South Sudanese basketball player Wenyen Gabriel becomes new UN goodwill ambassador

Basketball player Wenyen Gabriel has become UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador (Photo: UNHCR)

Professional basketball player Wenyen Gabriel became a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) at the end of July. Born in Sudan, having lived as a refugee in Egypt and then the United States, he intends to use his image and voice to raise awareness of the situation of refugees. He spoke to InfoMigrants about this mission and his story.

Wenyen Gabriel was presented as the first professional basketball player to be named a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva, Switzerland on July 26 this year. A first and a source of pride for this basketball player whose story is quite unlike any other.

Born in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, Wenyen quickly became a refugee, alongside his parents, in a camp in Egypt before eventually gaining a resettlement transfer to the United States.

Wenyen Gabriel in the village of Maban, Sudan | Photo: UNHCR

His parents, who fled South Sudan for Khartoum during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005), were displaced to a refugee camp in Cairo, Egypt, before flying to the United States as part of a resettlement program.

It was in his adopted country that he discovered basketball alongside other migrants. Growing up with young people from diverse backgrounds sparked in him a desire to know where he came from. "We shared the experience of war and exile. Discovering my friends' cultures made me want to learn more about my country of origin. Even today, they are people I see often."

"My first name means 'Wipe your tears' in my native language." Wenyen carries a part of his story in his name: "My first name, which means 'Wipe your tears' in Dinka, my native language, is a tribute to my sister who died shortly before I was born."

While the earliest years of his life were marked by civil war and exile in Egypt, Wenyen discovered America at the age of two—thanks to a UN program that moved his family from a displaced persons camp in Cairo.

His family's journey hasn't been easy: "In Egypt, we faced discrimination and racism because of our skin color and the fact that we were Christians in a Muslim country. And this discrimination continued in the United States, where I was sometimes mocked and discriminated against because I was African. But I learned to love who I am. And I want those who look like me to be just as proud of who they are and where they come from, hence my new role as an ambassador."

'My parents taught me the values ​​of hard work and perseverance'

The young man, who stands two meters tall, recounts his first memories on American soil: "My parents had to work very hard to allow us to live decently when we arrived in the United States, and they taught me the values ​​of hard work and perseverance that have stayed with me throughout my career."

His career, in fact, began in Manchester, Hampshire. As part of a refugee admissions program, the city welcomed communities fleeing war for many years. Discovering basketball and sports in general, Wenyen made friends, including other migrants: South Sudanese, but also Congolese, Liberians and Iraqis.

Wenyen Gabriel carrying five-year-old Saif on his shoulder in the Doro refugee camp, South Sudan | Photo: UNHCR

Initially, basketball was just another game for Wenyen, who recalls, with a smile, his father's words: "The priority is work," he used to tell me. When I saw him and my mother doing so many chores to make sure we had everything we needed at home, my goal was to ensure their efforts weren't in vain.

Very quickly, he was considered one of the best prospects of his generation in basketball and in 2016 joined the University of Kentucky, one of the most prestigious programs in American college basketball.

He managed to make a name for himself in the NBA, the American professional basketball league, and played for several clubs, including the Brooklyn Nets, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Memphis Grizzlies. He also had stints in Puerto Rico, Israel, Greece, Germany, and Turkey, where he recently signed with Besiktas.

'Everyone was screaming with joy' 

Despite acquiring American citizenship, he decided to play for his country of birth, South Sudan, and went on to write one of the most glorious chapters in the national team's history: the country's first-ever World Cup victory in their debut appearance in 2023, and an unprecedented qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

A breath of fresh air for the Sudanese people, a particularly powerful moment of pride that resonated deeply with the young man.

"When I was young, my father was a member of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. One day, we were returning by bus from a meeting with other members of the movement, and we learned of the end of Sudan’s Second Civil War (in 2005). Everyone was shouting with joy and hugging each other. I was very young and didn’t understand everything that was happening, but I felt an enormous amount of emotion and pride. Even though the peace didn’t last long, it’s this kind of moment that I would like to share with my fellow citizens, also through sport."

'Raising global awareness about the situation of these refugees'

Alongside his successful career, Wenyen traveled to South Sudan in 2022, in collaboration with the UNHCR. He describes it as an "emotionally rich" trip, which he shared with his mother and which "opened his eyes" to the living conditions of the local communities. It came as an "obvious" choice for him to accept this role as ambassador, in order to "raise global awareness about the situation of these refugees."

In the Doro refugee camp in South Sudan, Wenyen Gabriel met women who shared their stories | Photo: UNHCR

But what does this role as a goodwill ambassador mean in concrete terms for the basketball player? It's a springboard to amplify the voices of people affected by conflict in their country. "In Sudan, when children came to talk to me, they told me they wanted to become scientists, doctors, or engineers. But how can they achieve these dreams without the necessary resources? I don't want Sudanese people and these children to be talked about as mere statistics; I want them to be seen as human beings."

Wenyen, who also wants to demonstrate that sport is a universal language, inaugurated a basketball court in the village of Maban, South Sudan. Several refugee camps have been established there, including the Doro camp where Wenyen met displaced families.

One day, he met a mother whose story deeply moved him. "She was constantly fleeing bombs and violence with her eight-year-old daughter. She explained to me that now, all she wanted was to sleep peacefully, without the constant fear of drones overhead. Her story resonated with my own."

Today, many Sudanese continue to flee the war — which resumed in 2023 — and attempt to reach Europe, despite the harsh conditions they face. Wenyen hopes to inspire them to believe in a better future and wants to offer them his support.

"I want them to keep hope alive, to see their country emerge from the war first, and for their situation to improve. Whether in France, in Paris, or elsewhere, I want my story to serve as an example and a reason for hope: there is light at the end of the tunnel. My dream is that future generations will know something other than war and that one day we will only speak of it as a bad and distant memory."

Source: https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/73033/dont-view-my-people-as-just-numbers-south-sudanese-basketball-player-wenyen-gabriel-becomes-new-un-goodwill-ambassador