Who is Aduei Riak?

Originally from South Sudan, Africa, Riak travelled from country to country across Africa in search of refuge from the civil war that started in her homeland a year before she was born.

In 1987, along with her mother and five siblings, Riak first fled to Ethiopia when the civil war led to a mass exodus from her home country. She lived with her family in a refugee camp for the next several years until they were separated and forced out during a political uprising.

At eight years old, Riak began walking to Kenya with a huge crowd of people, made up of mostly orphan children. She and the others finally found refuge in the Kakuma refugee camp where Riak lived until she was 16 years old. She then relocated to the United States as part of a The Lost Boys and Girls resettlement program.

Aduei arrived in the United States in late 2000 as one of over 4,000 Sudanese refugee Lost Boys and Girls who were relocated in cities across the U.S. Not able to speak much English, she taught herself the English language by watching children's shows such as Sesame Street.

Aduei graduated from Belmont High then attended Brandeis University and in May 2007 graduated with degrees in Anthropology and International & Global Studies. Aduei was presented with the Anthropology Department's first award for "Engaged Anthropology" honoring a distinguished graduate who excelled at intergrading social activism and academic study of Anthropology. Aduei was also named a Justice Louis Brandeis Scholar.

Aduei has also done extensive campaign against Darfur Genocide on college and high school campuses.

Recently Aduei was a keynote speaker along with Condoleezza Rice at the International Women's Leadership Conference hosted by Governor Linda Lingle.

Only 1% of girls in South Sudan graduate high school and Aduei is now starting a foundation to give girls in south Sudan an access to education. Aduei also hopes to attend Law school in Fall 2009.