Children at Campbell’s Point get life lessons

SACKETS HARBOR — Children sat on wood benches, entranced by a South Sudanese man who stood in front of them recalling heartbreaking stories of his childhood and how those trying times shaped his life and enabled him to “move mountains.”

After spending years in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, Gabriel Bol Deng came to America in 2001 with other refugees dubbed the “Lost Boys” of Sudan. His experiences with escaping North Sudanese attacks, fighting hunger and illness and the loss of his family were all tests of faith and courage that taught him to face his problems head on. Mr. Bol Deng attended Onondaga Community College and received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics education and philosophy from LeMoyne College, Syracuse.

In 2007, he established a nonprofit organization, HOPE for Ariang: Helping Offer Primary Education for Sudan. The organization’s mission is to provide educational opportunities and health services to Sudanese people adversely affected by political turmoil in Sudan.

Mr. Bol Deng’s mission would not have been possible, he said, without his life experiences and the wisdom instilled in him by his parents, who were taken from him at an early age.

His childhood was taken from him at age 10. Living in a war-stricken country, his parents always told him in the face of mountain, make good decisions and that mountain will move.

“My father said if I had hope I could move Mount Kilamanjaro,” Mr. Bol Deng said. “I didn’t understand, so I told my parents that they were crazy. But I came to understand what they meant.”

One day, North Sudanese Arab militiamen led a violent attack on his village in South Sudan. Mr. Bol Deng was not in the village when the attack began; he was tending to his family’s cows.

“I heard a gunshot. I got up and looked around I saw four bad militia men who had guns with them. So what I did, I remembered what my dad told me, always make good decisions, so I ducked down and covered myself with grass so they could not see me. They were a distant away and I knew that from where I was they may not be able to see me or be able to shoot me so I ran home.”

As he ran back to his village, he said, he saw heavy smoke and flames. At age 10, he did not understand the magnitude of what was unfolding. A man stopped him and told him there was no more village.

The man picked Gabriel up and began to run away from the fighting.

“As soon as he started running he was shot dead and he fell to the ground,” Mr. Bol Deng said. “The bullets narrowly missed me on either side and this is where I think that my parents’ education is very important because my dad told me when I have problem I need to always make good decision so I made good decision to play dead. I closed my eyes and I held my breath pretending that I was shot. That was the only the way I could survive.”

As an adult, Mr. Bol Deng shares his stories with children and adults all over the state and throughout the U.S. He raises awareness and tries to gain support for the HOPE for Ariang project. There is one school built already and there are plans for more, but Mr. Bol Deng said the second school will be built when the first one can sustain itself. That’s why he is reaching out for help.

To build a school, fill it with modest school furniture and find teachers cost about $250,000. To sustain the school for a year, he said, about $150,000 is needed. Mr. Bol Deng said it is important to wait until the first school can sustain itself financially until more are built.

Philip R. Brady, 10, was compelled to action after hearing Mr. Bol Deng speak to his class at Wellwod Elementary, Fayetteville. He wanted others to hear his story, so Philip and his mother, Jennifer L., invited Mr. Bol Deng to Campbell’s Point, a small, summer community south of the village.

“We have so many good things that Gabe never got to experience as a child,” Philip said. “We have so many treats he never had and his journey, I could never imagine going through what he had to go through.”

Philip, his mother and other children made welcome signs and decorated the neighborhood’s meeting house. To the children, Mr. Bol Deng was a celebrity and they flocked to him excited with his presence.

Aiden Jones, 11, said he will take Mr. Bol Deng’s message back with him to Albany.

“I’d like to continue to help them until they are a strong and independent country,” he said. “I thought it was really great to hear him. He taught me why it is important to have courage and to make good decisions. And to listen to your parents.”

Mr. Bol Deng said it’s important for people to hear his message and hopes that one day someone may recall his words and be helped through a challenge of their own.

“I want people, children to remember my words,” he said. “I want to tell kids to listen to their parents. When they have their own mountains, their own problems, maybe they will hear me one day. For me when I see young children, minds so engaged, minds so caring about what is going on in other parts of the world it gives me hope one day that our world will be a better place.”