South Sudanese man shares story in hopes of inspiring Nova Scotians

Jacob Deng was born in what is now South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011. But it rapidly dissolved into civil war which has ravaged the region off-and-on for decades.

Deng is known as one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. When his mother and six brothers were murdered, he fled on foot to Ethiopia, braving alligator-infested waters and watching companions die along the way.

Determined to survive and make a better life for himself outside of refugee camps, Deng traded his schoolbag for tobacco, his tobacco for goats, and his goats for education, eventually making his way to Canada as a refugee in 2003.

“I turned that unhappiness to something that will be like a light in me,” said Deng.

Deng, his wife, and their three Canadian-born children settled in Halifax and Deng became a Canadian citizen himself. But he says he could not rest, thinking about the hardships faced by his people in South Sudan.

“Life is not fair. Why all the people here have such life, and we don’t have that life? We were crying for help in the camp.”

Faced with a fierce desire to end the suffering of his people, and a passion to help a nation that has not always been kind to him, Deng made the difficult decision to move back to South Sudan in 2014, leaving his family behind in Halifax.

While he misses his family, some of his efforts in South Sudan have been successful. He has built two vocational schools and is now the minister of information, culture, youth and sport for the state of Jonglei, which includes his home community of Duk Padiet.

“I knew my people were suffering and if you are a leader you have to lead the way,” said Deng. “I still feel like we need to fix what our parents and grandparents messed up. So it’s like a duty and a call to those who never made it.”

Deng shared his story Wednesday with a group of junior high school students – including his own son, whom he hadn’t seen in two years.

While he has already done a great deal, Deng wants to do more for the people of South Sudan, and says he needs the help of Nova Scotians.

“”There’s no better country in the world that can help us with the situation we are in,” Deng told the crowd at Halifax Central Junior High. “Canada is known for peace and nation building.”

Deng says he needs money to continue the work he is doing at his schools in South Sudan, and he needs equipment to help spread information.

“I want to give it a try that every citizen in Jonglei state should know what their government is doing.”

He also hopes people will learn something from his story, and that his own children will come to understand why he made the difficult decision to return to South Sudan.

“If they will know and open their eyes one day, they will see, all the good things we see in the world this day, there is suffering.”

With files from CTV Atlantic's Kayla Hounsell