Inspiring Amala Alumni Stories: Nhial Deng

The third alumnus interviewed for our Amala Alumni series was 21-year-old Nhial Deng based in Kakuma, Kenya. We sat down early one morning with Nhial via Zoom to find out where his journey has taken him since completing the Amala Peacebuilding in your Community course back in 2018. We were thrilled to hear about the exciting opportunities and volunteering roles Nhial has embraced over the last few years. 

What have you been doing since you completed the course(s) with Amala? 

I founded the Refugee Youth Peace Ambassadors in December 2017, a youth-led initiative that works towards enhancing peaceful coexistence between different communities in Kakuma camp and Kaloyebei (a refugee settlement near Kakuma) and building right-minded leaders. Our initiatives have reached more than 1000 young people. I’m also a member of the Amala Youth Advisory Group, where I get to bring the voices of young refugees to Amala to ensure their work is informed by refugees. I also volunteer as the Head of Alumni Association at URISE Initiative for Africa, a community-based organisation in Kakuma and help build a community of changemakers. The Alumni Association is a vibrant multi-cultural community of peacebuilders and social entrepreneurs. 

I volunteered shortly after the Amala course as an outreach volunteer at Global Changemakers, an international youth organisation with an unshakable mission to support youth to create a positive change towards more inclusive, fair, and sustainable communities. As an outreach volunteer on the communications team my role was to help Global Changemakers reach young people in my community. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 some of my roles and work are on pause for the time being. 

How do you feel Amala has helped you with what you have done since you completed the course (s)? 

I think the course really helped me become the best version of myself and I try to improve every single day. The skills that I gained have been incredibly valuable to me - especially the communication and diplomatic ones. I also learnt about techniques to resolve conflict and most significantly, the course helped build my confidence. Having a growth mindset is vital, and has helped me to not dwell on the negatives but instead focus on the positive side of life. This has made me a more resilient person and gives me the strength to keep moving forward. 

Most importantly the communication skills I’ve learnt have helped me a lot – especially with my advocacy work because it’s so very important to be able to express yourself. I’m lucky enough to be in a position to speak for others – and I want to use my position to represent refugees to the best of my capabilities and to engage and educate the world’s perception of refugees. To shift the narrative around the refugee crisis away from images of suffering and devastation towards stories of hope, resilience, creativity and the contributions which I believe can help us rethink the current regime. I believe young refugees like myself have an important contribution to make towards a more just, peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, secure, and sustainable world. 

Are there any other ways that Amala changed you? E.g. In your mindset, thinking, actions towards others?

The most important thing I learned during the Amala Peacebuilding course was about having a fixed or growth mindset. I have chosen a growth mindset because I realised that everything is a learning experience and that aspect helps me to grow a lot both professionally and personally. 

What are your aspirations for the future? 

To one day study international relations at a university in the future is my dream. But when I was a child, my dream was to become a journalist. My dad used to own a small radio and that inspired me. Where I grew up in Ethiopia, we were a minority group because most of us were from South Sudan and there were a lot of human right violations. I started to think that there are so many bad things that happen in certain places that the rest of the world just don’t know about. So, I wanted to be a journalist to shine light on the darkest places across the world. 

When I arrived in Kenya and became a refugee myself and had to leave my country and family,  I found that I could do more for the refugee cause. I wanted to study International Relations to be able to engage with different governments and the private sector to change how people approach the refugee crisis. This I think is my main reason to study because if you put me at that table,I can engage with different people, from different places and on a global level. I would love to use my voice and expertise to draw more attention to young displaced people like myself.

Would you encourage other students that you met along your volunteer journey to look at Amala’s courses?

Yes, I work with URISE and a few other organisations in the camp and sometimes they ask me to go to school and community centres to speak to young people where I’ve been able to share my journey with Amala. I often discuss how the course helped me, taught me new skills and I love being involved with the Amala Youth Advisory Group. My journey with Amala has really been transformative by helping me get to where I am today. I really try everyday to help other young people and refugees find their path so they can go through a similar journey as I believe it’ll help them become more resilient, and encourage them, so they can keep building their dreams.

Have you enjoyed being able to use your voice more confidently since finishing the course?

Yes, because the course helped to improve my communication skills so much. I had just graduated from high school when I joined the Peacebuilding course and it was so transformative and engaging. My Amala course really helped me get my point across. Being able to communicate is important in terms of advocacy and peacebuilding as most cases of violence are caused by misunderstandings and miscommunication. When people can communicate with each other, we’ll have a more peaceful world. I try to put that message across in everything I do, as I believe clear communication is needed across all sectors not just for peacebuilding and leadership. Communication is key.

Have you always wanted to study International Relations and did the Amala course help you as a first step?

Amala played a huge role in creating my dream of studying International Relations because before I did the course, my thinking was limited to only thinking about peacekeeping in the context of places where I came from like the refugee camp. But when I studied the course, I was exposed to endless reasons for peace globally and how it can be built not only locally but also on a global scale. The course gave me a greater understanding and created my desire to study international relations.

Thank you for your time today Nhial, the final question is what would your advice be for other young refugees?

 I think I say this everyday but the few words I live by are dream big, never give up and keep learning. I understand being a refugee isn’t easy as you have to leave your normal life, everything that you have known, your family, your school and village – I even find it hard myself. And it hasn’t always been easy for the young people to overcome the trauma and try to thrive again. That’s why I think courses like Amala’s are so important in this aspect because they help people become more resilient and help people to communicate better. I would encourage young people to keep learning and grab every opportunity that comes their way. I know it’s hard because when I look at life  in the camp you might find a young person who wants to be an engineer, a doctor or pilot but they don’t have access to the resources – so I always advise young people to grab the opportunity with both hands as you don’t know where it might take you next and it may help you reach where you want to be.