ARVADA, Colo. — An Arvada nonprofit is raising funds to help educate refugees in Africa. Seeds of South Sudan educates and relocates refugee children seeking a better life.
Sunday, the group is holding a luncheon at Montview Church featuring a South Sudanese refugee who graduated from high school due to their program.
Amach Kongor spent the first six years of her life in South Sudan but was sent to Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya as war escalated in her home country. Kongor spent two years at the camp, only eating one meal a day and struggling to learn in a limited classroom.
"It wasn't a guarantee that you'd have a meal," said Kongor. "They were shared meals, so if you were late, you'd miss the meals.”
Arok Garang, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, founded the nonprofit. Garang moved to Colorado from a refugee camp and graduated from the University of Colorado at Denver with an economics degree. Garang now finds refugee children in camps and helps secure funding for them to leave the camps and go to school.
Kongor was one of the lucky ones.
"It was the best day of my life," said Kongor.
In 2008, the nonprofit selected Kongor to be relocated to Roots Academy in Nakuru, Kenya. Kongor spent the next eight years at the academy, where she graduated high school.
Seeds of South Sudan has seen success with its education program. The nonprofit has educated 179 refugees since 2009; 65 have graduated high school, and five are college graduates.
"I am lucky," said Kongor. "Those were eight good years compared to the ones I spent in South Sudan and Kakuma.”
South Sudan is still recovering from decades of civil war. The country has faced food shortages, flooding and disease. Although she feels blessed to have escaped, Kongor said her family didn't leave South Sudan unscathed.
"My mom had eight kids, and five of them died," said Kongor.
Disease and famine took five of Kongor's siblings. The war claimed the life of her father and also injured her sister, who was shot in the leg.
Kongor recalled that her mother used to tell her to "play dead" at night if she heard gunshots since any noise could lead to her death.
“If someone is shot right beside you, you will just lay there pretending that you have been shot," said Kongor.
At the end of 2023, Kongor received what she describes as the best news of her life: Kongor, her mother, and her sister were approved to move to the United States.
The family now resides in New Haven, Connecticut. Kongor is working at a beauty store to support her mother and sister, who has a disability due to her gunshot wound.
Kongor's dream is to graduate from nursing school and help more refugees find a home in America.
"I will give back to my society," said Kongor. "Those who are back home are going to get lucky, too, just like me.”
Seeds of South Sudan is a part of the Colorado Gives Foundation. You can help more refugees like Kongor by donating here.
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