Young Refugee Finds Hope

from the Santa Ynez Valley Journal

A story of a Sudan refugee that is trying to make it to America. - Kale

Outside of Juba, the regional capital of Southern Sudan, small villages dot the savannah woodlands and the lush, green forests of acacia, mango and palm trees.

Once, cattle, coffee beans, sorghum, and peanuts thrived in the black-topped red clay soil, and fueled an agrarian economy. Prosperous farmers, tranquility and physical beauty might suggest a comparison to the Santa Ynez Valley.

But two civil wars, from 1953 to 1972 and from 1983 to 2005, ravaged the region, as government-led Muslim militia from the North fought the predominantly Christian South for control of lucrative oil profits. Four million Southerners were displaced and two million were killed in the second civil war. The tranquil beauty was darkened by clouds of smoke as villages were set on fire and the inhabitants killed. Between 30,000 and 100,000 Southerners took refuge in Cairo, Egypt, but — unable to work legally or to attend school — they face a bleak future there.

Sandra Tombe is lucky; the 16-year-old won a partial scholarship to Dunn School, and arrived in the Santa Ynez Valley on Aug. 10.

Life has been difficult for Tombe; in her native village of Oumharaz in Southern Sudan, her Christian family suffered persecution under the country’s Muslim government. During her childhood, the war unfolded; she saw entire towns set on fire, children taken into slavery, men, women and children beaten and killed. When soldiers came four years ago looking for her father, the family fled to Cairo, taking nothing but the clothes on their backs.

Slum living, poor pay in Cairo

Newly arrived African asylum seekers live in abject poverty in Cairo, many in slum areas with neither plumbing nor electricity, with dirt floors and one bathroom for an entire building. Tombe’s mother like most Sudanese women, found work as a maid in a private home for less than $5 a day. Tombe’s father left the family and never returned; since then her mother has supported her five children on income averaging $40 a week.

Tombe is an avid reader, and always dreamed that one day she would go to college. Egypt’s government-run schools are free, but overcrowded and scantily supplied, and are only for legally recognized refugees and citizens. Most refugees hold yellow cards, which indicate that they are in the process of applying for official refugee status. Few possess the coveted blue card, which entitles families to a stipend and, at least in theory, gives refugee children the right to enroll in school.

Most refugees attend education centers housed in church compounds, because even with blue-card status, refugees must present previous school records and a letter from their embassy in order to enroll. Families who fled on a moment’s notice, or whose schools were burned, have no records, and a visit to the Sudanese embassy means identifying yourself to officials of the same government from which these families fled.

Tombe was lucky; her mother enrolled her in St. Andrew’s Education Center, a small school in a church compound with a British-American curriculum. It is Cairo’s only secondary school to teach entirely in English.

Despite the prejudice that African asylum seekers in Cairo face — insults and injuries akin to what African Americans suffered in the Jim Crow South — Tombe survived by focusing on her schoolwork. She quickly became the top student at St. Andrew’s, and the star of her school basketball team.

Dunn alumna takes Tombe in hand

In her second year of high school, Tombe took a writing workshop for young refugees at the American University in Cairo. Her instructor, Brooke Comer, who grew up in the Santa Ynez Valley and graduated from Dunn School, already had helped another talented young Sudanese student and a friend of Tombe’s, Nyuol Tong, get a scholarship to Dunn. She recognized Tombe’s talent and hard work, and suggested that she audit university writing classes.

Tombe’s professors noted her excellent work and helped her apply for a full university scholarship, which she won. It is not uncommon for students to enter Egyptian universities at 15, but Tombe was denied admission because she had no legitimate high school diploma. Comer then helped her to apply for a scholarship to Dunn, and found a host family — Bill and Lillie Shelly of Janin Acres.

Lillie Shelly, who worked in Juba, has both a knowledge of, and an interest in, the Sudanese culture. Nyuol already had distinguished himself at Dunn as a scholar, athlete, and poet, and the school’s nurturing community and rich, challenging curriculum seemed ideal for a motivated student to prove herself.

Then a new obstacle emerged; acquiring a U.S. visa. Even when Tombe was admitted to Dunn and given a partial scholarship, she had no identification papers. Child refugees enter Egypt from Sudan on a mother’s passport. Even when Tombe applied for and received her own Sudanese passport, she needed a one year Egyptian residency permit to claim a U.S. visa. To claim the permit, she needed to be enrolled in a recognized school—but had this been possible, she would not have needed the residency permit in the first place.

Tombe looks to future

Fortunately, the University Provost and connections at the U.S. Embassy helped Tombe get the permit, and she was able to receive her visa. Now she has a chance to complete her education and fulfill her dreams. She looks forward to studying literature and politics and art.

Tombe grew up in a compound of 17 concrete houses surrounded by a fence of green trees. She had seen few trees since her move to Cairo’s vast, urban sprawl, but she’s looking forward to becoming re-acquainted with nature in Santa Ynez. She’s excited by this chance to go to a school with a library, to studying literature and politics.

She’d like to own an iPod. But most of all, she looks forward to being accepted in a community of peace and tolerance.

Interested valley residents can help make Tombe’s dreams come true by making a donation to the Los Olivos Rotary. They are looking for 150 “Angels” to donate $50 apiece to contribute to her living and educational expenses for one year.

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