Sudanese man heads home with a mission
He hopes to help rebuild a village
By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff December 29, 2006
Answering a challenge from village elders to help rebuild his native village in southern Sudan, Machar Nai will leave Boston on Sunday and travel to his homeland, bringing with him several thousand dollars and fresh ideas.
"I will go to the elders . . . they will decide where to best use the money," Nai said in an interview.
The funds could go toward equipment and supplies for the local medical clinic or school, said Nai, who became a US citizen in the fall and who lives in Somerville.
About $2,500 was raised by nurses and other staff at Brigham and Women's Hospital, where Nai, now in his 20s, works as a patient care assistant . Nurses learned that Nai was one of about 3,600 boys, known as the Lost Boys of Sudan, brought to the United States in 2001 after enduring hardships caused by a 1987 civil war.
Mary Lou Moore , a nurse administrator at the hospital, hired Nai in 2002. "In the interview, he sort of took me back gradually to what he had gone through, and I was amazed, enough to know that he has incredible courage and passion. We can teach skills, but can't give them hearts, and Machar has a very caring heart."
Five days a week, Nai works from 4 a.m. to 10 a.m. as a bus driver in Woburn and then from 3 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. at the hospital. He says he has postponed his educational aspirations.
This way, he said, he can serve as a pipeline of income for his family and his village. Last year, he pooled his money with other Lost Boys to buy the village a grain-grinding machine.
It will take Nai almost five days to travel to Kolnyang , the small dusty village where he was born, and which he fled with hundreds of other male youths almost 19 years ago.
The hopes of the village, if not much of the southern region of the country, rests on the shoulders of men like Nai.
The civil war dispersed about 20,000 children from their villages. As refugees, Nai and the other children endured hunger, disease, and predatory animals on a 1,000-mile walk that ended at a UN camp in Kenya. Nai does not know his age, but believes he was about 8 when he fled.
When Nai returned in 2004 he reunited with his family, and saw the scars left on his village by the strife. He visited the hospital clinic and saw it had no electricity or basic supplies and that patients were jammed into small rooms.
The school lacked supplies and equipment. Nai said those images, along with the challenge from the elders, compelled him to return.
"It's a very big responsibility and I feel the pressure," said Nai, who will spend 11 weeks in Sudan, mostly in his village.
"Being here, I'm able to help my family, but what about all the other families that are there who don't have someone in my situation?" Nai said.
"Because of that, because I have the opportunity to make a difference, I will do it," he added.
He hopes to help rebuild a village
By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff December 29, 2006
Answering a challenge from village elders to help rebuild his native village in southern Sudan, Machar Nai will leave Boston on Sunday and travel to his homeland, bringing with him several thousand dollars and fresh ideas.
"I will go to the elders . . . they will decide where to best use the money," Nai said in an interview.
The funds could go toward equipment and supplies for the local medical clinic or school, said Nai, who became a US citizen in the fall and who lives in Somerville.
About $2,500 was raised by nurses and other staff at Brigham and Women's Hospital, where Nai, now in his 20s, works as a patient care assistant . Nurses learned that Nai was one of about 3,600 boys, known as the Lost Boys of Sudan, brought to the United States in 2001 after enduring hardships caused by a 1987 civil war.
Mary Lou Moore , a nurse administrator at the hospital, hired Nai in 2002. "In the interview, he sort of took me back gradually to what he had gone through, and I was amazed, enough to know that he has incredible courage and passion. We can teach skills, but can't give them hearts, and Machar has a very caring heart."
Five days a week, Nai works from 4 a.m. to 10 a.m. as a bus driver in Woburn and then from 3 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. at the hospital. He says he has postponed his educational aspirations.
This way, he said, he can serve as a pipeline of income for his family and his village. Last year, he pooled his money with other Lost Boys to buy the village a grain-grinding machine.
It will take Nai almost five days to travel to Kolnyang , the small dusty village where he was born, and which he fled with hundreds of other male youths almost 19 years ago.
The hopes of the village, if not much of the southern region of the country, rests on the shoulders of men like Nai.
The civil war dispersed about 20,000 children from their villages. As refugees, Nai and the other children endured hunger, disease, and predatory animals on a 1,000-mile walk that ended at a UN camp in Kenya. Nai does not know his age, but believes he was about 8 when he fled.
When Nai returned in 2004 he reunited with his family, and saw the scars left on his village by the strife. He visited the hospital clinic and saw it had no electricity or basic supplies and that patients were jammed into small rooms.
The school lacked supplies and equipment. Nai said those images, along with the challenge from the elders, compelled him to return.
"It's a very big responsibility and I feel the pressure," said Nai, who will spend 11 weeks in Sudan, mostly in his village.
"Being here, I'm able to help my family, but what about all the other families that are there who don't have someone in my situation?" Nai said.
"Because of that, because I have the opportunity to make a difference, I will do it," he added.
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