South Sudan’s Female Literacy Rate Is Just 16%. This Refugee-Turned-Model is Fighting to Change That.

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“My heart and my soul’s mission is really to be a humanitarian,” says Mari Malek, the model, actor, DJ, and founder of the non-profit Stand 4 Education. Malek grew up in war-torn South Sudan and came to the United States as a refugee. Now, she uses her profile to raise money to build schools and advocate for girls in her native country, and around the world.

Tall and lithe, with jutting cheekbones, luminous skin, and expressive features, Malek was scouted several times in her teens, but she waited until she was 22 before she started modeling in New York City. At first, she encountered racism. When rejecting her, some agencies said she didn’t have a “sellable look,” or told her, “We already have a black girl.” Before Malek hit it big and started shooting with photographers like Steven Meisel, she was sometimes turned away at castings with a cursory, “No black girls.”

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“Being the dark skin that I am, I went through so many uncomfortable moments,” says Malek, reclining on a couch at the Long Island City studio where she is working on this hot summer day. “I had to break a lot of doors open. Long story short, representation matters, and just because someone says that something doesn't sell, doesn’t mean it’s the truth.”

"We're facing the worst migrant and refugee crisis in the world right now."

Growing up during the long Sudanese civil war, which eventually resulted in South Sudan gaining its independence in 2011, Malek never saw fashion magazines or luxury goods, but she recognized that modeling could be a path to self-sufficiency, and to a platform. “Modeling was a blessing, a chance for me to put my country on the map, and to tell the stories of the women and children that need help,” she says. “And the main thing that we need is education.”

That conviction is what led Malek to found her charity. In the last year of the Obama administration, she was highlighted for her humanitarian work at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and met the Obamas at a small party. “I got to speak with Michelle about girls’ empowerment, because she has that initiative called Let Girls Learn,” Malek recalls, beaming.

Malek was born into a family of around 20 children in present-day South Sudan. Her father was a politician, and her mother, one of four wives, was a nurse. As the fighting worsened, Malek’s mother opened their home to displaced people fleeing the violence and destruction. At one point, militants invaded the family home and abducted her father. When Malek was eight, her mother escaped to Egypt with her and her two younger sisters. There, they lived in a refugee camp while their asylum claims were processed. Finally, in 1997, Malek’s family was allowed to come to the United States. The family initially settled in Newark, New Jersey before moving to San Diego to be with relatives. There, Malek finished high school and went on to college.

Decades of civil war has left South Sudan with a population that is disproportionately young — the country’s median age is just 17.3 — and female. But, says Malek, women and girls aren’t accorded equal respect or opportunity.

"Girls are not prioritized for education, or for just growing and finding themselves."

“The minute a girl menstruates, she's defined as a woman, and gets married off,” she says. Marriage usually means the end of a girl’s education, one reason why South Sudan has an adult female literacy rate of just 16%. “The greatest challenge we’re facing today in South Sudan is the dis-empowerment of women,” says Malek.

It’s this inequality that she wants most to address through Stand 4 Education. In addition to building schools, the organization pursues a larger mission of peace-building, providing life skills programs and menstrual health care. Malek says she also values art education, partly because she’s seen its impact on her own life. “Art for me has been therapy, especially as someone who has faced trauma and war,” she explains.

Modeling led Malek first to music — she deejays under the name DJ Stiletto — and then to acting, which she finds liberating. She earned rave reviews for her performance in the 2017 Swedish indie thriller The Nile Hilton Incident, which was awarded the Grand Jury Prize for a world cinema drama at Sundance. In the film, Malek plays Saleh, a Sudanese refugee living in Egypt who is working as a hotel maid when she witnesses a political assassination and gets sucked into a web of intrigue.

Malek has several upcoming film projects that she’s not yet ready to talk about publicly. Ultimately, she sees acting as a way to fulfill what she feels is her responsibility to be a voice for the voiceless. “I wanna tell our stories,” she says. “Storytelling is powerful.”

Styled by Marina Munoz, Hair by Nicolas Eldin, Makeup by Tracy