Sudan

November 4, 2011 - 12:44am
As Paul Ariik dragged an AK-47 on Sudanese soil, he never imagined he'd one day earn both a bachelor's and a master's degree in America.

Weeks after 9/11, a plane landed in New York City. On board was Paul Ariik, a 21-year-old Sudanese Lost Boy. As the plane began its descent, Ariik looked out the window. It was nighttime and he thought he was seeing fireflies on a river. The fireflies were in fact the New York City skyline. Ariik had never been in a plane or even a city before. In fact, the first time he saw a telephone, refrigerator or even traffic lights was hours after this very flight.

April 20, 2011 - 8:42pm
A Sudanese refugee living in Syracuse escaped the violence in his home country, but remains haunted by the horrors he witnessed.

To live in Sudan is to live at war.

Guerilla soldiers draw their battle lines through towns, homes and human lives; lines that tear the country apart.

Fifty years of civil war have split the country in two. In half a century, the war has taken two million lives and left more than four million others homeless.

On Jan. 9, 2011, the Sudanese had the chance to break that cycle of violence.

November 5, 2009 - 7:07pm
After a yearlong job search, Bail Chol, a deaf Sudanese immigrant, has found a home at Funk 'n Waffles.

Hands have been whirling about for the past two months in a kind of frenzy at Funk 'n Waffles, and not because they were making food.

Those hands belong to Bail Chol, a Sudanese immigrant who was born deaf.

Since Funk 'n Waffles opened almost three years ago, the co-owners, SU alumni Adam Gold and Kyle Corea, have had 20 employees that fit the relaxed, funky style of their restaurant.  Chol is the first with a disability, they said.