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Nowhere to Call Home: Abraham Awolich speaks candidly with USCRI about his refugee experience
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| Abraham Talks About Life in a Refugee Camp "The camp was a prison -- a storage place where they kept human beings. We were not allowed to move beyond the camp or find work. Food was always scarce, and I didn't know if I would have my next meal. Yet, what I wanted most was not a bowl of rice -- it was to be with my family again." "We were isolated from the outside world; we did not know if we would ever be free again. Many of us tried to resurrect the lives we had lost to create some sense of normalcy. Yet I didn't know who I was anymore. I thought maybe God did not mean for us to live like human beings." "We didn't always have food. But we had each other." |
Think back to when you were 10 years old. What would you have done if your parents were killed by soldiers, leaving you all alone? Can you imagine having no choice but to flee on foot to seek safety?
Neither could Abraham Awolich, a refugee from Sudan. He is one of five million refugees who have fled the brutal civil war that has plagued the nation for the past 23 years.
Losing all I knew, my family, my home, my village
Abraham was a young child when government soldiers attacked his small village. His parents were killed by the soldiers in the middle of the night. Fearing for his life, he ran along with some of the other boys. They walked for four long months, braving the elements, looming starvation and even hungry lions. All they wanted was a safe haven.
“I was hoping that things get better and we would return home,” said Abraham. “But that never happened.”
They crossed the border to Ethiopia, where guards prevented them from entering the country. “They told us to live here, in the middle of nowhere.”
This spanse of barren land became their home for three years. These hardy boys scrounged for food every day. Many died from the diseases that plagued the camp--measles, mumps, and dysentery. Rebels attacked their camp, chasing them with tanks and armed militia. The boys frantically tried to cross the River Gilo away from the soldiers. Thousands of them drowned, were eaten by crocodiles or were shot.
Abraham and the other surviving children he fled with spent a year trapped in a small area of jungle on the border of Ethiopia and Sudan. Once again under the control of the Sudanese government, they were denied any assistance from relief agencies. Troops attacked their settlement to kill them before they could join the opposition army. Finally they walked to Kenya, to the enormous Kakuma refugee camp.
Kakuma camp is in a vast spanse of desert far away from any from any human settlements. The earth is dusty and inhospitable to living things. Thousands of refugees are warehoused there, many for decades. They are banned from working, often their children unable to attend school. Days drag on; the sense of idleness pushes many refugees into despair.
Hope for a better future
In 2001, Abraham finally escaped the refugee camp to resettle in the United States. He graduated from the University of Vermont, where he earned a BA in anthropology. Abraham received the Havilund medal for academic excellence and was awarded the prestigious Samuel Huntington Public Service Award from the National Grid for his work with the New Sudan Education Initiative, a refugee education program he co-founded.
In 2006, Abraham returned to Sudan for the first time in 17 years. The devastation that he witnessed convinced him that sustainable development is crucial to rebuild Sudan after decades of war.
Abraham asks that you take a moment to remember refugees who are not as fortunate as he. This holiday season, when you are gathered with your family, take a moment to give a refugee child hope.
Sign the Stand with a Refugee pledge today.
Where is Aweil, Sudan?
Click on the map below for an interactive Google map of Aweil, Sudan.
