Deng Jongkuch, a senior majoring in health science at San Jose State University, left Sudan in 2001.

Sudanese refugee makes new life at SJSU

By: Eric Zimmerling

Posted: 2/15/07

Deng Jongkuch, a senior majoring in health science at San Jose State University, saw his family for the first time in 18 years last May.

In 1987, rebel militia killed thousands of men, women and children and burned villages as civil war broke out in Sudan. Jongkuch said he and thousands of others were forced out of their village in southern Sudan and he was not given a chance to say goodbye to his parents, two sisters and two brothers.

Jongkuch began an unbelievable journey that would eventually bring him to SJSU where he is taking four classes and expected to graduate in December 2007.
Forced from his village in Sudan at age six or seven, an age Jongkuch estimates because he has no record of his exact date of birth, a group of nearly 4,000 Sudanese refugees started a grueling three-week trek toward Ethiopia, where he would live for the next four years.

"I was glad we made it," Jongkuch said. "Fortunately the people in Ethiopia were friendly and we were able to stay for a while."

He said that changed in 1991 when the Ethiopian government was taken over by Ethiopian rebels.

"Once Ethiopian rebels took over the Ethiopian government it became even worse than it was before," Jongkuch said. "You were always looking over your back, but when the government was overtaken by rebels it became really dangerous. The Ethiopian government became friendly with Sudan rebels and we knew we wouldn't survive so we had to move."

In late 1991, Jongkuch said he was one of nearly 5,000 people that began a barefoot, yearlong walk from his village in Ethiopia to Kenya.

"It was not easy," Jongkuch said. "It was a lot of pain, a lot of frustration. I saw so many people commit suicide because they did not want to go on. I would not eat for days. There was no water. We would eat anything we could; it was just a matter of surviving. If we were lucky, the Red Cross would drop food for us but the danger of militia rebels made it almost impossible for them to do so."

Jongkuch said that in addition to dodging gunfire from rebels, alligators and lions were killing his people and the sight of vultures eating dead human carcasses was common.

Jongkuch finally made it to Kakumu, a refugee camp several miles from the border of Kenya nearly a year later in 1992 where he would try and make a life for himself over the next nine years.

Jongkuch attended school from first-grade all the way through high school with virtually no supplies available in the poverty stricken country of Kenya.

"Ten students would share one book," Jongkuch said. "Notebooks were cut in half and shared. We would only have pencils if we had received some from the United Nations."

While living in Kenya, Jongkuch met his cousin Panther Ajak Mayem. Even with Jongkuch's hard work in school and discovery of his cousin Panther, Jongkuch said Kenya was a very difficult place to live.

"Living in Kenya was real tough. It is desert, you can't see a green leaf anywhere. The dust blows all day long so you needed to put clothes on your face so that you can breathe. Cars needed headlights during the day, but all of this was not as dangerous as the threat of rebel militia killing me¬ - because if they see me, they're going to kill me."

Jongkuch said he and the people in his village would receive food from the United Nations every two weeks while in Kenya, yet it only lasted a week if they were lucky.

"Me, Panther and five others would form a seven-person group and share our food so that it would last longer," said Jongkuch.

Jongkuch said his life changed drastically in 2001 when he caught a break from the The United Nations High Commission for Refugees. Jongkuch said the UNHCR, in cooperation with the United States, offered 16,000 refugees an opportunity to come to the United States. They were to be interviewed on educational skills, personality trait, and goals in the future.

He said a process of eight interviews was held at numerous refugee camps in Kenya. Jongkuch was one of 4,000 people that passed the interviews and was allowed to come to the United States with very strict regulations placed upon him.

Jongkuch said the US government would provide food stamps, free medical benefits and rent money for his first four months in the United States ¬- after that he was on his own.

"It was really hard," Jongkuch said. "You come here and you don't know the language or the culture, and you're expected to get a job and support yourself in four months."

Even with the strict regulations, Jongkuch said it was a decision that was very easy to make.

Jongkuch said he arrived in San Jose in 2001 with three other refugees of Sudan that were living in Kenya. Jongkuch found a job at Pottery Barn Kids after a couple months and a few months later starting working the graveyard shift at a security company.

Jongkuch said he was able to attend De Anza College in Cupertino with the help of financial aid where he graduated with an associate degree in 2005. Later that year, Jongkuch said he became a Spartan at SJSU where he majors in health science.

Jongkuch said he wanted to major in health science because he could help a lot of people.

"In my mind, when I was younger I knew I wanted to work with people and patients in hospitals," Jongkuch said. "I want to inform people on how to stay healthy. I saw so many people die because they did not know how to help themselves through medicine and other ways. I learned a lot of survival techniques along the way that I can help teach others."

Last year, while attending SJSU, Jongkuch spoke with several professors and classes in the health science department and was able to raise more than $4,000. Jongkuch said he used the money to purchase a grinding mill for his family and others in his village in Sudan.

Michael Wright, senior health science major, said Jongkuch's story impacted him.

"The man is incredible," Wright said. "He came to our class and told his story last semester and it is something that sounds like a movie ¬- it didn't sound real. I was happy to help him and his family in any way I could so I gave a small donation."

Jongkuch said that providing a grinding mill would provide much larger quantities of grain in less time while also giving girls of his village an opportunity to attend school. He said girls do not attend school in his native village in Sudan because it is their job to grind grain for up to 14 hours a day.

Getting the grinding mill to his village would be another problem.

Jongkuch said he took advantage of an opportunity last May to return home onboard a cargo plane to his still very dangerous village in Sudan.

After arriving in Sudan, Jongkuch had to walk to his village because the roads that would have led him were too ridden with land mines.

"Being on board a cargo plane was bad, but not as bad as the walk back to the village," Jongkuch said. "There were no seats on the plane so I was flying back and forth along with heavy boxes, but that's easy when walking nine hours through knee-high mud from rain and through dangerous territory still laced with rebels."

Due to the mines on the roads and heavy mud, Jongkuch could not transport his grinding mill by car; instead he said he was forced to pay the owner of a steamboat a large sum of money to transport it for him down the Nile River to his village.

Jongkuch said he began his grueling walk and nine hours later Jongkuch finally made it to his village - the same place he saw on fire and full of militia rebels 18 years earlier.

Jongkuch walked into a sad village mourning the loss of Jongkuch's grandmother the day before.

"It was sad when I got there," Jongkuch said. "But once I said, 'Hey it's me Deng, I'm back.' Everybody was so happy. My mother cried, she cried a lot. It was very emotional. There were two heavy emotions going through the village and ironic for me because I could have seen my grandmother if I came one day earlier."

Jongkuch reconnected with his family for the first time in 18 years. His parents, two sisters, and one brother were there to greet him. His other brother has not been seen in years.

Jongkuch's sisters would now be able to attend school as the grinding mill arrived a couple days after Jongkuch.

He returned to the U.S. three months later in August 2006 and is now trying to raise $8,000 for medical supplies that would support more than a hundred people. The money would be spent on various medical needs and would include new beds, an X-ray machine and medical chairs.

Gabrielle DeMars, a junior majoring in business said she watched a "60 Minutes" special on the "Lost Boys of Sudan," a term that follows men like Jongkuch.

"The way that these refugees lived is something that nobody deserves," said DeMars. "It gives a whole new meaning to the word survivor."

Jongkuch is currently working 40 hours per week at his job and fundraising for his village in Sudan through lectures to classes at SJSU. He sleeps only four hours a day - and doing it all without a car. Jongkuch said he is very content with his tough schedule.

"I love it," Jongkuch said. "I am very fortunate, very very fortunate. Anything is better than my past experience. A lot of my friends gave up in school when I was in Kenya. Education is what got me here and I'm thankful for that, I'm thankful to be here."

Jongkuch said he plans to either attend medical school or join a non-profit organization after he graduates from SJSU in December.

Donations to Jongkuch's village can be made at the Golden Gate Community Church 474, 9th Avenue San Francisco, Ca 94128.