About 'Refugees in Africa"
Dr. Neil Arya hosts a conversation with two young African men who will participate in the up-coming Pegasus conference. Unfortunately, the wars that send people to these camps often follow them there.
In a world often desensitized to the statistics of displacement, it is easy to forget that behind every number is a human story, a struggle for education, and a complex web of political and environmental causes. In a recent broadcast for the “Project Save the World,” Neil Arya, Chair of the Pegasus Institute for Peace, Global Health, and Sustainability, brought together two exceptional young men from the Institute’s Emerging Leaders Network.
Dr Neil Arya
The conversation, serving as a prelude to the upcoming Pegasus Conference in May, was not merely an academic discussion on migration. It was a raw, personal intersection of two lives shaped by conflict: Dr. Deen Opondo, a medical doctor managing health operations in Kenya’s refugee camps, and James Achuli, a former refugee from South Sudan who is now a Master’s scholar at McGill University in Montreal. Together, they painted a vivid, and often harrowing, picture of the modern refugee experience—from the arid plains of Northern Kenya to the halls of Canadian academia.
The Hustle for Hope
James Achuli’s journey reads like a testament to the sheer force of human will. Born in the early 2000s in South Sudan, Achuli’s childhood was framed by the sounds of civil war and the wisdom of his parents, who instilled in him a singular belief: education was the only way to save their family.
James Achuli
“I grew up in the intersection between government and NGOs,” Achuli recalled. “I saw the work they did for me and my community, and I was inspired as a kid.”
However, inspiration alone does not pay school fees. Achuli described a childhood of relentless “hustle” in Juba. To fund his education, he created a small business selling frozen treats—juice tied in plastic bags—to classmates. When war erupted again in 2013 and 2016, placing him in the crosshairs of displacement, he joined the moving crowds fleeing to Uganda.
