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"You have to be the father and mother of this family."


Youngjeezy

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Read this inspiring story, about a young man who had fled South Sudan in early 2002


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Peter John Nyarza's father was blindfolded when he cried out to his son: "You have to be the father and mother of the family."


Nyarza has fought to this day to drive the memories of what happened next from his mind.


"Both my father and mother were bayonetted to death in front of us," he says. "My younger brothers and sister and I watched helplessly."


Their town, Maridi in southwest Sudan, was in turmoil in 2002 as the Muslim north fought the resource-rich, Christian-based south.


Barefoot and carrying his one-year-old and four-year-old brothers, 20-year-old Nyarza later led his family through the crocodile-infested jungle for three months.


"My sister was bitten by a boa, we fought off a pack of hyenas who thought we were their next meal and I thought at one point I was going to be killed by lions," he says.


It was as if an icy cold wind had blown through the ballroom of The Westin Hotel on Wednesday when Nyarza told his story this week to more than 500 guests who had come to support NorQuest College at its annual breakfast fundraiser.


Some $518,005 was raised, which will become more than $1 million with an Access to the Future grant.


Nyarza had just finished high school and had planned on going to university when heavily-armed northern Sudanese troops arrived with a commissioner at a school assembly one morning and tried to recruit students to fight against the southern-based Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).


"I was the first to raise my hand and said I wanted to continue my education," said Nyarza. "Six other students followed my lead and we were imprisoned.


"I thought I was going to die. I was beaten with gun butts, cigarettes were stubbed out on my skin and I was taken out blindfolded at night as if I was to be executed."


There was confusion when the SPLA attacked three weeks later and Nyarza escaped and ran home through crossfire -- he has scars to show where he was nicked by bullets -- to find his parents in tears.


His father, a doctor who had worked for the northern-based government, was taken prisoner along with his wife. Nyarza and his siblings were brutally treated by the SPLA until they agreed to back its army.


"I was given a makeshift uniform and a gun," he says. "I was trained for two weeks and told to fetch water and firewood."


One day, he brought his siblings -- sister Joice, 18, brothers William, 16, twins Zechariah and James, 14, Charles, 4, and one-year-old Victor -- and they fled into the jungle.


Nyarza and his family moved only at night and lived off the remains of animal kills.


"We were moving through the jungle one night in total darkness when Joice cried out and said she couldn't move," he says. "I put my brothers down and went back to see what was wrong. I ran my hands down her leg and touched a python.


"I panicked and ran. But I got hold of myself went back and hit the snake with a stone until it released Joice's leg. Fortunately it had just eaten and was heavy. We tried to kill it by lighting a fire around it.


"My sister's leg was swollen and she had to be carried."


One night Nyarza sat down and, exhausted and in desperation, considered either leaving his gun or brothers behind.


"My brothers were crying and wanted food and I had no food to give them," he says. "We had no blankets for warmth. I felt I too tired to carry them. Without a gun I had no defence against wild animals.


"It was a terrible moment. But my mind cleared. I left the gun."


Later, a pack of hungry hyenas closed in on the family and they hurled firewood at them and then lit the grass to drive them away.


Nyarza says the nearest he may having knowingly come to death was when he spotted two lions running toward them.


"My brothers hadn't seen them and I told them to lie down and not to make a sound," he says. "I told them no matter what happened, if I cried or yelled out, they were do nothing but stay hidden.


"I stood up, crossed my arms on my chest and watched as a male lion seemed to try to head off the female. It was strange. I wasn't scared.


"They stopped five metres from me and we stared at each other. I stood tall and told myself 'Peter John is big.' And I began talking to them.


After some minutes, the lions let out a huge roar and walked away.


Sometime later they ran into Pastor William Tong who had been hunting for three days. He held his gun on them as they told him their story.


"He believed God had directed us to him and he prayed before leading us to Kenya and a second house he kept for hiding out should there be armed conflict," says Nyarza."


On February 15, 2002, the pastor took them to a UN refugee camp.


They stayed in several camps and put up with much prejudice from people of other tribes before, in 2003, finding themselves at Dagahaley. There, the next year, they met Elizabeth Cooper, a young Care International worker from Osoyoos, B.C. She admired Nyarza's courage and determination and gave him work as a researcher.


"I didn't want to take advantage of our friendship and waited until the day Elizabeth was to leave before giving her a letter telling of the family's history and our camp tribe troubles," says Nyarza.


"I said we couldn't grow anything in the desert there and Canadian farmers might be able to help us."


The result was that Cooper's lawyer-father co-sponsored the family, along with the Osoyoos Baptist Church. The resort town also "adopted" the family when it arrived in 2006 and helped in many ways.


With his usual drive, Nyarza, who spoke only Arabic, checked out schools and decided NorQuest presented the best opportunities.


He now speaks excellent English and was in tears when he spoke of the dedication of his instructors and the friendships he has among the 10,000 NorQuest College students who speak some 70 languages.


"I plan to begin studying for an undergraduate degree at the U of A next year and will hopefully later study law," he says. "My ambition is to become a Crown prosecutor.


"I believe many of the world's wrongs can be righted where the rule of law is impartially upheld.


"My family are all doing well and are at school or working.


"I just wish my father was alive to see I had kept the silent promise I made to him."


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anyways guys im sorry if u took this seriously, bc this is all a joke. I know the guy who did this lmaooo he did this for publicity. Anyway tho he sure has a wild imagination to make all this up.

until this very day reading this makes me laugh wayyYY too hard :hurr:  :hurr:   

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ITS A HUGE ASS JOKEE, I REMEMBER WHEN MY MOM CONFRONTED PETER LM AO HE WAS LIKE

"YEAH wHO CARES I GOT PUBLICITY"

LOL Peter should study marketing. I reckon he'd be great at it. 

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