Stories For Kids Who Dare to be Different

Deng Adut

(Born 1980)

Deng grew up happily on his family’s banana farm in a fishing village beside the river Nile. One day, when he was six, everything changed.

War was raging in Sudan and the generals were desperate for recruits. Soldiers arrived in Deng’s village and dragged him away. For thirty-three days, he marched alongside thirty other children. Some boys were savaged by wild animals. Others were shot. And some boys just fell down dead, unable to carry on without food or water. Deng made it to Ethiopia, where he was shown how to use an AK-47 and forced to fight for the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. He was so small that the first time he fired the gun, it tore his arm out of its socket.

During the fighting, Deng saw and experienced unthinkable things, including children being blown up with grenades and others dying from dehydration. Deng himself was severely wounded and almost bled to death.

Somehow he managed to reunite with his brother, John Mac. By hiding Deng under sacks on the back of a truck, John smuggled him to Kenya. From there, the brothers secured passage to Australia, where they hoped to leave behind the brutality of war and start their lives again.

Deng earned his law degree and became a defense lawyer. He now represents many of the Sudanese population in Australia, often for free. In 2014, John Mac returned to Sudan to try to aid those still trapped there. He died while helping people escape across the Nile River. To make sure John Mac’s never forgotten, Deng has established a charity in his name. The John Mac Foundation aims to educate and empower people whose lives have been torn apart by war.