what?
Okay forget it. Full battery. Okay so uh so we're talking about you
leaving Egypt. And so um so did you go then to England for a time? No uh
that was her goal to balance her goal was to get us to Egypt. So when she
used to come see us used to come and spend time with their home school as
because you know she was yeah she was home schooled in english you know
that's where I actually basically I learned A. B. CS. For my aunt yeah
from home and she was teaching and other cousins and the cousin that we're
going to school, she used to do the same thing basically every night she
was very structured well mannered so every night we all sit together,
nobody goes out before dinner you know and it was kind of easy transition
because we lived in Sudan uncle does the same thing. My uncle, her sister
, older brother. Uh huh You know half brother because she had a different
mom and and then okay so my dad's side,
there's three of them. Yeah quite a few white, its normal from his culture
so from my dad's side it was her, she was the oldest from their mom time
and then my are the one who's been here with us and my dad was the
youngest. Okay. Yeah but from her some other siblings. Uh huh my uncle um
who's a different mother but you know same fathers are that's why I didn't
check. Um So when you can but when she would come uh it sounds like she
would stay awhile. she would stay awhile, three months or three months I
think the longest she stayed was about five months. Okay so that's quite a
state. You still write stage. She stayed there the first time she came she
stayed there just to kind of get to know. Yeah, while she was there she
would be home schooled. Yeah he's comfortable coming to us, all of us, you
know the rest of the family. And when you were in Egypt, did you not go to
a regular school? Well we went to school, we went to school but it was the
school they were teaching like in English there were you know more
expensive and it was pretty expensive to get into and a lot of the kids
that were there if you don't have the funding, I mean. Mhm. Not only does
that one, there's quite a few Children, it's so it was a private school,
you had a private, yeah there's public school but also their fees fees for
each term. Yeah because you didn't know how long we're going to be. Uh and
there and how long the process is gonna take. So basically we just and my
cousin, the older one Rocky, we're in like uh middle school formed 78,
there were you know, you're the best, so then you, so at what point then
was she didn't get you to England but she she figure out some way then to
have you come back. I heard that the reason we didn't go to England
because her goal was to get all of us and we're a big family. Yeah. My mom
and her sister alone. She has
five Children. Huh?
And then my uncle, there were four of my uncle Children besides the ones
that were uh in Sudan. So we're a big family in your answer. You wanted to
keep the family together. You wanted to keep the family together. And I
believe the reason we didn't go to England is that England didn't accept
because they said that the family were a required a family of four. They
have a cap right max for the max. Yeah. And she said, no, it wasn't a good
idea to separate us. Right. What was the what was the claim though that
she made about why you deserved refugee status in England? Was it because
um she felt And your family felt that if you return to South Sudan or
stayed in Sudan, that you would be persecuted
alone. She was not a lot of Sudan since she left. And she never went back
in 20005 piece. They were trying. That was the first time in her life,
going back to going back to school. So she was the government knew about
her, She knew about. And did she feel as if when she returned, if she
returned that she would be jailed jail and that's what was happening to
majority people, a lot of people and if you get jail, if you don't get
killed. Well, if you don't get killed, you basically jail, right? And
sometimes people heard that her and used a lot of people disappear, go to
jail and just don't, nobody knows where you are and why did they target
her? Was she politically active? Was she was afflicted action. But they
will go after the family of the member who was practically active. So
somebody was active. They might go after family members. Yeah, that's kind
of comedy and see how many and and did she feel maybe she expressed this
to you and your family that she knew that she could not return? She also
knew that I was worried that the government knew that you were related to
her. So she felt that you weren't safe simply by being family. Because I
heard there was like they were going on and people being, they said that
the middle of the night, military, go to house to house people being
killed
if he spoke out against the government, you know, don't come in the middle
of the night and get you. So that was the things that was happening. So
there was a lot of crack. Yeah. So when when did you leave? Egypt, We left
? Egypt in 98, and where did you go from? Each? We came here in Phoenix
and came straight to Phoenix. Did you fly directly to Phoenix? Well, we
did connection I think we went I believe in Chicago and chris there. I
think we spend a night or new york. Okay at night in new york. And you
were how old? Um by 10. So you left Cairo and flew straight to the United
States. Did you know that you were coming to the United States? As a
matter of fact matter of fact I was always the first one to wake up every
morning and marked the calendar once our our departure status was approved.
Okay what's your status where our standard was approved? They give us a
date. Um So that day everybody my aunt wrong is up and she was because you
know so when they give you this booklets Sounds you everything about
America a book about. Yeah it has the statue of liberty on the cover. Yeah
it tells you about America and they used to read it to us every night. Oh
kind of transplant. This is what you expect it. This booklet provided by
whom the U. S. Government? It was through a refugee status. That basically
gives you, Yeah they would read it to you. What did you when you before
you know that day came and you left and you were there at the family and
they were reading you this book. What did you imagine the United States
would be like um did you have an image in your head about the United
States Or maybe not not really because I thought, you know, living from
transitioning from food to Egypt was to me it was, that was it, you know,
I didn't, I did have like, okay, what is going to be? It wasn't, I was
excited, you know, excited for a new journey, you know, something
different family talking about, it's going to be like the family excited
country, all white, you know, that was it. And then, and I thought it was
gonna be a country that was all white. Yeah, just white people, you know,
but
you know, so I I would wake up every morning before everybody else and I
would mark the calendar marked the dates, you know, he did. Okay. So did
your family talk about what they thought it was going to be like to come
to the United States? Yeah, she did address some of these issues and what
kind of things like, you know, working hard, going to school become,
educate yourself basically. So someday you can go back home and do
something better. This is your aunt, you can do something for your
community. Uh, yeah, it sounds like your aunt, if she was not politically
involved as a, as a a an opponent actively against the government. She was
definitely very aware of the politics, were informed of the politics and I
think that was her way because her husband was in that movie, he was in
politics. Her husband was, everybody, a lot of people from my spell knew
he was, as soon as you say his name, everybody knew who he was and where
did he live? He lives in the south. They actually had a few houses that
even today and while in boom and I believe way deep and this area
juba he had like Like a story house in Juba and I know she was trying to
hear what big house there was actually um yeah it was built but it wasn't
complete because that's what they were working. So she went back 2005 she
tried she tried to like you know kind of secure it because it's a big land
but her husband, her husband, her house, her house. Yeah what what
happened to him? He was he got killed he was killed he was killed okay
when they captured him you know after the capture and he was coming I
remember she said that he was coming back from England and two routed to
Ethiopia and from Uw but they captured, they captured him in Ethiopia.
Yeah and the government, he was detained by the government at the time. Oh
yeah and then he was like that's what Sudanese were. Sudan was huge. Yeah
for that because I heard a lot of people killed, three captured disappear.
Nobody knows where you are. Mhm. I was that was Rogers so he was jailed
and then killed or they actually never. Yeah he was I heard that he was
detained and then nobody knew what happened. So basically that's what
happened to this actually. Okay. So he was politically involved
something and they knew that of course, and targeted him. But then she of
course could not visit right reasons. Right? And I think, I think most of
it was because, you know, during the break, a lot of centers that were
militarily active, they were, you know, they were good southerners and
transfer the crop tool, they get trained and then they stationed them, you
know, different areas. Okay? So when the war started in the south, they
wanted those people to go and fight the south. So, you know, kind of your
own people, your own family, you know, and that's the majority of people
will fight. So the government, you're saying the regime would bring people
from the south train them militarily. And then when the conflict started.