Lets think for a minute and ponder back on the past four years. What have you done? Where have you gone? Maybe you started a band or went on an amazing trip. Me personally, I graduated high school and college. Traveled to Egypt, London, Peru, Chicago, even photographed fashion week in Paris in the beautiful Louvre. Boy has it been amazing and I have loved every minute of it. I’m a very lucky person to have been able to do all that. But I’m sure you’re wondering why am I ranting about my amazing past four years. Well I want to tell you a little bit about my friend and someone who inspires me to the fullest. His name is Nyuol Tong he was born in southern Sudan. Like most children in Africa he loved soccer and did most things kids did. The only difference was that government armed militiamen would raid his town, stealing cows, raping women, and killing the men. Finally after years of this, Nyuol and his family moved to refugee camps which was not much better because of the extreme discrimination and poverty. In 2003 he fled with his family to Cairo, Egypt. Now this story is sad and could be taken as a negative take on things but this is where the past four years thought comes in. In 2006, with the help of a professor at the American University in Cairo, Nyuol was granted a student visa to the states to attend the Dunn school which is just off the 154. So great he got out right. Well his story doesn’t end there he went on to start his own non-Profit organization called SELF standing for The Sudan Education for Liberty Foundation, aiming to build schools in southern Sudan and to educate the youth of Sudan so that the wars and genocide will not repeat themselves over and over after every generation. You see through what Nyuol has seen and experienced through his and life and what he has learned in his education, he is using to make this world we live in a better place. He has worked with many people in our community to help the awareness and raise money. This June he will be going to Sudan to start up a school. And after 4 years beginning in Africa and being a part of our community for a while now he is leaving soon, he is about to graduate Dunn School and will be attending Duke University on a full ride next to further his education and continue with SELF. Nyuol asked me to come with him to photograph in Sudan, I can not go this trip but hopefully next trip and when I do, I will share photos of this great journey. I am proud to call Nyuol my friend and sad to see him leave. But he is an inspiration to me and to all of us, to know that in four years you can begin to change the world and to learn from your past and make that negative experience a beautiful positive future, he is honestly a living hero in my eyes.
to Learn more about Nyuol Tong and SELF go to http://www.selfsudan.org/
Only 2% of boys and less than 1% of girls complete primary school in South Sudan.
Here is a photo I shot of Nyuol last weekend at the Pangaea Festival at SBCC
“Let us, for the sake of humanity and for preservation of human life and dignity, overcome our prejudices and understand our differences.” – From “Our Story” speech, University of California Santa Barbara, 2009.
“I’ve learned through my personal struggles in my country that education is the only weapon that can bring lasting peace, not only in Sudan but also in conflict zones around the world. Education is power and only by harnessing this power can we change the world and insure a future of peace and not bloodshed.” – From ” A Refugee’s Journey” speech, Duke University, 2009.
And thank you to Nyuol for allowing me to share his story.
-James
