Jacob Atem, one of the "Lost Boys of Sudan" who was helped by Lutheran Social Services' refugee foster care program, is raising funds to equip a health clinic in his native village, Maar. Jacob was only 6 when he joined other Lost Boys fleeing from civil war in Sudan. They walked for months across the desert to find refuge in Kenya. Jacob arrived in the U.S. as a refugee in 2001 and became a U.S. citizen in 2009. Now he is a Ph.D. student at the University of Florida and president of the Southern Sudan Healthcare Organization (SSHCO). The organization has built a small clinic in Maar and now hopes to be able to ship a container full of medical supplies there from Chicago. Here's a short video where Jacob talks about his hopes for the clinic.

Ever wonder if your gifts to Lutheran Social Services of Michigan make a difference? They did for Jacob Atem. He arrived in Michigan from a refugee camp in Africa. We gave him a foster home and family through our unaccompanied refugee minor foster care program. Now he is building a health clinic in Sudan and speaking at the United Nations.

“When I was about 6 years old, my parents were killed by Northern Sudanese Arabs militias waging war on Southern Sudan,” Jacob said. “My older cousin, Michael, and I had taken our goats and cows to find grass and water. We heard the attack and saw the smoke from our burning village. From that day on, Michael became my protector. During our thousand-mile journey to Ethiopia, he often carried me on his back for six or seven hours. Michael saved my life many times.”

The two ate mud and dodged lions and bullets. Jacob never lost his faith in God. “I’ve been called a Lost Boy, but I’m not lost from God,” Atem said. He graduated from high school and Spring Arbor University, became an American citizen, and is finishing a Master of Public Health degree from Michigan State University.

He and his friend, Lual Deng, started the nonprofit Southern Sudan Healthcare Organization (www.sshco.org) to raise money and build a medical clinic in Jacob’s home town. “Currently, there is a rusty, bullet-riddled dispensary that managed to survive the war, where the people receive little or no healthcare assistance,” he said.

Jacob recently spoke at the United Nations for a gathering of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and has been invited back. He says he owes everything to Lutheran Social Services of Michigan for the opportunities he’s been given. Help us minister to more people like Jacob with a contribution to Lutheran Social Services of Michigan. Visit our website to contribute online, or call Doug Lachniet at (616) 443-9761. You can make a difference in someone’s life!

Riak Mabil, 23, a refugee from Sudan who was helped by Lutheran Social Services’ refugee foster care program, will graduate from Central Michigan University May 8.

When he was 13, Riak fled his home in Sudan to join older siblings in a refugee camp in Kenya. By the end of the year, he was on his way to America.

Riak had never seen snow. When his plane landed in Chicago, he asked the woman next to him about the strange bits of white stuff on the ground. In Grand Rapids there was snow everywhere. “I was freezing!” he recalled. Members of a local church met him at the airport with winter wear. He had never had to wear gloves before.

Riak’s foster family lived in Charlotte, south of Lansing. “It was a very caring family. They took very good care of me,” he said. Midway through his sophomore year in high school, Riak went to live with his older brother who had come to the U.S. and was living in Grand Ledge. Riak graduated from Grand Ledge High School in 2005.

As a child he dreamed of getting a college degree, and maybe going farther than that. “Lutheran Social Services helped me with that dream,” he said. He is especially close to his caseworker, Sallie Campbell, who is now a supervisor in the refugee foster care program. Riak said, “She reminds me a lot of my own mother. If any of us refugees had a problem, the first person we called was Sallie.”

At CMU, Riak’s studied public health and joined the athletic program as a runner. He has competed in cross country and indoor and outdoor track since 2007. He was named second-team all-conference for cross country in fall 2008 and MAC Indoor Track and Field Champion in the 5000 meter race in 2009.

He wants to become a US citizen and then visit his home town, Duk, in southern Sudan, where many of his family still live. Then he’d like to go to graduate school – maybe even medical school.