A Sudanese man who became a U.S. citizen is giving back to his home country by building a high school in his home country.
Virginia resident Angelo Maker has been dreaming of helping to educate children in South Sudan since he moved to the U.S. in 2001, WVEC-TV reported.
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Maker is one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan,” a group of more than 40,000 boys who were displaced between 1987 and 2005 during the Second Sudanese Civil War . His mother was one of the 2 million people killed during that time, he said.
Many institutional and human capacity challenges are better addressed at the local level. Investment in small-scale local efforts can grow economies that are more sustainable and better able to adapt to future large development plans. #WeCanInSouthSudanhttps://t.co/y1zfiR02XS
— Abukloi (@Abukloi) March 20, 2018
Because he survived such atrocities during the war, Maker wanted to give back to his people.
“I could have been dead like other lost boys or I could’ve been dead by the time my mother was executed,” he said. “If God kept me alive, I gotta do whatever I can to give back.”
Maker began planning the project to build a school in 2010 and funded it with the nonprofit, Abokloi, which he started with his wife. The school helps students gain a general education as well as develop skills to find jobs.
In February, 60 students in South Sudan graduated the high school’s first class.
Maker said it was “so emotional” to travel to Sudan and see his dream realized.
“It was really an amazing thing in my life, seeing everything over there,” he said. “It was a wonderful thing to see.”
(H/T: WVEC-TV)