{"id":7352,"date":"2019-06-14T12:19:58","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T16:19:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=7352"},"modified":"2023-02-15T10:47:34","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T15:47:34","slug":"lost-boys-sudanese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2019\/06\/14\/lost-boys-sudanese\/","title":{"rendered":"Education Was My Mother and My Father – Georgia Southern\u2019s Sudanese \u2018lost Boys\u2019 Bring Hope and Healing to Their Homeland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Few people understand the transformative power of education better than Georgia Southern student Abraham Awuol Deng, and alumnus Abraham Deng Ater (\u201918).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both enrolled in the Doctor of Public Health program at\nGeorgia Southern in an effort to complete a long, seemingly impossible academic\njourney that began in the most horrific conditions imaginable \u2014 the war-torn\nregion of South Sudan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery time I walked on, thinking I have to forget about\nwhat is around me and try to focus on the goal, and my goal was to finish this\nno matter what happens, no matter the obstacle,\u201d said Ater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The road that led Ater and Deng to the University was filled with obstacles, and each one held their lives in the balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Journey through\nHell<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 1987,\nbefore either of them reached 10 years old, Ater and Deng were suddenly separated from their parents\nand forced to flee South Sudan, which was in the throes of a brutal civil war. With\nlittle warning, and little food or clothing, the boys traveled hundreds of miles on foot to\nEthiopia, where a refugee camp\nawaited them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a\nnightmarish journey. Forced to travel at night, the children were hunted by the\nSudanese Army. They were attacked by residents from other villages. Some were\nattacked by wild animals. For food, they resorted to eating roots, leaves and\nthe remains of dead animals. Barefoot, they made shoes from tree bark, but\ntheir feet blistered, cracked and bled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was difficult,\u201d said Deng, who was only 6 years old when\nhe left home. \u201cI was ready to\ndie at the time to be honest.\nI was just ready to die immediately.\nThat\u2019s what I had\nin my mind because when I saw my friends and cousins dying in my\npresence, I just wanted to\ngo with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember my\nfather told me if you think too much about us you will be depressed, you will\nbecome very emotional and you will die,\u201d said Ater, who was only eight at the\ntime. \u201cSo just focus on what is ahead of you, how to get from one point to\nanother. And that was my focus all that time, just to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After two months of walking, Ater, Deng and more than 20,000 displaced children reached their destination in Ethiopia. For almost four years, these children enjoyed a pale semblance of normalcy. They were given small food rations, slept in makeshift huts and began\nto learn English, drawing the foreign letters and words in the dirt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1991, however, the young boys\u2019 \u201cnormal\u201d life came to\nan abrupt halt. A civil war in Ethiopia left the country fractured, and the\nSudanese refugees were on the wrong side of political alliances. The Ethiopian\nArmy attacked the refugee camp, pursuing the children as they fled the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deng remembers the pursuit leading them to the treacherous Gilo River, which was raging during the rainy season and infested with crocodiles. As he stood on the bank, frozen with fear, he saw children shot, saw them drown, saw them snatched from the surface by crocodiles, and thought his life had come to an end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know how to swim, and I could hear the bullets\npassing  by,\u201d he said. One of the older boys grabbed him and convinced\nhim   to hold onto his neck and kick his\nlegs in the water as hard as he could. \u201cWe jumped\ninto the water and crossed to the other side by God\u2019s grace. I held on tight and I kept kicking my legs and we made it to the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deng sprang from the water and ran as fast as he could. He\nmade it a half-mile from the river when a boy who was running beside him was\nshot down. \u201cI thought I would never make it \u2014 that none of us would make it\nthrough,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A United Nations study later found that 2,000 children\ndied that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July 1992, Kenya opened up the Kakuma Refugee Camp to\nthe children, after they made a six-month trek on foot to get there. Out of\nmore than 20,000 children who began the exodus from Sudan five years before,\nless than half made it to Kenya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Kakuma, Deng and Ater found the most stable living situation they\u2019d known in years, however insufficient. They were given  \nclothes, and one meal a day. There\nwere shelters and rudimentary supplies for\ncooking. Even with this modest stability, however, came more obstacles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the camp, which now hosted some 80,000 refugees from Sudan, Rwanda, Somalia\nand other countries, residents regularly dealt with scorpion and snake bites,\nbouts of malaria from mosquitoes and other parasitic diseases, and unsanitary\nconditions that led to deadly diseases like cholera. And with medical care and\nfacilities lacking, many died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the midst of\nthe squalor, however, Ater and Deng found hope\nin education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 1987, after the Sudanese Civil War began, more than 20,000 South Sudanese children fled on foot to refugee camps and shelters in nearby countries. They walked more than 1,000 miles to finally reach the Kakuma Refugee Camp in 1992, but less than half of them made it there. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Promise to Keep<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For Ater, especially,\neducation was a priority. When his\nfather sent him away from home, he\ntold him he was sending him away to\nschool, and made him promise to finish his training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s the main thing he told me,\u201d said Ater. \u201cHe\ndidn\u2019t tell me another thing. He didn\u2019t say to go and get a job and work or\nanything like that, or you are being sent away for your safety. He was just\nsaying you are going to school. You are going to school and make sure you\nfinish before you come home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As early as their days in Ethiopia, Deng, too, had come to see the possibilities of an education, and where it could lead him. Fearing that his parents and his family were dead, learning was all he had left, and represented the only way to reach any kind of future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI was obsessed with learning,\u201d he said. \u201cI was always\nfalling in love with learning. So education became like a father and mother to\nus because we were without parents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even in the worst conditions, the refugees would first make shelters, find food, and then set up a school, asking any adults in their groups to teach them what they knew. In Kenya, the United Nations set up a middle school and high school, providing teachers and some education materials. However, the refugees were responsible for their own pencils, paper and notebooks, which were often difficult to come by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo because the U.N. provided food, we would sell some of the food that is given to us to buy those education materials that the U.N. did not provide,\u201d said Ater, who sometimes went three days or more without food to get supplies. \u201cAnd no matter what happened, I was always thinking about what my father told me, so I would have to force myself to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ater and Deng met at Kakuma, studying together with\nfriends and relatives, their work illuminated only by hurricane lamps at night.\nThey both finished high school in 2000, and were eager to continue their academics,\nbut as refugees, their options were few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was very difficult for you to go to a college as a refugee,\u201d said Deng. \u201cWe just remained there. Either you could go and teach or you could go and do some other work to support yourself and other refugees. So we thought that was a dead end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd living life there at the refugee camp, there was no\ntomorrow,\u201d he added. \u201cThere\u2019s not, \u2018Maybe a better tomorrow,\u2019 because you\ncontinue to be faced by the same problems all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the late \u201890s, as the war in Sudan intensified, UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, determined that the children\u2019s hopes for going back to their country or reuniting with their parents were no longer options for them. In 1998, the United States agreed to resettle 3,600 of the lost boys, giving them a chance at a new life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With only 3,600 places for more than 10,000 lost boys, the three-year selection process was grueling, and education played a large part in whether they would go or stay. They were required to write their stories and later talk about their experiences with U.S. officials. Ater and Deng were interviewed over and over to make sure their stories were consistent while they were vetted for entry into the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The boys would rush to the sign boards each day to see who had\nbeen selected to go. But after a dream, Deng stopped checking the boards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI went to my cousin, and I was like, \u2018You know what? I don\u2019t think I would go to that board anymore because I had the best dream last night that we were scheduled on June 23. That\u2019s when we are scheduled to go to the United States,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd he was like, \u2018Abraham, that\u2019s just a\ndream.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Okay.\u2019 He kept going. And on the 23rd of June you know\nour name appeared on the board? God brought that to me in a dream!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 26, 2001, Deng arrived in New Port\nRichey, Florida, and Ater landed in Tucson, Arizona on May 8, 2001. It was\ntheir first ride in an airplane, and as they flew over this new country late at\nnight, Ater was spellbound by what he saw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we were\non the plane, I looked out the windows and the lights that I had never\nseen down in all the cities were like\n\u2014 they looked like stars,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I was asking, \u2018We look like we are above\nthe stars now! And it was so beautiful!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nwas a beautiful beginning to a new life for both of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Opportunity to\nChange the World<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the U.S., Ater and Deng had a steep learning curve\ninto first-world life. They learned to shop. They learned to cook with\nelectricity. They had to get a GED to get into college, and had to work full\ntime while earning their degrees. Everywhere around them was safety, ease and\nabundance. It was a difficult transition at first, but led them to realize\ntheir purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI began to think of my friends and cousins that are left at the refugee camp and here\nI have plenty,\u201d said Deng. \u201cI felt\nguilty about it. And I struggled with that for a longer period of time. I was\nlike, \u2018God, what is special about me? I\nlost friends. I lost cousins, and I survived all these atrocities, and you brought me to such a wonderful country where there are so many opportunities. So\nwhat do you want me to do so that I\ncan impact people\u2019s lives?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Ater and Deng decided to pursue medicine and public health as a way to give back to their fellow refugees. Public health ledt hem both to Georgia Southern for their doctoral degrees, and to be reunited with each other again. They both plan to return to South Sudan to have an impact on those friends and family they left behind.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the refugee camp, I saw a lot of things\nthat could have been prevented, health conditions, especially public health\nconditions that are preventable like sanitation problems,\u201d said Deng. \u201cSo\npublic health education would be the key way to prevent or to mitigate these\nhealth problems. That\u2019s why I\u2019m very much interested in something related to\nhealth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ater graduated in December of 2018, and dedicated his dissertation to his father. As he crossed the stage at Paulson Stadium, he remembered his father\u2019s words and knew he had completed his goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s when I vividly remembered my father\u2019s command, where he was commanding me to not quit, to\nfinish it,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it was an\nexciting moment for me, and to accomplish that, I know I didn\u2019t\nmake him mad. I didn\u2019t let\nhim down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ater created a nonprofit called United Vision\nfor Change which is raising funds to build a school and a clinic in Duk in\nSouth Sudan. He wants to keep other Sudanese\nkids from having\nto make the journey he made, \u201cso kids don\u2019t have to\ngo to Kenya or Uganda all the way to find an education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Ater and Deng were reunited with their\nmothers, some of their siblings and extended family in 2004 and 2006. Seeing\nthem, caring for them and supporting them has only strengthened their resolve\nto make a difference at home. South Sudan is currently under a peace agreement\nbut it has not ended its war. For now, things are better than they were, and\nAter and Deng continue to monitor the situation and look for ways to make a\ndifference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When they get together on campus or in\nAtlanta, where several of the former lost boys meet on occasion, they reminisce\nabout their journey, and the impossible grace and providence that led them out\nof their suffering, and into a world of opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho would have thought that there would be a time for us to even consider going to a college and get a bachelor\u2019s degree, let alone a Ph.D. program, right?\u201d said Deng. \u201cWe have to go back to history and think God is wonderful. God does miracles at times, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Doy Cave<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Few people understand the transformative power of education better than Georgia Southern student Abraham Awuol Deng, and alumnus Abraham Deng Ater (\u201918). Both enrolled in the Doctor of Public Health program at Georgia Southern in an effort to complete a long, seemingly impossible academic journey that began in the most horrific conditions imaginable \u2014 the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":7435,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-7352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-spring-2019"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}