Promises to keep: Refugees refuse to forget those they left behind
Dut Aguer Bior,
right, studies with Judith Sluga at Salt Lake Community College in
Taylorsville, Wednesday, May 2, 2012. He came to the United States as a
refugee and is starting a nonprofit organization to put people in his
home country through school.
Ravell Call, Deseret News
Dut Aguer Bior doesn't like to talk about his past.
He doesn't like to remember the night when, as a small boy, he was
separated from his family in Sudan by gunfire, or discuss the 1,000 mile
journey he then made, hungry and barefoot, to a refugee camp in
Ethiopia. When asked about life at the camp, where he spent the rest of
his childhood and adolescence, he clenches his jaw and the light in his
normally sunny brown eyes dims.
"It wasn't nice," he says, after much prodding. Now, he's perched on an aluminum bench on the Salt Lake City Community College campus, long legs stretched out in front of him, dress socks peeking out between the cuff of his pants and slightly scuffed, black shoes. "It was like living in a box with no opportunities. I felt stuck."
Bior, who is in his mid-20s, prefers to focus on how he left all that pain and hopelessness behind. He wants to talk about education.
"Education made my life better," he says. "I want to share that."
To that end, Bior recently founded a nonprofit that provides scholarships to orphaned Africans like himself. His endeavor is a moving story of sacrifice. Despite his own struggles as a poor college student, Bior has been setting aside money for this purpose since he came to the United States as a refugee in 2006. But he is just one of many refugees who reach out to lift their home countries after resettling.
"As a group, refugees are remarkably generous," said Patrick Poulin, executive director of the International Rescue Committee in Salt Lake City. "Economically, refugees often encounter very poor conditions when they come to this country but many still feel compelled to help people who are far less well off overseas."
A path to empathy
Bior donned a cap and gown last weekend and proudly accepted an associate's degree in computer information systems from SLCC. On the other side of the world, at Uganda's Ndejje University, another Sudanese orphan is preparing for graduation, too.
His name is Malaak Ayuen and Bior put him through school.
Ayuen and Bior met in a dusty refugee camp in Kenya when they were both teenagers. The two, who Bior said, "weren't that interested in extracurricular activities," bonded over their love of learning.
"It wasn't nice," he says, after much prodding. Now, he's perched on an aluminum bench on the Salt Lake City Community College campus, long legs stretched out in front of him, dress socks peeking out between the cuff of his pants and slightly scuffed, black shoes. "It was like living in a box with no opportunities. I felt stuck."
Bior, who is in his mid-20s, prefers to focus on how he left all that pain and hopelessness behind. He wants to talk about education.
"Education made my life better," he says. "I want to share that."
To that end, Bior recently founded a nonprofit that provides scholarships to orphaned Africans like himself. His endeavor is a moving story of sacrifice. Despite his own struggles as a poor college student, Bior has been setting aside money for this purpose since he came to the United States as a refugee in 2006. But he is just one of many refugees who reach out to lift their home countries after resettling.
"As a group, refugees are remarkably generous," said Patrick Poulin, executive director of the International Rescue Committee in Salt Lake City. "Economically, refugees often encounter very poor conditions when they come to this country but many still feel compelled to help people who are far less well off overseas."
A path to empathy
Bior donned a cap and gown last weekend and proudly accepted an associate's degree in computer information systems from SLCC. On the other side of the world, at Uganda's Ndejje University, another Sudanese orphan is preparing for graduation, too.
His name is Malaak Ayuen and Bior put him through school.
Ayuen and Bior met in a dusty refugee camp in Kenya when they were both teenagers. The two, who Bior said, "weren't that interested in extracurricular activities," bonded over their love of learning.
Continue reading here for the next two pages with scientific research and the NPO this guy set up: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865555429/Once-takers-now-givers-Refugees-start-nonprofit-organizations-to-help-home-countries.html?pg=1
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