The recent debate over whether or not the conflict in Sudan is genocide doesn't matter, according to Sudanese immigrant Deng Yak.

"Genocide happened in Sudan in many places that world [doesn't] know," he said in a speech Saturday night at an event called Secrets of Sudan.

Yak discussed what he called "the day that changed my life forever." On this day, when he was 3-years-old, his village in southern Sudan was attacked. Yak was separated from his parents and forced to become one of the Lost Boys of Sudan – a group of refugees that trekked through Africa to find refugee camps.

This story served as an introduction to a screening of "Darfur Diaries" – a film that reflects on life and loss in Darfur, Sudan.