Running away saved my life — but now I run toward something
The postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games gave Olympic runner and South Sudanese refugee Yiech Pur Biel an opportunity to reflect on his life story so far — and the chance to improve his time for 2021.
In this essay, Pur discusses training in America, where he will study and run cross country at university* this fall. He also talks about the three principles that guide his life, what sports taught him about how people respond to unspeakable trauma, and his new role as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
In 2005, when I was 10, armed groups attacked my village one day. We all fled into the bush and I became separated from my parents and siblings. I didn’t know it then, but I wouldn’t speak to my family again for more than 10 years.
That day, I thought I might die. Instead, my life turned around and I overcame many barriers. I became an athlete and competed for the first ever Refugee Olympic Team at the Rio Olympics in 2016 in the 800 meter event. I recently began studying international relations. And since 2016, I have worked as an advocate for refugees, traveling around the world to tell my story to other refugees, world leaders and decision makers.
I was training hard to be selected once again for the Refugee Olympic Team in 2020. Since the Games were postponed, I train day and night to better my time for 2021. My American “mom” bikes ahead of me as I run to keep the pace and to show me the way because I don’t really know my way around the town yet. You never know what path life will put you on.
As you can see, I’ve already made quite a journey.
After I got separated from my family that day, people from the United Nations found me in the bush and brought me to safety at Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. There, football (soccer) became my first love in sports. It helped to distract me from missing family and my home. Early on, I remember being surprised when teammates would fight after losing a football match. But I soon learned they weren’t fighting because of the game. They were dealing with the trauma they had experienced, with something painful they held in their hearts. Maybe they had seen people killed in front of them. Maybe they had seen people do bad things to others. I learned a lot playing football, and I enjoyed being around other young people. I learned how to be part of a team.
But as I grew older, I started to wonder what it would be like to accomplish something on my own. In 2015, when I was 20, Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation and UNHCR organized a 10 km race in the camp. I had no running shoes, but I wanted to participate so I ran barefoot. My feet bled, but I came in third. Afterwards, to my surprise, the organizers asked if I would like to train full time in Nairobi. They told me that if I trained hard, I might even make it to the Refugee Olympic Team. I didn’t even know what the Olympics were, but I was excited to train.
The following year, in June, the coaches gathered us together at the training centre to announce the list of athletes who had made it onto the Olympic team. My name was the first on the list. I felt so happy. I had to look at the ground and close my eyes tight to stop myself from crying.
It was a dream come true to be an Olympian for the first refugee team and make history in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. But it wasn’t the only highlight. One night, via an NGO, I received a call. It was my mother. I could hardly believe it. I hadn’t spoken to her since we were separated though of course I had thought about her many times.
“Are you alive? Are you my son?” She had so many questions. I felt joy and relief. It was like she was right beside me. She and the rest of the family were safe and in South Sudan, living in a different village from the one where I grew up.
When I spoke to my family again after all those years, I told them I would support them and be there for them, but that I also had millions of others counting on me. I had a responsibility to my family in South Sudan, but also to my Kakuma family (the refugees I left behind there), my teammates, and to the nearly 79.5 million displaced people around the world.
These millions of people who have been forced to flee their homes to seek safety…sometimes they lose hope in life. My job as Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR is to be a voice for refugees, as well as for those who are displaced within their own country and for people who are stateless.
I believe in making sure young refugees have access to education and to sport facilities. Sports give young people the chance to lead, to regain their hope and to interact with people with different backgrounds. We had around 19 different nationalities when I was growing up in Kakuma refugee camp! But we came together through football.
I am guided by three principles: hard work, determination and faith in God.
You never know what life has planned for you, but I’ve been fortunate in my life. Now I want to use my own story to advocate for refugees and even, if it’s possible, to inspire others. I have come from nothing, and being surrounded by inspiring people, like the other UNHCR Goodwill Ambassadors, is a blessing for me. But I need to remain humble, and remember that I am doing this for the refugees who look up to me, and for the people who support me.
It’s the start of a new race.
*For privacy and safety reasons, Pur would prefer not to disclose his exact location.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people.
