“Stories from Sudan” Surprise Students

Franco Majok visits Boston College to speak about his life as a Sudan refugee and about his foundation, the Wanlang School Project.

Boston College students were recently given the opportunity to hear the fascinating story of Franco Majok, a refugee from the African country of Sudan. As a refugee of the Sudanese Civil War, Majok came to the United States in 1998 in search of a better, safer life.

However, after visiting his birthplace, the small village of Wanlang, in 2005, he decided to dedicate his life to improving the lives of those who now live there by building a school to emphasize the importance of education. Shortly after his visit, he founded the Wanlang School Project.

Majok began his lecture, entitled “Stories from Sudan,” by explaining significant events during his life and important facts about the country of Sudan.

Born into an extremely poor family in a war-torn country, Franco Majok spent most of his life running and never lived in one place for very long. During his childhood, his father worked for the police force in Sudan, which was operated by the British colonizers. From the British, however, his father learned the importance of education and became the only man in Wanlang to send his children to school.

Due to the First Sudanese Civil War, Majok left his country in 1970 and fled to nearby Congo. He returned to Sudan in 1972 after a peace treaty was signed between the North and the South.

However, in 1983, the American oil company Chevron discovered oil in southern Sudan, and thus, civil war erupted again. Once again, Majok fled from his village, and this time his education helped him greatly.

“I used my education to escape to the North by reading maps and directions to get to a safe place,” he explained.

Majok was a Sudanese refugee in Egypt, and then in 1998 immigrated to the United States. After working in America for a number of years, he became a United States citizen in 2005. Ironically, the Second Sudanese Civil War ended in this year.

It was at this time, after being away from his homeland for twenty-two years, that Majok decided to make the pilgrimage back to Sudan and to visit his remaining family members in Wanlang. While in Wanlang, however, he was shocked at what he saw.

“There was no school building in Wanlang. There were no school supplies. The children practiced their writing in the dirt on the ground,” Majok told his listeners.

Once he arrived back in the United States, he embarked on a mission to build a school for the children of Wanlang. After raising enough money, he returned to his home village and began the construction of the school.

Fifteen villagers were hired to build the school, which was the first time they had been employed in their lives, according to Majok. Using hundreds of thousands of bricks, the team of builders, including Majok, was able to construct eight classrooms, two offices, a storeroom, a kitchen, and three bathrooms. Desks and tables were also constructed for the classrooms, and training was given to the teachers.

During his lecture, Majok’s words were certainly moving. However, the photographs from his visits to Sudan that accompanied his speech certainly shocked the students. One picture showed a spot in the dirt underneath a large tree where classes had met for years. Other photos depicted the process of building the school and the poverty of the villagers of Wanlang. Nonetheless, the pictures displayed motivated teachers eager to teach the children of Wanlang.

Franco Majok is very pleased with the success of the Wanlang School Project. On his website, he states, “I believe in education because I benefited from it and education saved my life. I believe that education is central in order for Wanlang children to have their own sense of conditions. Otherwise, they have no future.”

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