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 University of Louisville Graduate Reflects on the Refugee Experience in Africa and America

By Jacob Mabil

Before I came to the United States, I was living in a refugee camp in Kenya, Africa, for nine years. It took some number of years to complete the process of resettlement to this country. First I went through many interviews, which were conducted by the United States and United Nations agencies, which worked for refugees.

The reason, which made me to live in a refugee camp, was that my country has experienced a series of Civil war since 1955 and 1983 (Sudan). The war had become serious in which many people were displaced from their villages. People had evacuated to different countries that are bordering Sudan. Then I left my village with some of my relatives in late November 1987 to Ethiopia for safety. The journey to Ethiopia took at least three weeks to reach the destination. The distance covered on the journey was thousands of miles walking on foot. After arrival in Ethiopia, I stay there for two years and then back to Sudan. In Sudan I spent six months in 1992 living in a displaced camp and after that I went to Kenya because the Sudan government armies that operate in the north had captured most of our towns in Southern Sudan. This was between Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA) and Islamic government in Khartoum. After I was settled here in the United States, the SPLA and the government in Khartoum signed peace agreement in January 2005. The agreement was to allow Southern Sudan to have interim periods of six years. After that period there will be referendum in which South Sudan will decide whether to have one country or not. That referendum is scheduled to take place in 2011.

However, my journey to the United States was a very exciting one because it was by plane not on foot like other journeys I went through in Africa especially Ethiopia and Kenya. It was the first time I used a plane. The first flight was from Kakuma Refugee camp in Nairobi in Kenya. In Nairobi I spent three days before I took off on the big plane. The trip took me twenty hours to arrive in the United States. When I landed in the New York airport, everything was totally different from where I came and we became confused about where we were going. However, I was told in cultural orientation that I would be resettled in Louisville, KY. But I did not know by then where Louisville was. Luckily one person from agencies in New York came and told us that he would show a plane that would go to Louisville. My friends and I took a plane and finally arrived at the Louisville Airport at midnight of August 2001.

In the airport, some of my sponsors especially from the church were waiting for me and they took me with my friends to the Apartment. They showed everything in the apartment rented for us and then taught us on how to use electricity and gas in the apartment because there was no electricity and cooking gas in a refugee camp.

After my resettlement in August 2001, the agency provided rental apartment for me and paid the rent for the first three months in Louisville, KY. During those three months I had to attend ESL classes where they teach English. The agency, which is Kentucky Refugee Ministry, helped in getting my first job after I completed three months. After getting a job, I began to enroll in GED evening classes. I worked very hard for a GED diploma and finally I got my diploma in 2002. In June 2002, I enrolled at Jefferson Community College where I started in English as a Second language (ESL). It took me two semesters to complete ESL and other developmental courses. All these courses, which I took, were not counted toward my degree.

Then in spring of 2003, I was accepted to take college credit hours that were counted toward the degree. From that movement I worked diligently and as a result I earned my Associate’s degree in liberal arts in fall of 2005.

Within the same year, I transferred to the University of Louisville in which I majored in Sociology. Upon being admitted at the University, I went to school during the day and worked at night to support myself financially. Then finally I graduated last December (2007) with Bachelor of Science in Sociology.

My goal now is to seek jobs in social work and probably teach in high school. Currently I am planning to become an American citizen because I have already met the qualifications for citizenship.

In conclusion, I am grateful to the American government for assisting me to get out from the refugee camp to where I am now. My gratitude goes to the Sudanese Refugee Education Fund. I want to acknowledge that your support for making investment in human capital has made significant changes for Sudanese Scholars in particular. Also I am thankful for the fact that the American government had put pressure on the Sudanese government to sign peace between north and south which will give Southern Sudanese the chance to decide whether Sudan will be one nation or two nations as stipulated in the Comprehension Peace Agreement (CPA).

Sudanese Scholar Reaches Back to Help Others Achieve Dreams Through Education

Gabriel Akech Kwai, a December 2007 graduate of Murray State University, has continued his extensive leadership activities on campus by starting a non-profit organization dedicated to helping Sudanese girls continue their education. The Women's Educational Empowerment Project for Southern Sudan (W.E.E.P. for Southern Sudan) pairs American donors with Sudanese women in need, "working together to raise a country in destitution." Female literacy rates in Southern Sudan are only 12 percent, and Kwai believes that narrowing the educational gap will raise women's economic productivity, lower infant and maternal mortality rates, and reduce poverty. "If you educate a young woman, you educate her whole family," says Kwai, who received multiple grants from the Sudanese Refugee Education Fund while pursuing his bachelor's degree in finance and computer information systems.

His plan involves sending talented girls to boarding schools in neighboring countries and, eventually, building permanent schools in Southern Sudan. Kwai, who is working with churches in Murray and Louisville, Kentucky, traveled to Africa in January 2008 to begin recruiting students for the sponsorship program.

The cost to sponsor a Sudanese girl's education in Kenya for four years is $1,500, or $31.25 per month. To donate, make checks payable to W.M.E. (memo line: W.E.E.P. for Southern Sudan), P.O. Box 790, Benton, KY 42025. For more information:  email weepforsouthernsudan@gmail.com.

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Centre College Film Study Focuses on Sudan

A Nov. 8, 2006 screening of the PBS/POV documentary, "The Lost Boys of Sudan," united representatives from two Kentucky colleges as they discussed the continued violence in Africa. Jacob Manyok, a Sudanese scholar who attends Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, spoke to about 175 students, faculty, and staff members at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. 

Patrick Noltemeyer, Centre's Director of Volunteer Service, said the college convocation was designed to raise awareness about what is currently happening in Sudan and show students how they can get involved.

University of Kentucky Student Inspired by Education

By John Mabior Thuch Ghack

I came to Louisville on the 17^th of July 2001. I attended Kentucky Refugee Ministries' ESL classes in the morning and studied for my GED in the afternoon. After I passed my GED tests, I started taking classes at Jefferson Community College (JCC) in the summer of 2002.It took me two years to obtain my associate's degree in science. During my time at JCC, I won the Woodcock Foundation Scholarship. I worked for UPS to pay part of my tuition and also worked at JCC as an applied physics and math tutor.

In 2004, I was admitted to the University of Kentucky's College of Engineering and started classes in the spring of 2005. Now I am still pursuing my studies in civil engineering here in Lexington. I appreciate the Sudanese scholarship program for the assistance I have received the last two to three semesters. The scholarships have really made a tremendous difference in my school life.

(PHOTO: John Mabior Thuch, left, celebrates his 2004 graduation from Jefferson Community College with William Lite, his philosophy professor.)

Berea College Student Enjoys Life on the Farm

Share your stories and photos of Life on Campus! We welcome submissions from other Sudanese refugees who are currently enrolled in college.