For Bullen Timo, 23, and Andrew Mahandis, 27, both members of the Moru tribe in Sudan, the path to education was perilous.
The two, now students at Southern Union Community College’s Wadley campus, shared their story with four classes of Adam Massey’s Geography students at Opelika Middle School Friday morning.
Timo and Mahandis’ first-hand account brought to life the civil unrest and refugee experiences of the Lost Boys of Sudan in the 1980s, which students read about in the book “God Grew Tired of Us.”
“I was born into war, and all I knew was war,” Mahandis said to students in the OMS auditorium.
Mahandis and Timo are Christians who lived in southern Sudan, and their village (Mundri) was attacked repeatedly by Muslims from northern Sudan who wanted to force them to convert to Islam. During an attack, Timo and Mahandis were separated from their families, whose surviving members they’ve been since reunited with.
“I was 3 years-old and I awoke that night while at a friend’s house to hear the gunshots of the Arab Muslims that attacked our village,” Timo said. “I ran away into the forest with my friends, and when I returned, i realized that my family had been taken away.”
Timo’s grandfather raised him and taught him about God.
Mahandis had to walk at least seven miles to school, which was held under a tree or in a mud hut where the only thing he had to write on was the floor.
During the rainy season, there was no school and aircraft bombing his village was another obstacle for Mahandis.
“After the bombs dropped, you simply went back to school,” said Mahandis who is currently studying education at SUSCC.
Mahandis and Timo came to the U.S. in 2006, and after they complete their studies at SUSCC, plan to return to Sudan.
The two’s life experience is something Massey thinks is just as valuable as any lesson his students could get from a textbook.
“One of the biggest lessons our kids should take from this is to be grateful for the parents, teacher and resources they have to help them be successful,” Massey said. Timo and Mahandis’ education, room and board are being sponsored by Four Corners Ministries of which Tripp Skipper, pastor of Wadley Baptist Church is president.
Anyone who wishes to assist them in this effort may do so by clicking on the following link: http://www.4cornersministries.org/get%20involved/donate.html
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