He recently visited camps holding more than 260,000 refugees from new conflicts in Sudan’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile states. Guor Marial says that, during the time, he re-lived his own experiences as people told him of always being on the run.
He says many young refugees are being pushed into early adulthood because of war and military service. Or they are being left with nowhere to go and nothing to do.
“Girls are facing early marriage and boys as well are facing early marriage, and also recruitment from outsiders in terms of taking them back to the military. And some of them are just sitting there (with) no education. They came from Arabic-speaking and came from Arabic schools. But here it’s very hard for them as they want to change to English.”
Marial lost 28 family members to war and neglect. He says his heroes are Ethiopian runner Gabriel Selassie and Kenyan Peter Target. But he says his own ability to run came from his father. Even in his old age, the father still walks 100 kilometers between villages.
Guor Marial was taken from his family at age eight. He says returning to his home village and to his parents was an especially emotional experience.
“My dad was jumping around. My dad was singing, my mum, my other sibling, and just very happy in the end.”
He hopes other refugees will share similar reunions with their loved ones. His rural village in South Sudan’s Unity State still bears the evidence of so much war in a poorly developed nation. The nearest place to get water is more than 10 kilometers away, and the houses are made of mud and bricks.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25