Description: My journey from South Sudan has in some ways taken me back there. I saw and lived the public health problems of refugees on my way to a career in public health. Now I want to be part of the solution. I have been helped in so many ways by others, and to be able to give back—by helping people in the U.S., in Africa and someday around the world—is the greatest gift.
In Maar, South Sudan, my job was to wake up at dawn and take my family’s goats and cows to find grass and water. One morning in 1991, I was caring for the animals when I heard gunfire and screaming. When I ran to see what happened, I saw my village on fire. The rebel forces from Northern Sudan had invaded, and I knew that my family members had either been killed or taken into slavery. I was 6 years old.
Along with other young boys whose villages were destroyed, I started walking.
As we trekked through the wilderness, we endured malnutrition, dehydration, exhaustion and worse. One night when I was hiding in the bush, one of the boys yelled “lion!” I fled—and ran into a sharp branch that cut my leg so deeply I could see bone. There was no way to get medical treatment. Miraculously, it didn’t get infected.