FARGO (AP) - A civil war refugee from Sudan who eventually settled in this city is realizing a dream of building a library in his homeland.

Justin Machien Luoi was one of thousands of Sudanese who went to refugee camps in neighboring countries and became known as the Lost Boys. After coming to the United States, he enrolled in Fargo South High School, and he graduated last spring from nearby Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn.

He also returned last spring to the African village he'd fled on foot years before as a child. It was a joyous reunion with his mother and other family members, and an early milestone in a nonprofit development project called Panyijiar Community Development Services, based in Fargo-Moorhead.

"We have to do something that makes a difference," Luoi said. "To me, knowledge is power. We can only do that through giving books."

The library, with an estimated price tag of $20,000, is the first project planned by the group.

Blueprints call for a humble building - no electricity is available in the community of Panyijiar - to house the assortment of donated books, everything from a law library to novels and used textbooks.

Hundreds of books are now piled in a storeroom in a former elementary school in Moorhead, waiting to be shipped to Luoi's native Ganyiel province in southern Sudan. Panyijiar community leaders have donated land for the public library.

In Panyijiar, people live in grass huts with their livestock and walk on dirt streets. In the Sudan, income averages $2,400 a year and the life expectancy is 49 years.

Books can help villagers learn how to grow crops, protect themselves against disease and build with masonry, Luoi said.

"They're starting from the ground up. They need everything," said Roy Hammerling, a religion professor at Concordia who is helping Luoi and fellow Sudanese refugees rebuild their homeland.

Luoi's idea to build a library back home originated several years ago during a discussion in Hammerling's classroom. The cause has since been taken up by Hammerling and others, including the Conmy Feste law firm in Fargo, which donated not only legal work to establish the nonprofit but also a library of law books.

"They just wrote off the cost," Hammerling said. "It was kind of the first big hurdle to get over and they just swept it away. I just can't say enough."

Luoi, Hammerling and the others also have long-range plans that include help in other areas such as farming and humanitarian aid.

"It's taken a year to really get it off the ground," Hammerling said of the nonprofit organization. With the framework now in place, he hopes to raise enough money for the library building by May.