What was life like in Kakuma? Was it life? There was debate about this. On the one hand, we were alive, which meant that we were living a life, that we were eating and could enjoy friendships and learning and could love. But we were nowhere. No matter the meaning of the word, the place was not a place. It was a kind of purgatory…

When Mengistu fell and the Sudanese were expelled from Ethiopia, we arrived in Kakuma. This is where we found the real refugee life. We were put into a camp managed by UNHCR. They put all the minors under the responsibility of Radda Barnen [Swedish Save the Children], gave us food and opened a school. We were divided into groups within our communities. We first lived in Zone One, together with others [ethnic groups]. But in 1996, when the fighting between the Dinka started burning our [Nuer] homes, we ran to UNHCR. They segregated us into different zones, and Nuer got their own Zone Five.

I began to live a different life [from military life in Ethiopia]: church, school and sport. I was also a youth leader in the community and in the church from 1997. I was the deputy youth leader in the whole camp. I got a big responsibility then: catechist, altar boy, youth leader, and I was now engaged and could not do any wrong things. I became now another model in the community.