27 I Refugee Series/Humanity Amidst Chaos: The Resilience and Determination of James Achuli, a South Sudanese Refugee

• Timespan: 34 min
• Transcription Type: Cleaned Verbatim
• Speakers: James Achulli

Raj Sundar  00:00

Hi, I'm Dr. Raj Sundar, a family physician, and a community organizer. You're listening to healthcare for humans, the show dedicated to educating you on how to care for culturally diverse communities, so you can be a better healer. This is about everything that you wish you knew, to really care for the person in front of you, not just a body system. Let's learn together. Welcome back to another episode of healthcare for humans. Today, we're diving into our final episode of this series. And a reminder, this is part of our collaboration with the Society of refugee healthcare providers. If you haven't heard of them before, go and check it out. They do incredible work supporting the health and health care of refugees. Today is also the last for three keynotes from the North American refugee conference. And trust me, you won't want to miss this last keynote. Our guest today is James. Born and raised in South Sudan. James spent his childhood years in a newly formed country marred by ethnic violence and a civil war from 2013 to 2020. James grew up in the midst of chaos. He was an internally displaced person, internally displaced person or IDP means someone who is forced to leave their home, but who remains within their own country's borders. And as an IDP, they don't have the same rights as refugees, because they're still in their own country. Growing up in that setting, James ran for kilometers and kilometers from his refugee camp to an internet cafe, to find scholarships online, to find a better opportunity every day. And then he found one, he found a scholarship that transformed his dreams into reality. Now he's a refugee who found a new home in Canada. This keynote is special because James has this impressive skill for talking about even the toughest experiences with grace and humor. It's incredible. And he's going to share two key points that I want you to keep in mind as you listen along. First, the discrimination faced by African refugees worldwide. He reminds us that there's no such thing as a quote unquote, normal refugee, because when your country has been consumed by conflict, for so long, people start to dismiss the refugee crisis, especially in African countries. If you're black, and a refugee, that's normal, right? Because think about it when we talk about refugees now we focus on the most recent conflict, Syria, Ukraine, which of course is important, but we forget that Venezuela and South Sudan are two of the top five countries where refugees come from. When was the last time you saw a news article about that crisis that got your attention. This global crisis demands all of us to step up not just for one particular country or crisis, but for all of them. And the second point that I want you to keep in mind from James is the whirlwind of emotions that come with being a refugee, paired with the importance of language. He's going to share his experience eloquently today, and you'll hear about James's first flight to Armenia from South Sudan, and the comical miscommunication that took place there. He emphasizes the point that every word matters, and explanations are paramount when you're in a new world that you've never been before. This is also true for healthcare, where we fill our clinics and hospitals and communities with jargon like, quote unquote, follow up in three months to make sure your disease has control. What does follow up mean for someone who's never had access to health care at all, and only went in for life threatening situations? How much do you need to explain about the concept of follow up of why we do what we do and why it's important to come in even when you're not sick? Without further ado, here's James.

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My name is James actually, and I am a refugee student. I studied international relations at the University of British Columbia. This is my second time in Calgary. The first time was in Calgary was the first time I was in Canada. I landed here on the fifth of February 2022. And when I landed here, I was directed to the immigration officials at the Calgary International Airport. And the immigration official looked at my travel document, he looks at my travel document, and then under the identity section, it says refugee and then he asked me, Who are you from? I did not answer him immediately because he was very busy. Someone came and interrupted. I did not come to Canada as a permanent resident. I came here on a study permit. And until I graduate, we have to forget about the permanent resident for now. As I spoke to him, he was looking at me with burning questions. But I don't think he was ready To hear from me, because he didn't have the time. In the end, he said, Young man, it seems like you have an old soul in you. I hope you have a great future. As a phrase, a lot of people have been telling me for so many times, that I have an old soul in me, I don't think I have an old soul. And I think my experiences have taken so much from me that it would be almost premature to call me a child. I'm not a child. If you told me 10 years ago, that I would be standing in front of you today, and sharing my story. I wouldn't believe you. But here I am today, I am so happy to see people that are motivated for a common course. And for someone that has lived experiences. I don't think anyone understand what this means what this conference means. I am not an expert in healthcare, I don't have a medical degree. I don't have a nursing degree. But if living in a refugee camp was a qualification, then by now I think I would be holding perhaps a PhD or I'll be in my postdoctoral studies. And I'll tell you why. I was born in 2003. And for those of you who might have read this history of Sudan, between 1983 and 2005, we had one of the longest civil wars in Africa. And I was born at a time when our country was burning down. My mother told me that I was born under a tree, she was running from airstrikes. And she gave birth to me under a tree called Tamaryn. We call it kitab. That's my nickname. I grew up as an internally displaced person in South Sudan. So you're a refugee within your own country. I do have a lot of memories from my childhood. And one of them is seeing this metallic bird that would fly in the air. That's how my dad describe it. It's a helicopter from the United Nation, this metal would bring us food. And then I would always wonder how it flew in the air. And my father would tell me, if you work so hard, if you study, one day, you would fly in that metal. I was not an educated child, I didn't have the opportunity to go to school. But with UNICEF, I was able to study in one of the internal displaced persons camp in South Sudan, my younger age. In 2013, my sister was taken to the capital city, my my brother in law, and I was taken with her as a babysitter was taking care of my nephew. I was 2013 is two years after South Sudan got independence in 2011. July 14 2013, was a Sunday. And that was the year I was in my final year of my primary school that I was to sit for my primary leading examinations. That's how they call it in South Sudan. The following Monday, just before that, our country again embark on a civil war. And it was one of the hardest moments of my life. When I saw my school burned down into nothing. I became displays again for the second time. And I was taken care of, by again, UNICEF, but this time in the capital without my parents. That was the time I started getting away from family. My sister ran her own way, because I couldn't get back to her. I was in a boarding school. But somehow, between 2014 and 2015, our country became a little bit stable. So I was able to sit for my primarily living examinations in the refugee camp. And the gods answered my prayers. And I was one of the best students in the country. So I was awarded a scholarship to go to a gay, which is a city in New South Western part of South Sudan. I was going farther and farther away from my parents. In July 2016, again, South Sudan, had another war. And this time, we were studying chemistry and biology in order to study holes. And then all of a sudden, we had this massive explosion and shooting taking place. I had a friend, he and I were very good friends. And we were studying that night. And as the shooting was taking place, Dane was shot and the stomach was bleeding. And he told me, James, don't run. If you run and try to escape this room. You're going to die. They'll shoot you and they will never care about you. I was like, dang, what are we going to do? And he say, I'm going to make sure that I cover you with my blood and then we'll hide under this table and pretend as dead people So that's what we did for that night. But unfortunately, Dane died in the morning because he lost a lot of blood. And then I was picked up by armed men. And they said, We're going to take you to safety. When I was when I was taken to the military barracks, I thought I was gonna get food and water, and all these things that they promised me. When I got there, it was a different story. I was forced to train on how to shoot the gun. That was not what I wanted, I wanted to go to school. At that point, I was a friend with the commander of that unit. And the wife, a very kind lady, who's like, James, you don't belong here, who makes sure that you escaped one day. I was a good friend. So the commander in chief of this unit will always use papers from my books to smoke. So one day he sent me to get papers from where I was leaving. And then her wife said, Jim, this is the opportunity. I put my books in a waterproof bag. It was a bag that was given to me by UNICEF. And then I jumped into a river called yay, river, call it a curry. In Taqwa almondbury, I had to swim to the other side of the river, and walk almost one day to this one church that was giving shelters to people that were trying to escape the war. It was at that point that I decided to join a moving crowd. And we walked hundreds of kilometers towards the southern part of the river and aisle. I didn't know we were going at the time. I was 13, maybe 14. But the leaders of our groups, they see that we go into a place that had water and safety and food and all this. And education was there as well. So that was key. So I joined them. I ended up in northern part of Uganda, in one of the largest refugee camps in the world called vidi vidi. Before moving to another random refuse home, and when I arrived at the camp, I was as tiny, as I've said, this microphone, but inside my head were very loud voices that might be even louder than my voice right now. So that's a little bit about my story. So I want to talk a little bit about challenges that refugees face today. refugees face incredible challenges. And the problems are complex. From forced displacement and persecution to lack of access to basic necessities, we refugees often face immense, really overwhelming challenges in the pursuit of safety and better life. In all the refugee camp that I lived in, whether that's in South Sudan was at when I was an IDP, an internally displaced person, or in my first refugee camp that I was in, in Uganda, b2b, for example, and interior Ndongo, where I was living in all of these women, and children go through a lot. I myself, when I was in the camp with hundreds of other refugees, we would wake up in the morning, and go to school, which is far away. You don't have breakfast, no lunch, no dinner. And for me, he was living by myself without anyone to take care of me. It was as if I didn't belong to this world. Women face brutal torture by men.

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Whether that's beating them up after they go to long lines and fetch water. And when they come back late, it's just brutal. And it's not only in the camp. When we were fleeing to Uganda, I remember one of the saddest moments of my life. I think we ran out of water. And a group leader decided that we would look at the maps to locate a river so we can go into it. But as we were about to enter this riverbank, we were surrounded by armed men. And then they told us not to move. The women was separated from us, put aside and then sexually assaulted right in front of our eyes. And for the men that were targeted, something very strange happened to me at that moment. I remember one of the men came to me and he looked at my IDs, and then all of a sudden started beating me with the back of his gun and just kicking me and I wet my mobile, tumbling and then bleeding out. I didn't know why that was happening to me. And I was the only person there were a lot of other people that went through the same thing that I went through and asked myself why they told us not to speak because if you try to speak to shoot you right there. I noticed there was some sort of ethnic cleansing. They would kill you base have you on your name and your tribe. I remember this one man who was picked up, and then started cutting his fingers, one after the other, and then chopping the use as well. And he was crying, I think he said in Arabic My people, if you've decided to kill me, I want you to just shoot me with a bullet. So I can die as a single body. They didn't listen to him, this, cut him into pieces. And then in the end, they shot him and then threw him into that river. The river we wanted to drink water from. And sometimes I wonder where his body is. For me, I was the neck person in line. But I was not from the targeted tribe. I come from the one of the smallest strides in South Sudan, that we share names with the targeted tribe at the time, so I was mistaken for that. And I thought, if I am going to die because of my name, then I better speak up because I don't deserve to die right now. So I spoke in my mother tongue, which they recognize, and they let me go, one of the saddest things. Like why would you kill people based on race and where they come from the women, I left them behind, I still don't know who they are. But as I walked, and walked, I could hear gunshots me, I'm pretty sure they kill the targeted men. These are problems that are happening. And we don't really get to see this in the news in Uganda, was one of the country's largest numbers of refugees. These things are not reported. Because nobody really cares about that, or nobody has the courage to bring this to the leaders. Segregation of refugees and women doesn't only happen in Uganda, it happens everywhere. And refugee challenges we've seen with COVID-19 priorities were given to Syrian refugees in the camps. I remember hundreds of millions of dollars being promised every year to support refugees. But a lot of time, this funding just go on to the table. We don't get to see that. This was a situation in Uganda at the time. And I myself, as a refugee, I felt like I was begging all the time. Rich eg health care, as the main theme of this conference, to a wider extent, is not prioritize. And this is something that needs to be addressed. Because sometimes we come here and sit in conferences like this. We listen to ourselves, we tell ourselves, we're going to do it. But when we leave the room, we forget about it. It's time that we must walk the talk. The other thing that I saw when I was living in the refugee camp was discrimination of refugees based on race was seen with the the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. And the the time when the Taliban took over Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. That time I came back to Uganda applying for my travel document, my study permit to come to Canada, we've seen how being black and the refugees considered normal, and how not being black. And a refugee is not normal. In 2022, Uganda agreed to take in Afghan refugees, and many of the refugees from the Global North. And these refugees didn't really live in refugee camps. They live in very fancy hotels. And then in the shortest period of time, these refugees were resettled in North America and Europe. It almost felt like resettlement and treatment of refugees was entirely based on race. If you're white, you get resettled first, and then the black person, you were the last one. As the world continued to segregate refugees based on race. I, at the time could not help but ask myself some questions. Questions like how do governments or nongovernmental organizations around the world keep a refugee crisis in one part of the world and the control to help those other refugees in need? Why would government turn away from one crisis at the expense of the other? Why wouldn't there be a fair treatment for all there are hundreds of 1000s of refugees that are caught up in the Global South? There's a lot in South Sudan. There's many in Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and many more in Latin America, countries like Venezuela. So what I saw in 2022, and 2021 was a systemic discrimination, a very catastrophe sort of system embedded into the Constitution and sometimes we tend to internalize these things. When we have rules that are meant to segregate, we tend to treat those rules as gods. It's time to think about that, and work on how to break those rules. African refugees in the world today face explicit discrimination. There is no such thing as being a normal refugee. It's all too wrong. It's it's a question of, of death and life. When we choose life over persecution, or force death, as one would call it. People think we choose to be refugees. When I don't think we choose to be refugees, becoming a refugee shows that when you have lived your life, in wars for years, you become desperate for one thing, and that's peace. Because we want to know what it feels like to live in a world where one does not worry about gunshots. We want that part of life where you wake up in the morning, and have a decent breakfast. So again, no one chooses to be a refugee. But it can happen to anyone. I'll tell you a story of what happened to me exactly when I was trying to come to Canada. At the time was a lot of refugees in Uganda, and the government was trying to help everyone.

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I had won the scholarship to come to Canada and I applied for my visa, it took me seven months to hear from the office. But the decision was a rejection. I was initially denied a visa to come to study, a refugee getting a full scholarship as not just any other visa, but a student visa. And this is not just any other student, but erase ug that had been completely traumatized. Since childhood. And getting that opportunity at the time, it meant completely everything. I imagined myself speaking at conferences like this. But then all of a sudden, I'm reminded that I'm a refugee. And I should not aim higher, I am reminded that I don't have a family because one of the reasons I was denied a visa was because I didn't have a family filled out on the papers. I didn't know where they were. And then the other reason was that I was not a priority. We're dealing with this group of refugees now. So how hard is that on someone. But I was very lucky that in the end with support from the United Nations, I was able to get my study permit, and then came to Canada. So with all of this, I think it's important to think and treat people equally. It is very important that leaders around the world break the deadlock of indifference towards violence in some parts of the world. And recent outbreaks of global refugee crisis should not be an excuse for turning a blind eye to all the crisis there are still in need of solutions. Let us not get it wrong here. Of course, it's someone who has been living as a refugee throughout my life and someone who knows exactly what it feels like to see your fellow friends die right in front of you. I was very happy. I was very happy to see tremendous help being given to a certain group of refugees at a time. But that does not mean that we should forget about what is happening in Venezuela, or Somalia, or Sudan, Myanmar, or even Palestine that had been plagued in crisis for generations. The refugee crisis is a global crisis that requires our collective responsibility. And if attention is only given to one particular country or region, or to a new crisis, existing ones like mine continue to get worse. And the bottom line is that durable solutions may not be available for all refugees. If attention is given to a particular reason. Refugees should be treated equally worldwide, regardless of race, gender, and geographical. And whatever governments do, they should always remember that their generosity should be emergency relief, that will provide durable solutions to a global crisis. We need to end this discrimination and inequality of legal framework. And we need to include refugees at the decision making table. If you really want to change someone's life. If you want to change lives of indigenous people, or if you want to change lives of refugees, then we have to give them a seat at the decision making table. And we deserve more than the seat we need the podium. Because there's no point in having a seat without a word to say. I do have hope, despite all this challenges, because I see you today and I feel that we're all here for one common good. We have to continually mentor refugees, and we have to educate them The other day I was walking, and I saw a group of people. And I thought they were just having fun at the park. But as I moved closer to them, I noticed that they were homeless. I approached them. The first one I met was Carlos, from Venezuela, he came to Canada as a refugee. And he got resettled here. He's a permanent resident, and then from a Canadian, but he's on the streets. And I asked him, and he just started telling me very sad stories. He said that he didn't feel like the opportunities were opened up for him. I also met about seven South Sudanese, former refugees. And when I saw them there, I just walked to them. One was telling me about the importance of language, and how he did not get the healing that he wanted to, because he did not understand even the terminologies that we use. And then the other one told me about how he took these opportunities that the Canadian government gave him for granted. And he was wanting music, James, if you really want to change your life, if you want to be successful in Canada, it's all up to you to work hard for it. I didn't take these opportunities. That's why I'm on the streets today. But I don't think it was his own, making that within the streets. Because if you go through something, like what I've just described, then there's so much work to be done. I am going to tell you a story of my first time on a flight. And I wanted to bring it out the way I experienced it. And at the time, I was 1516 the very first time I was going to board my flight to go to Armenia. So in in this story, I want you to understand the importance of language. I remember coming to Entebbe International Airport in Uganda. And this lady, it was our time to boil off a flight. I was the first one in line because people have always warm, you have to be at the airport early so you don't miss your flight. I went there and she just there smiling and doing her work in a hurry. And she was like, young man put your bag at this machine. I didn't know what was it, I put it there. And shoe wrap something around it after weighing it. And in through my bag on this machine that was continuous motion. I didn't know where it was going. And then all of a sudden, my bag disappeared into a corner. There was a police officer standing by I started screaming and calling out for help. I say oh my god, please can you help me the lady's tilling my bag? And just like well, you did people in line started laughing at me. As if I did not see them, show them how serious I am. And they were like, No, don't worry about it. You're going to find your bag at your final destination. And I was like no, I am not going to final destination. I am going to Armenia. I thought final destination at the time was like please somewhere in the world who like No, don't worry, we are going to put your bag at a special place in the plane and you will find it there. Again, she mentioned the word final destination. Okay. I boarded my flight. And as I walked into the plane on the boarding bridge, I remember crying and wiping out my tears with the back of my hand. And the flight attendant was like, Don't worry, you will have a good experience and board. She did not understand why I was crying. I remember the words of my dad who told me to work hard. I was going to doubt playing that metal. But as we were on our way to Dubai halfway through the flight attendant came with food. And she put it right on my hands or put it on my lap. And then there was a British man who's like jeans, why didn't you put your water on the table and you flows? Where's the table? So I put up my hand calling for a table and he pressed something at the back of the seat in front of me and all of a sudden this thing just came out of nowhere. When I finished my food, I wanted to use the toilet. When I was a kid I thought planes in the sky had certain points to stop or people to go and use themselves. So again I put up my hand and I told the lady could you please tell the pilot to stop the plane? Because I want to use the toilet. It couldn't stop laughing at me. I went to the washroom I didn't know the term washroom at the time. There is washroom was like no no I need the toilet the one with the hole.

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When I went in there it was like a chair looking like structure really like bright in color. And I spent five minutes walking around searching. I was very confused. Those alright Red button just close by. I thought about pressing it. But I was like, No, this is a sign of danger. It's red. I spent like 15 minutes just in the wondering, I had to call back the lady to explain to me how to use this complicated machine. When we landed at Dubai, I was directed to stay somewhere. They put me in a bus, and they dropped me somewhere, my eyes were fixed at this plane that brought me from Uganda, to Dubai, because my back in books roll in there. And all of a sudden, this plane turn and moved away. I'm really good at running. When I saw this plane, turning and moving away, I grabbed my smaller bag and started chasing it. Running late. I was two flows above the ground. I didn't know what I was going to do. But I was just aiming to run and jump maybe through the windows. But this police officers started running off to me like, young man, you start what why are you crying? Why are you I was like, I am supposed to go to Armenia on that plane. And I am a refugee student I want to go to study and I'm scared. I don't want to remain here. And all that. Can you serious? And I was like, Yeah, but then they came in and look at my travel document. And they were like, don't worry about it, you're going to board another flight. It's called connecting flight. I looked at the ticket. The word connecting was not there. So it's now you people are lying to me. I don't believe you. I'm gonna stop there. In my book I talk about so all these things in details. So it's, it's very important that we teach people the language because I was traumatized. We I thought I was I was gonna lose everything. When I landed here in Canada, the immigration official asked me where is home for you. If he had the time to listen to me, I will tell him that home is the safe community around you. Home is the caring people around you and I have since coming to Calgary. That's what it feels like. Stories are really powerful and changing people's lives. If it wasn't for his story, I wouldn't be standing in front of you today. How I got to go to Armenia, it was a scholarship, there was a story that was published online, too. It was a refugee student who got a scholarship to go somewhere with a student organization, my high school. And that's how I ended up applying. So today I am telling you my story, but also sharing some of the incredible challenges that we face, I hope to use my story to bring to the decision making table, the overwhelming realities that refugees go through. And I aim to encourage everyone to build their hope for a better future. Because not all refugees get to tell their stories. I'm therefore very fortunate to have come this far, at a very young age, to learn a lot through this journey to a point where I am able to amplify the voices of the marginalized. And I will forever cherish this opportunity and privilege has given me and will continue to grow and learn because the ways I have learned to survive and grow as a refugee. I know exactly the same ways I want to live my life. When I usually speak to people, I don't want to make them cry. That's why I try to incorporate all sorts of things in there. I haven't been with my mom for almost 10 years now. But ever since I went abroad to Armenia and coming to Canada, I've been saving enough money, and I've been able to build her house. So I'm flying to Uganda tomorrow. Now meet her for the first time in 10 years. So I hope my story will put a smile on your face and inspire you to continue to to the betterment of the millions of refugees, asylum seekers, IDPs, and immigrants in the world. Thank you very much for listening.

Raj Sundar  34:03

Thanks for tuning in again to this special episode of healthcare for humans. A shout out to the society of refugee healthcare providers for making this series possible. I'm grateful to be part of this collaboration, and I hope you all learned a lot from the last three keynotes. I hope James's story touches your heart and leaves you a fresh perspective. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to hit the subscribe button so you can stay connected with our future episodes.

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This podcast is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only views and opinions expressed in this podcast do not represent any of the participants past current or future employers unless explicitly expressed as so always seek advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with regards to your own personal questions about what medical conditions you may be experiencing. This healthcare for humans project is based on Duwamish land and makes a regular commitment to real rent Duwamish