Having completed his school education within a refugee camp, Machar is hoping for the opportunity to study for a BA degree course in Business Administration at Nairobi University. This is his story:

"I was born in 1982 in the Upper Nile region of Southern Sudan. When I was 5 my father left to fight for the SPLA, and 2 years later I was recruited myself as a child soldier. There was nothing my mother could do to stop it, so she decided to come with me to Ethiopia where we were camped and trained for 6 months. There was no food and we survived on wild fruits which she used to bring to us. In 1990 our camp was attacked by the government of Sudan and thousands of people died. I remember it was around 2.00pm, my mother went to collect water when the bombardment started. She tried to run to where me and my brothers were but she didn’t make it and that was the last time I saw her. A few months later we were moved to a war zone and I left my brothers with my uncle who managed to take them back home. We were involved in many battles and I lost all of my best friends, and I myself survived with an injured leg.

In 1999, UNICEF launched a child demobilisation programme. I was among the lucky boys who were demobilized, enrolled in a counselling programme and later dispersed. I was considering going back to the army because I was in an area where I knew nobody, but instead I requested to go to Kakuma Refugee Camp to pursue my education. My request was accepted and I completed my primary and secondary education in Kakuma.

I want to do the University course because it will teach me Law, business communication, accounting and finance, information communication and technology as well as the principles of integrity within organisations. If successful, I want to work with an NGO so that I will have a chance of pressuring the Sudanese government to care for all its citizens including the disabled, providing them with food, education and job opportunities."

If you are interested sponsoring Machar and would like more information, please contact
ruth@gua-africa.org