MEDIA RELEASE

Monday 3 October 2011

WAR CHILDREN: Singer Emmanuel Jal and friend open up about their incredible lives as child soldiers and refugees

Emmanuel Jal is a world-renowned hip-hop artist, refugee advocate and peace activist. This former child soldier was abandoned by his family before fighting in ’s brutal civil war. He’s performed at Live 8 and at Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday celebrations. He’s addressed the United Nations and the US Congress, and released a documentary and film about his life, both called War Child. His fourth album will be released later this year. (Here’s a clip of his latest single, We Want Peace. The clip features personalities including Alicia Keys, George Clooney, Peter Gabriel, Kofi Annan, Jimmy Carter and Sir Richard Branson.)

But before Emmanuel found fame, even before he was recruited to go to war at around the age of nine by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), he had a close friend called David Nyuol Vincent. Their shared story of violence, horror and hope is so remarkable, it almost defies belief.

Having both fled their war-torn homeland in the south of Sudan, Emmanuel and David met as young children in a refugee camp in , where they lived for a number of years and became inseparable friends. (David appears regularly alongside Emmanuel in the footage of the camp that features in War Child). Conditions there were dire: outbreaks of cholera killed many of their friends and food was scarce. Because their English was stronger than that of their peers, the two boys were often called on to speak on behalf of the group when representatives from the UN Refugee Agency came to inspect conditions in the camp. It was here that both boys trained as child soldiers, but only Emmanuel was eventually sent to the front line. In 1991, war broke out in Ethiopia and both boys were forced to flee back to their homeland, braving heavy crossfire on the way. Each assumed the other hadn’t survived the journey.

In 2007, three years after David migrated to Australia, his friends were talking about a south Sudanese singer and human rights activist called Emmanuel Jal who was achieving big things internationally. David made contact via Facebook, and each was thrilled to hear the other was still alive. They’ve since renewed their friendship, and together founded Sudanese Summit, a peace and community building forum held in Sudan prior to this year’s referendum, in which it was voted that would become an independent nation.

David Vincent first knocked on the door of the Brotherhood of St Laurence in 2005 to ask for help in finding employment. He now coordinates the Breakfast Club program at the Brotherhood’s Napier Street Child and Family Resource Centre in Melbourne. The program gives (mainly) migrant children and their families a great start to the school day with a nutritious breakfast and fun activities. Breakfast Club is just one of the many facilities, programs and services the Brotherhood operates and delivers to help refugees and newly arrived migrants re-settle and build new lives in Australia. Others include the Ecumenical Migration Centre (EMC), the Refugee Children’s Settlement Program, Given the Chance, Stepping Stones, the Homework Centre and the African Australian Centre.

One of the world’s most recognised refugees, Emmanuel Jal is a supporter of the Brotherhood’s work with the refugee community in Australia. He will be visiting various programs during his Australian tour in October.

The Brotherhood of St Laurence proudly presents An Evening of Brotherhood with Emmanuel Jal on Tuesday 18 October at 6.00pm at the Collingwood Town Hall. A screening of the critically acclaimed film of Emmanuel’s extraordinary life will be followed by an audience Q&A with Emmanuel Jal and David Vincent. The two will also speak candidly about their shared childhood experiences and about refugee issues in general.

(Please see over the page for event details and bios of Emmanuel Jal and David Vincent)

EMMANUEL JAL AND/OR DAVID VINCENT ARE AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW. Please contact Peta Levett at the Brotherhood of St Laurence on (03) 9483 1329 or [email protected] www.bsl.org.au

ABOUT EMMANUEL JAL

Internationally acclaimed hip-hop artist and peace activist Emmanuel Jal estimates he was born sometime in the early 1980s in the south of Sudan. At the age of seven, his family was forced repeatedly to flee their small village as Sudan’s civil war moved closer. At this time, Jal was separated from his mother, later learning she had been killed. Acting on the orders of both the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and his father who fought in its ranks, he joined thousands of other children on the treacherous walk from Sudan to Ethiopia to begin his life as a refugee and child soldier. He arrived at Pinyudu refugee camp, where he says “human misery knew no bounds”. It was here he met his good friend, David Nyuol Vincent, received basic schooling and trained to fight. When he was chosen to fight in Sudan’s civil war at the age of nine, he learned to “sleep with one eye open” and endured daily beatings and other cruelties. Jal suffered years of trauma and hardship, witnessing the deaths of friends and family members, toting a gun he could barely carry, and at times teetering on the brink of starvation or suicide. That he survived these years fighting in Ethiopia and Sudan is remarkable. He was eventually rescued from this existence by British aid worker Emma McCune, who smuggled him to . Devastated by Emma’s death in a car accident when he was 13, it was another seven years before he started making his music of revolution and redemption. He has since made three albums, but cites his biggest accomplishments as those related to his tireless activism and advocacy. These include his work as a spokesperson for Make Poverty History, the founding of his own charity, Gua Africa, and current campaign, We Want Peace.

ABOUT DAVID NYUOL VINCENT (read an entry from David here on the Brotherhood’s blog)

When David Vincent was just four years old, civil war forced him and his father to flee their village in the south of Sudan, leaving the rest of their family behind. It would be another 22 years before he would see his mother again. On the three-month trek to Ethiopia, David vividly recalls seeing corpses littering the roadside and children travelling solo being killed by wild animals. On reaching Pinyudu refugee camp, he was temporarily separated from his father. The camp was to be David’s home for the next four years, and where he met Emmanuel Jal. Both boys trained here to become child soldiers, and were lucky to survive the camp’s desperate conditions. In 1991, the outbreak of war in Ethiopia forced those in the camp to flee once again. Crossing into Sudan, they encountered heavy gunfire. David lost sight of his father and Emmanuel, and not learning of their whereabouts for many years, he assumed both had been killed. David lived with other refugees in an underground tunnel system to avoid shelling by the northern government’s military forces. Aid agencies were forbidden to help them and many starved to death. Deciding the situation was too perilous, David joined many others in the journey from Sudan to northern . David spent 13 years here, living in Kakuma refugee camp (which featured in the 2011 SBS TV series, Go Back to Where You Came From). David arrived in Australia on a humanitarian visa in 2004, and like most refugees, struggled with re-settlement issues. The Brotherhood of St Laurence helped him to find his feet, and he began volunteering with its Breakfast Club program, which he now coordinates. He now works full time for the Brotherhood, helping refugees like himself to start their lives over and process their often traumatic pasts. David holds a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Political Science from the University of Melbourne. He is in regular contact with his family in Sudan.

WHAT: AN EVENING OF BROTHERHOOD WITH EMMANUEL JAL. Join us as Emanuel Jal reflects on his incredible journey from young refugee and child soldier to internationally renowned hip-hop artist and human rights activist. The event will feature a screening of War Child, the documentary film of Jal’s life, a meet-and-greet with the star and the chance to hear him in conversation with friend and Brotherhood staff member, David Nyoul Vincent, followed by an audience Q&A session. Drinks and snacks on arrival. WHEN: Tuesday 18 October 2011 at 6.00pm WHERE: Collingwood Town Hall, 140 Hoddle Street, Abbotsford COST: $25 ($20 concession). BOOKINGS: Please visit www.bsl.org.au (bookings essential) or call (03) 9483 1301

EMMANUEL JAL AND/OR DAVID VINCENT ARE AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW. Please contact Peta Levett at the Brotherhood of St Laurence on (03) 9483 1329 or [email protected] www.bsl.org.au