. >> simon: it really is. >> yel nhial: yes. a community with nothing, people just come from africa. >> simon: but they weren't coming any more. after 9/11, the flights scheduled to bring over more lost boys were stopped, and the boys already here were having a tough time of it. that dreaded american winter was now upon them. they'd been warned, but it still came as a shock. >> look, look, look! ( laughs ) >> simon: winter gave them fun times, as well, though. ice capades. >> ( laughs ) >> simon: what americans call a learning experience. >> ( laughs ) >> simon: and, christmas, their first. in america, we call him santa claus. >> dominic: oh, yeah, santa

claus. yeah. i've heard of santa claus. >> simon: he lives in the north pole and rides reindeer. >> taban: you mean he lives in the north pole? is he from... what you call those people? >> simon: eskimos. >> taban: eskimos, yeah. >> simon: well, he's the guy who brings presents to kids. >> taban: okay, okay. >> simon: he makes kids happy. that's the important thing. >> taban: oh, that's good. >> simon: within a year, a kansas city investment banker, joey mcliney, took joseph under his wing and put him in the saddle. >> joey mcliney: whoa, now. only use that leg. >> simon: mcliney offered up his brand new car for joseph's first driving lesson. >> mcliney: okay. brake. brake! no! hit the brake! that's the brake, the big one. >> taban: ay, yay, yay. i'm so sorry for what i make. ay, yay, yay.

>> simon: that was 12 years ago. in a moment, we'll give you a picture of the road the lost boys have been taking in america. as your life and career change, fidelity is there for your personal economy, helping you readjust your retirement plan along the way, rethink how you're invested, and refocus as your career moves forward. wherever you are today, a fidelity i.r.a. has a wide range of investment choices to help you fine-tune your personal economy. call today, and we'll make it easy to move that old 401(k) to a fidelity i.r.a. ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪ ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪

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>> simon: before their arrival in america in 2001, the lost boys of sudan knew very little about what would be a totally new world for them. for the u.s. government, it was quite a social experiment. america may be a country of immigrants, but it's not often that the state department organizes an airlift of people who know virtually nothing about

the modern world. the lost boys were sent all over the place, from fargo, north dakota to phoenix, arizona. joseph taban rufino landed in kansas city. abraham yel nhial was sent to atlanta. we never forgot about them and their fellow lost boys and, as we reported last spring, we felt good when it appeared they hadn't forgotten about us. >> yel nhial: hey, bob simon! how you doing? long time, no see. how you doing, buddy? >> simon: how you doing, man? >> yel nhial: been a long time. >> simon: we visited the lost boys from time to time over the last 12 years, wanted to be there for the moments they never could have imagined. >> i hereby declare... >> i hereby declare... >> simon: on this day, abraham was one of 92 people from 37 countries to get a new piece of paper... >> congratulations, you are a united states citizen. >> thank you.

>> simon: ...a lost boy who now belongs somewhere. do you think of yourself as an american? >> yel nhial: yes. this, this home for me. >> simon: abraham is so proud of his american passport, he carries it with him wherever he goes. >> yel nhial: the only papers we have are from america. >> simon: are you telling me that that passport in that jacket pocket of yours is the first identity paper you've ever had? >> yel nhial: this is it. >> simon: before that, you had no document at all. >> yel nhial: no. >> simon: joseph still hadn't gotten a passport. his driver's license was stolen from him in kansas city. and that was just the beginning. you've had your car flooded. >> taban: right. >> simon: you've been stabbed. >> taban: exactly. >> simon: you've been hit by a car. >> taban: that's right. >> simon: your kitchen was set on fire. >> taban: indeed. >> simon: and you like it here. >> taban: you know, things... things happen. >> simon: there was more bad news at work.

joseph was laid off a few times from his job at a grain company, a victim of the tough economy. and in the small, dimly lit apartment he rents, he still studies medical books, even while his dream of going to med school is slipping away. do you feel like you've been successful in america? >> taban: not at all. my main aim was to go to the school in order to be what i've said, to be a doctor. but things fall apart. >> simon: so, unless you're a doctor, you will not feel that you are successful. >> taban: that's true. >> simon: abraham did graduate from college. >> yel nhial: it's been a long journey, but god blessed me. >> simon: after many 4:00 a.m. bus rides to school, he got a degree in biblical studies from atlanta christian college. >> congratulations! >> simon: sasha chanoff, who led those orientation classes back

at kakuma, now runs an organization called refuge point, which champions refugees in africa. he still stays in touch with the lost boys. >> chanoff: i would say this is one of the most successful resettlements in u.s. history. >> simon: wow. >> chanoff: some of them are in law school. some are in medical school. but, of course, when you have 4,000 guys or so who arrive, some don't do as well. some struggle. >> simon: some have had problems with drugs and alcohol. a few are in jail. but some lost boys who were orphaned by war have been wounded fighting for the u.s. military in iraq and afghanistan. daw dekon made it out unscathed. so, you were in iraq. >> daw dekon: three times. >> simon: three times. >> dekon: yes. >> simon: he joined the army after 9/11. >> dekon: i'm a young man able to hold a gun or to go with other young men in this country who were born here. why not? that's my duty. >> simon: so, you joined the army because you wanted to give something back to america. >> dekon: yes.

>> dominic leek: ♪ thank you, america want to let the whole world know. ♪ >> simon: dominic leek, a friend of joseph's in kansas city, wrote a song he says represents the feelings of many lost boys. >> leek: when i came to this country, i was helped by the government of this country and the people of america. so, what i did was, i thank them for the opportunity they gave to me and my fellow lost boys. >> yel nhial: we were forced into the river. >> simon: abraham feels he has a mission to make sure people will not forget. he speaks at universities across the country. here he was at yale, explaining to students why he believes god kept the boys alive. >> yel nhial: god kept us alive to be witness of what took place in sudan. that the only thing. it's not because we were more important than others, than our mothers, our fathers and brothers who have died.

but simply, so that we will be witness. >> simon: it happened a long time ago, so the lost boys don't have too much trouble talking about it. but at nighttime, do you have a lot of nightmares? >> taban: oh, indeed, a lot. during the young age where we were when i was there, we're not supposed to see the dead body or bury the dead body, and we did that. and that's all come, like, sometimes in form of dream. >> simon: for the lost boys, the most momentous news came in july of 2011. their long-suffering homeland, south sudan, was declared the world's newest nation. you saw the independent celebrations on your cell phone. >> taban: yeah. >> simon: how did it make you feel? >> taban: oh, i was overwhelmed, going into tears. >> chanoff: they were an important factor that led to that independence. >> simon: hang on. they were an important factor that led to independence? >> chanoff: i think so. they created a political

environment in the u.s. where people were finally realizing what was happening in this remote genocide in sudan that nobody had really heard of on a large scale before. ( women singing ) >> simon: not long ago, sudanese flocked by the hundreds to a town called aweil for a celebration. it wasn't independence day or anything like that. they came to a newly built brick cathedral to witness the installation of that preacher named abraham as the first episcopal bishop of his region in south sudan. a lost boy no more, it's bishop abraham now. and who knows what's coming next. maybe your next name will be archbishop. >> yel nhial: i don't know about that. ( laughter ) >> simon: abraham divides his time now between africa and america. not only is he an anglican

bishop but a husband and a father. oh, my heavens. this is your family? >> yel nhial: yes. >> simon: he goes back to africa whenever he can to visit his new family. he got married in kenya, has four kids. he wants them to join him in atlanta, but red tape keeps getting in the way. >> yel nhial: well, i would love that to happen, bob. i've been trying for them to come, but they not came. maybe one day somebody will surprise me, that "you and your kids come to america." >> simon: joseph hadn't gone back to africa, had no reason to. his whole family was dead, as far as he knew. then, incredible news-- his mother, perina, was alive, had survived the war, had made it to a refugee camp in uganda. and there was another miracle, skype. so, joseph promptly ironed his best suit and went over to his mentor's house. his mother had been driven three

hours to the offices of i.o.m., the international resettlement agency in south sudan. it was the first time mother and son were going to see each other since they were separated by war 25 years ago. ( speaking sudanese language ) >> simon: his mother had thought joseph was dead, had held a funeral service for him. even now, she had no idea what he'd been through. when joseph tried to tell her, he just couldn't get through it.

but there were light moments, too, shared memories of joseph's happy childhood in a country village before the war ended childhood and everything else. and, of course, his mother wanted to know why, after all these years, joseph had not married a nice american girl. after almost an hour, their time was almost up. his mother asked joseph what all mothers ask their sons: "when will you come see me?" and joseph answered the only possible answer: "as soon as i can, mom. as soon as i can." >> simon: after our story aired last march, joseph was able to make good on that promise to his mom, thanks to "60 minutes" viewers who donated enough money to fund his plane tickets. just a few weeks ago, he was reunited with his mother in

south sudan for a short visit before returning to kansas city. joseph was lucky to get back to the united states. history, it seems, is repeating itself in south sudan. fighting has erupted in the last month; thousands of civilians have been killed. while his mother seems safe for now, south sudan is on the brink of a civil war that could create more lost boys. [ female announcer ] hands were made for playing. legs, for crossing. feet...splashing. better things than the joint pain and swelling of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. if you're trying to manage your ra, now may be the time to ask about xeljanz. xeljanz (tofacitinib) is a small pill,

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>> stahl: in the mail this week, we heard from viewers about our story on "the case of alex rodriguez," which included scott pelley's interview with tony bosch, the man who says he supplied a-rod with performance enhancing drugs "mr. bosch, when asked why he provided these illegal drugs, should have told the truth: he did it for money." comments continue on our story about clean technology, many of them critical of how we reported on the failures of some green energy companies that received government funding, while we ignored the success and growth of renewable energy alternatives like solar and wind. "shame on you, '60 minutes,' for making clean energy look dirty." "government money spent on alternative energy companies pales in comparison to the billions spent on nearly 100

years of oil and gas subsidies." "there have been problems developing biofuel. various projects have come to dead ends, but the broader truth is one of amazing success." i'm lesley stahl. we'll be back next week with a brand new edition of "60 minutes." i quit smoking. i've quit for 75 days. 15 days, but not in a row. for the first time, you can use nicorette... even if you slip up... so you can reach your goal. [ male announcer ] now, quit on your own terms with nicorette or nicoderm cq. when i'm training, i always listen to music. for the gym, it's hip-hop. for cross-country, classical. and for jumps, i need something...special. so i use my citi thankyou visa card for music downloads and earn two times the points... plus a little extra inspiration. [ ♪ music plays ] the citi thankyou preferred visa card. earn two times the points on entertainment and dining out with no annual fee.

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("captain sunshine" by lucy schwartz playing) you'll be great. oh, god, it's like i'm a first-time lawyer again.