Born a healthy child, Machar Atem Abuoi was affected by polio at around five years of age. The virus rendered his lower limbs immobile, in turn severely impacting his own mobility. When the war intensified in South Sudan, Machar was moved to the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya.
“I was born a normal child, but polio caused the paralysis that I am in today,” Machar Atem tells SBS Dinka. “I have suffered, and only God has protected me since. In 1991 when our village was attacked, I was left behind, but I crawled from a place called Paliau to Maar.
“I thought that was going to be my last day alive, but I survived from being shot or being eaten by animals at night.”
In 2002, Machar Atem enrolled in a primary school in the Kakuma camp, but had no wheelchair to attend his classes. Motivated by a deep desire to improve his education, he would crawl for three kilometres every day on a gravel road to reach the school.
"To reach the school early, I had to wake up ahead of everyone and crawl for a long time before arriving... On dusty days, I feared for my life because cars would pass by and I had to move to the roadside. During the rainy season, flash floods could be dangerous, and I feared drowning, or any condition that would force me to cease going to school."
Machar is setting outside his house in kakuma Source: Supplied
A few years ago, Machar was given a wheelchair by the Kakuma Refugee Camp-based agency that cares for disabled people. That wheelchair broke, and it was not replaced.
Machar’s sister Apajok says she tried to talk to the agency that was supposed to support him, but nothing came of it.
"I approached the agency and told them the situation Machar was in, but they never responded,” she says. “His knees were getting bad and hands blistered. I thought they could help him with the wheelchair or anything that can help to attend his classes."
After hearing of the condition Machar was in and of his dedication to attending school, SBS Dinka reporter Deng Goch Ayiik asked Machar in June if his story could be told, and he agreed.
SBS Dinka’s initial story on Machar Atem evidently moved many people in the Dinka global diaspora and he has since received a deal of assistance from the community including the online fundraisings.
In fact, Machar’s story moved Kenyan Politician and Governor of Nairobi Mike Mvuvi Sonko to dispatch an assistance team to Kakuma Refugee Camp. Sonko's team delivered a wheelchair, mattress and food to Machar.
"Today (6 July) the Sonko Rescue Team was at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Turkana County to visit families in the area,” Sonko posted on his Facebook page. “The team also assisted a South Sudanese refugee, Machar Atem Abuoi who is a disabled, but determined and ambitious pupil."
Mike Sonko team in the USA Source: Supplied
Another person who came to Machar’s aid is Michael Panther, himself a disabled South Sudanese man currently living in the United States.
Having seen Machar’s story, Panther requested that Machar be transported from the Kakuma Refugee Camp to Nairobi’s Kijabe Hospital. There he would meet Panther’s Living With Hope team, an organisation dedicated to bringing hope and mobility to those living with disability in Africa.
Panther met Machar for first on Monday, telling SBS Dinka at the time that Machar would receive an improved wheelchair as well as further medical assistance.
“He was one of the people I met this morning, and I am so delighted to help this young man,” Panther said. “My journey is the same as Machar. I came from South Sudan to Kakuma Refugee Camp as a disabled person. I didn’t know that I was going to live for long. God was so wonderful to my life because he brought me to this hospital where I'm now distributing wheelchairs. The doctor who treated me here later brought me into his life and took me to the United States, where I finished school and worked. When I finished school, I felt I had to do something to help change lives.”
Machar and the living with Hope's team Source: Supplied
