Alum profile: Jacob Deng Garang Akech
Deng Garang Akech Kuch (later to be known as Jacob) started believing in God because he could see no other way of surviving. Now, he can’t believe how far his faith has taken him.
Growing up, Deng Garang Akech Kuch was surrounded by a metaphorical darkness every day. Illness, disease, violence, loneliness, fear.
Born in South Sudan in 1977, he was taken from his family at age nine to live in the Dimma Refugee Camp in Western Ethiopia. He had been recruited to the Red Army during the Second Sudanese Civil War and became one of thousands of unaccompanied minors who were forced to build a life in the camp.
Deng was moved to the refugee camp with his sister to pursue an education in line with government orders at the time. Life, he says, was difficult. He was so young and so far from home.
CRICOS Provider No: 01037A (University of Divinity)