Returning for learning

Franco Majok says education saved his life -- literally. It was his reading and other skills that helped him escape the civil war in Sudan as a young man and later to survive as a refugee.

So when Majok visited his home village of Wunlang a year ago and saw the local school's "classroom" -- a patch of dirt beneath a tree -- he was moved to action.

Now he is on a mission to provide the young people of his village with the learning opportunities that proved so valuable to him.

Following his visit in December 2005, Majok initiated a fund drive back home in Lynn to build a school in Wunlang, and to provide it with basic supplies.

"They don't have a physical building," he said. "There are no school supplies. Not a pen, a pencil, nothing."

Since November, when he learned during a return visit that Wunlang's only well was no longer working, Majok has expanded his project to include digging a new one to serve the school and the rest of the village.

His 2005 visit marked his first return to Wunlang since he fled in 1983, beginning a 15-year odyssey that took him to Sudan's capital, Khartoum; to Egypt; and finally to a new life in Lynn, said Majok, who estimates his age at 43 or 44.

When he grew up, Majok was one of the few children in Wunlang to attend the area's only school, which was in a nearby village.

He said being able to read and write helped him use maps and signs to navigate his way to Khartoum.

The experience taught him that "education is everything," said Majok, who with his wife, fellow southern Sudan native Awadia Kuwal, has three boys.

"Kids in my village, if they get the opportunity to attend school, one day they could be the leaders of their community," said Majok, who is undertaking the project with the help of his church, the First Lutheran Church of Lynn, and of a friend, Ron Moulton of Bedford, who accompanied him on his last trip to Sudan.

Majok has raised about $61,000 so far for his project, with hopes of collecting another $45,000 to cover remaining costs. Villagers already are making the bricks needed for the school.

The goal is to have the school erected and the well in operation before the start of the rainy season in May.

In addition to his own church, which will host a fund-raiser for the project on March 10, Majok is reaching out to other local churches for contributions.

"It takes a lot of his time and energy," said the Rev. Karen Safstrom, pastor of First Lutheran of Lynn.

Majok is "very quiet but very thoughtful and very insightful" and someone known to lend a helping hand -- both in Lynn and in Sudan, Safstrom said. "People come to him with their problems."

As the first Sudanese immigrant to join the church, he also has helped attract other Sudanese families, and to make the church's social hall a place for social events for the Sudanese community.

According to Majok, six or seven Sudanese families, and a few more individuals, now belong to the church.

Majok grew up on his family's farm in Wunlang, which is in the Bhar Al Gazal region of southern Sudan. The family kept a cow and chickens, and grew vegetables.

As a young boy, he witnessed firsthand the civil war between northern and southern Sudan. The first stage of the war lasted from 1955 to 1972.

Because his father was targeted by northern troops, the family often fled into hiding.

When the war resumed in 1983, Majok, his father, and three brothers fled for safety from northern troops (his mother died when he was young). As was typical with many families, they scattered, with Majok making his way alone to Khartoum.

Although the city is in the north, Majok did not feel especially threatened. He worked in a juice factory and was able to attain his high school diploma. But when the war intensified in 1988, he decided to leave.

Securing a visa at the Egyptian embassy, he reached Cairo by train, and a boat across the Nile.

"It was a very tough life," he recalled of his years in Egypt, where there were few opportunities for Sudanese.

Majok was able to get a job as office manager of a Lutheran church, where he also learned English and computer skills. Also during those years, he and his wife married and had their first child. In 1997, he gained permission for his immediate family, along with four nephews and nieces, to immigrate to the United States. Arriving in 1998, they settled in Lynn with the help of a relief agency.

Since 2000, Majok has been a case worker for Lutheran Community Services of Newton, assisting some of the area's "Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan," refugees who fled the country by foot in the 1980s. Because his arrival in the United States predated theirs, Majok is considered an elder in the local Sudanese community.

Two events prompted Majok to visit Sudan in 2005: He became a US citizen that year, which removed the legal obstacles, and the civil war ended. But Sudan remains a country of conflict; the United Nations, using figures from the Coalition for International Justice, has estimated about 400,000 deaths, with as many as 2.5 million people displaced from their homes in Darfur since 2003, when government forces and allied militias began fighting rebel groups seeking more autonomy in the western region of the country.

Stepping foot again in his village after nearly 23 years was "an amazing experience," said Majok, who at first did not recognize anyone.

Eventually, he found some familiar faces, including his two brothers. His third brother was killed in the war and his father died in 2001.

Majok began his fund drive for the school soon after his return to Lynn.

He was joined by Moulton, a board member with a local group that provides scholarships and technological support for area Sudanese refugees.

"It turned out to be a professional partnership, but it also gave me a link to Sudan I had been looking for," said Moulton, who hopes to pursue relief opportunities for his organization in that country.

Eventually, Majok would also like to build a farm to provide food for the school and an opportunity for students to learn business skills.

He also wants to locate a health clinic in the school, provide uniforms, and provide funding for salaries and a residence for teachers, who currently volunteer their services.

To donate to the Wunlang project, send a check to the First Lutheran Church, 280 Broadway, Lynn 01980, and write "Wunlang School" on the memo line, or visit helpwunlang.org.