By: Stephanie Turaj
Posted In: News
Photo credit: Josh T. Reynolds, USA Today
Aduei Riak
Aduei Riak survived the genocide in southern Sudan and traveled at 16 years old from her war torn country to the United States. Riak’s most recent travel, however, was to the Antone Academic Center Thursday Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. where the 24-year-old gave a public speech about her experiences.
S.T.A.N.D. (Students Take Action Against Darfur) sponsored the event. S.T.A.N.D. is a recently started group on campus. Students and members of the community filled the Antone Lecture Hall to listen to Riak’s story, with which she began by saying “Salaam,” the Arabic word for hello and goodbye.
Riak’s tale commences a year before her birth. In 1984 a civil war erupted in Sudan. According to Riak, two and a half million people died in the south. “I am a survivor of the first wave of genocide that people don’t know that much about,” Riak said.
Riak was born in southern Sudan, but by age three, Riak traveled from country to country in search of refuge. Riak fled to Ethiopia with her mother and five siblings. “My dad was not with us,” Riak said. “He was fighting for our freedom, whatever that means. I didn’t even know my dad.”
By the 1990s Ethiopia had its own problems, and its refugees, who were supposed to be under United Nation protection, were expelled. Riak was six years old. “My mother took me to a playground, handed me a red lunchbox and told me to take care of myself,” Riak said. “[After that], I could not find my family.”
Raik became a “lost child of Sudan.” Riak had to walk back to Sudan, which took months. Often there was no food and little rain. When it did rain, it was a horrible downpour. Along the way, Riak said she lost a lot of friends.
Riak had to grow up and become an adult. “Being six years old and having no parents was the scariest thing,” Riak said.
Riak paused for a moment in her story and said, “I am thinking of the kids in Darfur right now and what they are going through.”
When the refugees made it to Chad, they were greeted with bombing. Bombing took place three times a day. Riak lived in constant terror. “Being a kid, that was my life,” Riak said. “If I survived, I waited until six in the morning for food. If I survived that day, I would wait until six in the morning again.”
Eventually Riak made it to the Kakuma refugee camp. By this time, Riak was eight years old and had spent two years wandering around. According to Riak, half of the population was young, and under 10 years old. “There was no food to eat,” Riak said. “I ate a meal that could qualify for a snack once a day. You just had to know how to survive.”
Riak turned 16 at the camp. Around this time, President Bill Clinton struck a deal with the Sudanese government. The U.S. government would pay for 4,000 children to come over to the United States and restart their lives. “I was lucky enough to be of the 4,000 chosen, and one of only 89 girls,” Riak said. “The rest chosen were young men.”
Riak did not speak English. Although she tried to teach herself at the camp, there were no pens, books nor trained teachers. Riak wrote her ABC’s on the sand and hoped it wouldn’t rain. “[In Sudan], my primary focus was to survive,” Riak said. “The second was to find my family. Third was education.”
Riak moved to Belmont, Mass. and was placed in foster care at 16. To Riak, everything was so strange. Riak learned English by watching children shows such as Arthur and Sesame Street. She struggled in Belmont High School, but managed to graduate high school and continued on to graduate from Brandeis University. “I know how I did it,” Riak said. “It was because of the generosity of the American people. I got everyone interested in helping me.”
After graduating college in 2007, Riak took a job at a law firm. She also returned to Sudan in 2006. She is forming an organization called Girls International and hopes to build a girls’ school in Sudan. “College doesn’t exist [there],” Riak said. “That for me is unacceptable. There are young kids that said to me ‘I wanna be a doctor’. I wonder about the chances of them even going to middle school.”
Riak feels she has one foot in Africa and one foot in America. “I want focus on my future but at same time my future is not so important,” Riak said. “[It’s all about] sharing your blessings.”
Riak encourages those who wish to help to donate to organizations that have reputations of going into the country and doing something, such as ‘Doctors Without Borders.’ One should also call politicians and push for aid in Darfur.
She also encouraged the audience to further their knowledge and research. “Darfur is something that is our concern as a human family,” Riak said. “What affects our sisters and brothers affect us here. These are just regular human beings unfortunate to be in a country that doesn’t care.”
