Former child soldier David Nyuol Vincent will speak at Williamstown library as part of local activities marking Refugee Week (June 15-21).
Vincent’s book, The Boy Who Wouldn’t Die, tells of his barefoot march across the Sahara from South Sudan to Ethiopia as an eight-year-old.
One of Sudan’s ‘‘Lost Boys’’, Vincent was trained as a child soldier in the Sudan People’s Liberation Army and spent many years in refugee camps before coming to Australia in 2004.
“I’ll be sharing my life story, my journey as a refugee,” he said.
“I left South Sudan when I was eight, lived in a refugee camp in Ethiopia for four years and then had another 12 years in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya.’’
The Lost Boys was a group who fled during Sudan’s second civil war, in 1986-87.
‘‘Most of us were between eight and 10 and we headed down to Ethiopia and then to Kenya,’’ Vincent said.
“We walked from my village in Ethiopia for three months.
‘‘We were scared and didn’t have anything to eat, but then there were a lot of people around … there were some elders who were looking after us.
“There were over 20,000 of us at the end, when we arrived at the final destination.”
The free author talk will be held in the gallery at Williamstown library from 6.15pm on June 18.
Hobsons Bay council will publicly sign a refugee ‘‘welcome zone’’ declaration with the Refugee Council of Australia at Laverton Community Hub at 10am on June 17.
Deputy mayor Colleen Gates said the signing was an official commitment to uphold human rights, demonstrate compassion for refugees and enhance cultural and religious diversity. A talent show will be held after the declaration, with performances from local refugees, asylum seekers and migrants. More than 30 per cent of Hobsons Bay residents were born overseas.
To book for the author talk, phone 1300 462 542.
