Mayar Bona

Mayar Bona, Secretary of Finance

What is your earliest memory?:

“My earliest memory is when I was about 5-6 when our village was attacked and I was separated from my mom and I fled into the woods. When I returned into the village a few days later I found  it was all destroyed and everyone who survived had given up hope about staying there and my parent encouraged me to leave for Ethiopia and nothing was ever the same again.”

How old were you when your village was attacked?

“I was about five to six years.”

Hometown:

Akon, Southern Sudan

What helped you survive?

“On the way to Ethiopia the older kids helped carry me when I became exhausted. When one got tired another picked me up. It was a very far journey.  When we crossed the Nile we had to be in a sort of canoe and I remember all the swarms of mosquitos and the canoe was so tiny and unsafe. But the older kids helped keep me calm until I reached Ethiopia.”

Where do you live now and what do you do?

“I recently returned from serving in Iraq as a marine in the United States Navy. Now I live in Wheaton and I go to the College of DuPage and I am studying architecture.”

Why are you involved with LBRSS?

” I feel it is a call for duty to serve my people and to serve God in order to help others who can’t help themselves.”

What do you want to teach the next generation?

“I want the next generation to not go through what I went through and to have a better chance of survival than my generation had. I want the next generation to make the most education that they are blessed to receive.”

What is your hope for the future?

“I hope Sudan in general will never be the same and that it will move from bad to better and that every Southern Sudanese child will have an opportunity to become educated.”

Testimonials