An Orphan, but Not Alone

Peter Deng with Scott Carpenter, president of KeyBank, and President David F. Finney

By Peter Garang Deng ’11

I was born in South Sudan, and grew up in Bor Village, Sudan, until I was 12 years old. I was orphaned at an early age, my mother dying without warning and my beloved father having passed away when I was 5. I lived with my two sisters and my aunts. Things were good for a while but I still missed the care that only my parents could offer me had they lived. When I was 7 years old, my elder sister got married to a man from the Tuch area, leaving me under the care of my other sister. One year later she got married, leaving me to remain under the care of an aunt, and my life became a nightmare. My life at that time was no different than the life of a homeless person. Having both parents gone, my basic childhood needs went unmet and I was neglected. I sat down one morning on the street curb thinking about where my life was going while watching the kids who had parents going to the local school, Konberk, just 10 minutes away from our home.
While sitting watching these kids with big smiling faces as if they owned the whole world, I made a decision that I would go to school so that I too could have a good life in the future. I then went to school in Konberk and then in New Cuch.

At age 12, I moved to Kenya, where I was given a name I had never dreamed about before: “Refugee.” I continued with my studies in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. In the refugee camp, life was neither bad nor good. There was a food shortage in this camp and so I’d usually end up spending some days with no food, which led to a serious stomach ulcer that affected me for three years. Thank God I went to Eldoret, a great town in Kenya where I received treatment.

While I was in the refugee camp in Kenya, I went through the teachers training course and became an adult education teacher, in 2005-06. I left teaching to further my education in Eldoret Town, one of the most beautiful towns in Kenya. Before I touched the moon and the sun kissed the hill, I left Kenya to come to the USA. For two years, I have been here in the U.S. working on my dream, studying at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont.

I became an orphan fully at age 5, and since then I have been struggling for a better life for myself. At that time, I had a dream that I would one day bring changes to my people who are desperately in need of help. Having experienced the tough life of being an orphan has encouraged me to form New Sudan Jonglei Orphans Foundation to raise money and help the orphaned children of Jonglei.

Visit New Sudan Jonglei Orphans Foundation for more information and to donate.

New Sudan Jonglei Orphans Foundation (NSJOF) is a nonprofit organization based in Burlington, Vermont, working to improve the future living standard of orphans in Southern Sudan, particularly in the Jonglei region, by sponsoring orphaned children to go to school. NSJOF was founded in January of 2010 by Peter G. Deng. He migrated to the United States from Southern Sudan three and half years ago. He attended Community College of Vermont and then transferred to Champlain College, where he will receive his bachelor’s degree in Business with Concentrations in Accounting, Finance, and Marketing this May. After experiencing the life of an orphan when he was young, he launched NSJOF to provide humanitarian support to those orphaned children who are in need of help in his home country. He has written a book with Champlain College junior Jillian Towne about his experience growing up as an orphan in Sudan. It was published in April by the Champlain College Publishing Initiative. Proceeds from the book will help support NSJOF.

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