By Nyambega Gisesa

NAIROBI, 30 January 2010 (Sunday Nation) -“I love Kenya. I’m not the only one. Many Sudanese also like studying in Kenyan schools and universities because of the quality education,” he told the Sunday Nation. Malong came to the country after the death of South Sudan leader Dr John Garang, ignoring persistent calls from his father to join prestigious universities in the US and the UK.

Unlike Malong, Garang Mareng’ was only 10 when he came to Kenya as a refugee from Sudan in 1992. Never in his wildest dreams could Mareng’, a refugee, envisage finishing school. “Life was about getting basic needs such as food and shelter,” he recalls.

Nearly two decades later, he has gone through the Kenyan education system and in June this year, he will earn his Bachelor of Commerce degree from KCA University. He is also a holder of a CPA-K from the same institution.

“I am ready to go back and play a part in my country’s development,” Mareng’ says. When he ran away from his country, he swore never to go back but his change of heart has been influenced by the relative peace and stability in the country following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Kenya in 2005.

“I would like to go back and seek a job there, preferably with the National Bank of Sudan,” he said after concluding the South Sudan Students’ Association annual meeting recently in the city. At least 50 Sudanese students turned up for the meeting. The association aims at bringing the Sudanese students in Kenya together and to liaise between the students and the Government of Southern Sudan. It is estimated that there are at least 2,000 Sudanese studying in Kenya.

Speaking at the meeting, their chairman Garang Malong-Awan condemned the recent killings of Kenyans in South Sudan.  “Kenyans are good people. They are good hosts to us. We don’t want anything that might jeopardise our stay here,” the third year journalism student at the University of Nairobi said.

The meeting at the Komarock Grace of God Church was called to deliberate on the challenges they face as foreign students in Kenya.  Ever since Sudan, Africa’s largest country, attained its independence in 1956, it has been ravaged by intermittent wars, the longest running from 1983 to 2003.

Two million people have died in the wars, with the Darfur region still recovering from a genocide that nearly claimed half a million lives.

Because of the absence of peace, the country lacks proper learning facilities, adequate qualified personnel and other infrastructure. Consequently, many young men and women are flocking to neighbouring countries such as Kenya and Uganda to pursue an education.

According to World Vision, school enrolment in South Sudan is the second lowest in the world after Afghanistan.  UNFPA estimates that literacy rates in South Sudan stand at a paltry 24 per cent.

Literacy rates

In addition, gender discrepancies are quite pronounced in South Sudan compared to the North. For instance, literacy rates for male and females in Northern Sudan stand at 71 per cent and 52 per cent respectively. In the South, they stand at 37 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively.

Now the students in Kenya want their government to work towards achieving full stability and embark on rebuilding the country.