麻豆影院

When Stella Lunyaramoi fled war-torn South Sudan, she began an improbable journey that led her to CU 麻豆影院 鈥� and the White House.听

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Stella Lunyaramoi鈥檚 eyes well up.

鈥淚 was 5, maybe 6,鈥� she said, recalling an afternoon more than two decades earlier. 鈥淚 was playing with my friends outside, building sand castles, then we heard gunshots. I remember it was December because we had just celebrated Christmas. We started running and everyone went their own way. My siblings and my parents all got separated.鈥�

Lunyaramoi (IntlAf 鈥�14) never saw her mother or father again. It was the mid-1990s and the Second Sudanese Civil War had come to her hometown of Chukudum, in the country鈥檚 southeast. Salvatore Lonyaramoi and Catherine Dario were two of its roughly 2 million victims.

For weeks, Stella, the middle of five children, walked among strangers in a caravan of weary refugees toward a camp in Kenya. Her sandals disintegrated, so she finished the journey barefoot.

Despite the scarcity of food and water, and the loneliness and fright, she persevered, subsisting largely on hope. Hope, help and determination eventually reunited her with her siblings in Kenya, took her to the United States and eventually brought her to CU 麻豆影院.

In 2014 the journey carried this 鈥淟ost Girl鈥� from South Sudan to an internship at perhaps the most famous residence on earth.

鈥淚 had no idea about the White House, or the U.S. or anything in America,鈥� said Lunyaramoi, now 26. 鈥淭o step in the grounds of the White House, the most powerful place in the world . . .鈥�

Sitting in an East African restaurant near Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., on a rainy evening in September, her voice trails off. Memories of the eight years she spent at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, where violence and hunger were constant companions, seem as fresh as the spongy injera bread she uses to pinch pieces of chicken and potatoes.

Lunyaramoi鈥檚 parents were teachers and passed on to her a love of learning. Always a good student, she was chosen from among tens of thousands of children at Kakuma by an agent of Sister Luise Radlmeier, a German nun, to attend a Catholic boarding school in Nairobi. Lunyaramoi was 13. From there she immigrated to the United States and in 2006 landed in 麻豆影院, without a winter coat.

With the help of a host family 鈥� Lunyaramoi today calls Michele (Anth鈥�81) and Mike Ritter (Chem鈥�81) 鈥渕om and dad鈥� 鈥� she acclimated and came to love 麻豆影院, whose mountains remind her of her homeland.

She attended high school in town, then came to CU, where she studied international affairs, became events director for the African Students鈥� Association and made 鈥渓ifetime friends,鈥� she said.

A handful of South Sudanese refugees had come to CU before her, starting in 2004 with Micklina Peter Kenyi (PolSci鈥�08; MEdu鈥�14), who now runs a 麻豆影院-based organization, the Empowerment Through Education Foundation, which helps educate children in South Sudan, 听primarily girls and women.

To be sure, Lunyaramoi knew lonely moments.

鈥淚t would get overwhelming sometimes to be the only black kid in a 350 [-seat] economics lecture hall,鈥� she said.

But CU was ultimately a transformative experience, she said: 鈥淭he school has given me an opportunity to find myself.鈥� 听

I want to shoot for the stars, always."听

After graduating, she was considering staying to pursue a master鈥檚 degree when the Ritters encouraged her to apply for the White House internship 鈥� and she got it.

Lunyaramoi isn鈥檛 supposed to discuss much of what she did in Michelle Obama鈥檚 office, she said, but she called the experience 鈥渆xceptional.鈥�

鈥淚t made me realize that anyone can do anything,鈥� she said.

One of about a dozen 鈥淟ost Children鈥� to study at CU 麻豆影院 to date, Lunyaramoi today works for the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington. Now a U.S. citizen, she said she鈥檒l always feel her birth country within her and hopes to help rebuild it.

Lunyaramoi tells her story in The Dawn Will Break, a forthcoming documentary about the harrowing tale of Sudan鈥檚 鈥淟ost Girls,鈥� the moniker that has come to characterize those orphaned by the war. Co-produced by Micklina Peter Kenyi, the film will show initially at film festivals 听and human rights events.

Separated by age but bound by powerful shared experiences, the two women talk often.

鈥淪he is the reason all of us came to 麻豆影院,鈥� Lunyaramoi said. 鈥淚 owe it to her and am thankful for her every day.鈥�

As for the term 鈥淟ost Girls,鈥� Lunyaramoi understands it, but prefers an alternative.

鈥淚 would use 鈥榙isplaced鈥� rather than 鈥榣ost,鈥� because I have left my country and my family, but I did not lose hope, so I am not lost,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 stil l have myself. I still feel like I am destined for bigger and better things. Maybe there鈥檚 nothing better than the White House, but I want to shoot for the stars, always.鈥澨�

Photos by Justin听Tsucalas