My Autobiography
by Makwei Mabior
1. How I Ended Up In Kakuma Camp
My name is Makwei Mabioor Deng. I was born on April 10th ,1986 in Kong'or, Jonglei state, Southern Sudan to Mr. and Mrs Mabior Deng. I am the first born. My parents, of Dinka origin, were practicing mixed farming: rearing cattle and cultivating crops. Besides, my father was a catechist and my mother was a member of the Mother Union of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS). Understandably, I was brought up in a happy Christian family.
However; that happiness was cut short abruptly one fateful Sunday morning, in 1992, when our peaceful and armless village was brutally attacked by the Sudan Islamic Government troops- the National Islamic Front(N.IF)-backed up by their state sponsored -militias. The manner in which the village was attacked was indeed terrible and saddening. The troops opened fire indiscriminately on everyone in sight killing innocent children, elderly people, men and women alike. The entire village was set ablaze with all the huts, cattle bomas, churches and grain stores being reduced to mere ashes. The whole village was thrown into a disarray.
I was playing outside the church as this carnage was unfolding. I could see the thick dark smoke of burning huts soaring up into the sky, heard the desperate screaming of frightened women and children, the high- pitched wailing of despair of the wounded, the deafening sound of a gunshot, the battle cry of Allah-Akbar. The acrid smoke from the burning village filled the air. In that killing frenzy, I was horrified by the sheer magnitude of the violence.
Consequently, I was forced to escape that terrible situation at breakneck speed for my own dear life. At that time, people were not running in the order of families, it was everybody for him/her self and God for us all. I was running with my father, step mother and two of my siblings. I had become separated from my mum in the ensuing panic. Since then I had never been in contact with her and my sister until 1996 when she eventually visit us in the camp.
As we were fleeing the fighting, the tedious journey became another problem to me as I was a very little boy because it involves long treks and many other hardships such as mosquito bite, lack of water, scarcity of food, diseases, constant fear from hostile communities and wild animals on the way. As a result, a great number of children and aged people perished on the way due to hunger and exhaustion.
After a couple of months, we arrived in Ame Displaced Camp which was ran by Norwegian People Aid (NPA). In this camp; life was terrible and so we moved to Lobone Displaced Camp. However, Lobone Displaced Camp was attacked by the government troops immediately we reached there and so we raced to Narus at the Kenya-Sudan border. As we were trying to settle in Narus, a nearby town called Kapoeta was captured by government troops. As they were advancing with their heavy aerial bombardment and formidable ground artillery, we were forced to flee towards Kenya. After 2 days, we arrived in Lokichoggio, Kenya and were received by UNHCR as refugees in 1992. Eventually, we were taken to Kakuma Refugee Camp in October, 1992 where we were registered as refugees and issued with ration card. It was in Kakuma that my dad passed away on November 6th 2000 due to kidney complications.
Since then I have been living with my step mother while my biological mother, who had come to pay us a visit in 1996, has been living in Sudan with my sister because life was hard in the camp. She eventually joined us in 2006 but she is now going back on repatriation program.
2.Educational Background
We eventually settled in the camp and I was enrolled in primary school. I completed my primary education in 2000 and won a Jesuit Refugee scholarship for my high school education. But I could not progress with my further studies upon completing my high school due to lack of funds.
Fortunately, I came across the Banaa Scholarship Program. To my amazement I was awarded the scholarship to study in the USA.
I am now hoping to fulfill my long suppressed dream of becoming a lawyer. Wars and conflicts are endemic in Sudan. The general root causes of these endemic problems has been the lack of Justice. Therefore, I want to be a lawyer so as to provide an alternative political area where Sudanese will seek legal redress to their injustice hence they would be able to resolve their sprawling disputes without resorting to wars as a mean of getting their rights, and so attain a meaningful and sustainable peace and development. I what to replace battlefield with courtroom, guns and bullets with legal representation, and open confrontation with negotiation around the table.
3. Importance of Banaa's Mission
I believe to achieve this role thank to Banaa mission which is going to empower me to become an expert peacemaker who will play an important role in the movement to end mass atrocities in Sudan. Moreover, the program is going to provide me with a financial support for my university education, leadership training, fellowship with other talented visionary scholars from through out Sudan and above all, it will offer me an advanced training in conflict resolution through alternative disputes resolution and global advocacy from the world leading peace and development organizations. As a graduate of George Washington University, I envisage myself returning to Sudan with the relevant skills and resources to promote reconciliation, sustainable development and a long lasting peace in the Sudan.
As a marginalized individual who have experienced the horrors of war, the programs will provide me with the right tools to make peace through the empowerment of new peacemakers like me and helping unheard voices of the marginalized find space in the Sudanese political arena where they will inevitable engineer meaningful changes
By so doing, the new empowered peacemakers like me will put an end to the ongoing genocide in Darfur and abort fresh outbreak of war in the south of Sudan.
4. CONCLUSION. Therefore the program will ultimately assist me to be a crucial force for peace building in a country that has been fighting for the best part of its existence.
You can contact Makwei at Makwei.Mabior@banaa.org