As a decades-long civil war raged in southern Sudan, young Khan Malual took refuge in neighbouring Kenya. Only nine years old, he travelled alone and spent the next six years growing up in Kakuma refugee camp.
Khan was finally able to return home and reunite with his family in 2007, following a peace deal between the warring factions. He was excited for his future as well as for his country’s – believing that a newly independent South Sudan would be a place of peace and hope.
When war broke out in the world’s newest nation in December 2013, Khan was forced to embark on a familiar journey into exile. Now he is living once again in Kakuma refugee camp. But as an adult, he is drawing on his experience to help educate and inspire the next generation of South Sudanese refugee children.
“I found the children that fled South Sudan to this camp were suffering a lot,” he says. “They needed someone to be there with them, someone to support them, someone to help them. Someone to tell them to continue to keep hope alive.”
Contributors
Camera