Note: This is part one of a two-part story

Can you imagine what it is like to be a refugee fleeing from violence, war, poverty and hunger as you and your family search desperately for a safe place to sleep, lack food to feed your children, and every day is a struggle just to survive? It must be a nightmare that you can’t wake up from or perhaps you fear going to sleep because there is danger at every turn.

The UN Refugee Agency reports that nearly 2.3 million South Sudanese people have fled to neighboring countries and nearly 2 million remain internally displaced in South Sudan due to violent conflicts throughout the country. It is the largest refugee crisis in Africa and among one of the largest in the world.

Lual Mayen could not only imagine it but he and his family have lived it. His parents with five children family fled Sudan and trekked 225 miles to get to a refugee in North Uganda. All along the way the conditions were treacherous as they found themselves constantly in peril. Lual was only an infant so his mom carried him in her protective arms, while tragically two of his sisters died along the long arduous journey due to illness.  Can you imagine the heart break?

The refugee camp was the only life Lual ever knew and he grew up amid a very difficult life experience. The camp was over crowded, hunger was common and the conditions dangerous. He watched youth get recruited or coerced into warfare as child soldiers. The violence in the region was ongoing. Could you imagine living in fear each day, for your life?

 At age 15, Luah saw his first computer at a registration center and fascinated by this technology he begged his mom to buy him one, but she only laughed. How could she afford to buy him a computer when they didn't even have enough food to eat? So, he soon forgot about his passion for getting one. No one could have imagined how this one event would become the catalyst that would change the course of Lual’s life. A dream was seeded and his mom saw great potential in her son. She held a vision tin her heart that the path to a better life was through education. She envisioned that a computer was the key that could offer her son a chance. So, in secret his mom began sewing clothes to earn extra money. It took three years to earn the $300.00 dollars needed to buy a laptop. Lual’s intense joy was soon overshadowed by despair when he realized there was no way to charge the computer and no one to train him. Can you imagine his disappointment?

Then his thoughts turned towards his mother’s sacrifice, perseverance and hard work. Her love for him was the inspiration he needed to set in motion his resolve to find a way to overcome these seemingly unsurmountable challenges. So, each day Lual walked three hours to and from an Internet café to charge his device. At the camp, he kept his laptop with him at all times, concealed in his backpack to avoid it getting stolen or confiscated by his teachers. He taught himself English, learned graphic design programs and became proficient in programming by watching video tutorials.

Can you imagine such determination that when fueled by Love can be a such a mighty and unstoppable force!

This is only the beginning of a incredible story! I invite you to return next week for this miraculous turn of of life events for Lual and his family and how Love is truly expansive to infinity!

Liz Sorensen Wessel