The Games of Peace: Dream Big for the Youth of Southern Sudan | Refugee crisis

About 20 people were displaced every minute as a result of conflict or persecution. Recent United Nations figures place an unprecedented 65.6 million people in the world in the category of forcibly displaced persons.

South Sudan is one of three third countries that account for 55% of the total number of refugees in the world.

Home to more than 60 different ethnic groups, rich in oil, South Sudan continues to struggle with violent conflict and the weight of its seven-year independence.

Lual Mayen is one of hundreds of thousands of displaced South Sudanese who are forced to seek refuge in neighboring Uganda.

Born and raised in a refugee camp, he grew up wanting more for himself, his family and deeply, the youth of South Sudan, many of whom knew only the war.

Here is his story in his own words:

I was born in Uganda in 1993 in a South Sudanese and Congolese refugee camp. I was born in a refugee camp, grew up in a refugee camp and all my education was in refugee camps.

When I was a child, my mother and I were talking about conflict every day at home and to my brothers and sisters.

So, when South Sudan acceded to independence in 2011, I was still in the camp. We hoped that everything would change in our country and that we would be able to live in freedom and peace. We had gone through a lot of things.

Growing up in the camp was difficult. It's a bit like confinement, you live in a garbage dump.

The education was mediocre. You would go to school, but you would never learn anything. The school consisted mainly of huts, some teachers were not very good, and it was not very good facilities, like books, as a study plan, so c & rsquo; Was really hard for me to be inspired and motivated to go to school

At the end of the day, you just go to school to play football and you come back after four hours because nothing has happened. If education is taken away from you, it is as if your life was taken away from you.

My mother played a very big role in my life because she did me study and go to school. She was very tough with me. And by that time, I felt that it was not something that my parents should do for me, but it really helped me, it was preparing me.

I had a great imagination and a lot of creativity. It was so hard for us to go watch movies in the cities, for example, so I was getting boxes, I was cutting them out, I was putting some kind of screen on top and I was doing a viewing box .

would come around the camp and would gather in my house to see what I had done and look at different creations through the box of observation.

"Video games are not made by people … they are from above"

But I discovered my pbadion for l & # 39; 39, computer engineering. [19659011BuddybuddywasdifficulttofindcomputersinarefugeecampinUgandaHoweverIfounditdifficulttosay:"Adayforstudyingcomputerprogramming"

She laughed, but I told her, "My pbadion is doing something with computers. She saved money with her wallet and clothes for about three years, after which she managed to collect a good amount.

I bought a computer in a small town in Uganda [with that money].

It was difficult to have Internet in the refugee camp, there were power outages, and I was the only one with a computer. Exploring new things is difficult, but I took it upon myself to learn. There was a game installed on the computer called Nuclear Bicycle and I played a lot at this game.

I had the impression that video games could not be made by people, they came from above. And I knew it was my profession.

After the independence of Southern Sudan, many people wanted to go back there. My family did not return to South Sudan because we did not know when the fighting would stop.

That changed for me in 2013 because I was studying at the university in Kampala and working weekends in South Sudan to earn money. I did it for about a year, building websites – something that I taught myself over time.

During my studies, I thought I had my own start-up, which I then moved to South Sudan

. She called Citycom Technologies. I needed cash for that, so I interviewed a bank in South Sudan for a loan. The government was not interested in my proposal.

In 2016, war broke out again in South Sudan. At the time, I had been asked to form the new government on particular systems and a technology conference was coming to town.

Everything was destroyed, including everything I had worked for.

My parents were still in camp in Uganda and said that I needed to flee South Sudan, but it was very difficult to

Testifying to the conflict for myself, I told myself "What can I do to stop this violence in South Sudan because I am fed up, what can I do? Play violent video games, then see how South Sudan was first hand … these are people who grew up with the war. Some of them are born in wartime. Their perceptions and their attitude – everything is a question of war.

Again, I realized that it was not the signing of a ceasefire by the government. They had been doing it for years but nothing really was going on to help the people of South Sudan.

My parents were still suffering in the camps, but returning to South Sudan could make you cry because the camps were always the same. best option

It was at this point that I knew that computers were the solution. I thought that creating video games for kids could be a good conflict resolution. Maybe if they were playing specific video games, it would change their state of mind, their attitudes.

Back in the refugee camp in Uganda, I built my first mobile video game, Salaam. Salaam means peace. In the two months following the completion of Salaam, I have been invited to visit Africa to talk about the game.

Within a year, in 2017 , and after years of my family seeking refuge abroad To speak at the San Francisco Game Developers Conference

Five days after receiving this email, Donald Trump's travel ban was Announced

The problem was then how the United States suddenly saw the refugees. Many did not know that South Sudan was not the country on the list – it was Sudan that was included in the ban on traveling. It was a disturbing moment for me. I was so sure I did not get my visa that I contacted the developers and told them that I would not be able to do it.

"Independence and freedom have led me where I am"

Three weeks later, my startup was chosen as one of the best games for peace by Amazon Startups and the US Institute of Peace. My video game, Salaam, had been submitted and was considered a potential tool for peacebuilding.

When I went to ask for my visa, I told them my story. "It's a miracle and you have to go," they say

I arrived in the United States last year and stayed there about two months

shortly after my return in Uganda. come back and work in the United States. I am now also looking to continue my studies with a Masters Scholarship at the University of San Diego. I want to study social immigration, which is a new course teaching the use of modernization for social impact.

I am not convinced to bring my parents to the United States for several reasons. Africa is a big continent. There are good places and good people and my family understands this culture.

Bringing them to the United States would cause confusion. This place is for young people, not for older generations.

I want to work hard, prove to people who misunderstand refugees what we really love, then try to make things better for the people in our area. I am thinking of Africa and my African culture.

The Independence Day is a very good day to remember, to celebrate, to have hope for the future because the future belongs to us

. It is our responsibility, as young people, to define the way of thinking. about South Sudan. If we do not use all the skills, knowledge and talent we currently have, we can not blame anyone, because we have everything to make the people of South Sudan proud of us.

Without independence, I could not be where I am right now because it is the independence and freedom that have driven me where I am.