14 June, 2012 2:08PM ACDT

From war torn Sudan to the streets of Adelaide

When he was eight years old, Celian Kidega and his family fled their home village in Southern Sudan with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.

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"We ran.

"We took ourselves and our lives only," he recalls.

The war had found his home.

Government and rebel forces fought heavily around his village.

What once was a life of playing simple games of hide and seek in the streets, had become a life of find places to hide for survival.

"The government intensified their aerial bombardment."

Daily life changed dramatically.

"You didn't know whether you would be sleeping under a roof or where you would be the next sunset."

Schools were closed and men and women were compulsorily recruited to help the rebel forces.

"There were a lot of cases of violence, particularly violence against women."

As rebel fighters hid throughout their village, Celian and his family decided they must leave their home when the government soldiers approached.

"If their troops overcome the rebels, almost everyone was a victim.

"You would either be killed or taken for slavery."

His life for the next two decades would see him bounced from refugee village to village, through places like Juba, Uganda and Somalia, before being sponsored for a university placement in Nairobi.

Leaving home

Celian's first stop was a refugee village in the Southern Sudan city of Juba.

The village was overcrowded with people fleeing the war.

People from different villages and tribes, in a confined area.

People who were grieving the loss of family members from the war and from the distances travelled to reach the village.

"For me, as a young person, I didn't comprehend it that much in those days, but I could imagine how difficult it was for the older people."

Celian's mother had passed away when he was quite young, and his father died in 1996.

Around the time of his father's passing, at 17, Celian moved from the Juba refugee village to another in Uganda and stayed with an uncle, in the hope of continuing his schooling.

Shortly after he continued his travels to Somalia, once more based in a refugee camp.

There a group called the Siftas would target the villages, attacking during the night, stealing goods and killing refugees.

In a place where he had travelled in hope to find safety, he found more turmoil.

"Refugee camps are not very safe.

"Maybe because of the overcrowding sometimes, and again you get people from different areas, people who have never known each other that are just brought together.

"There were people from Somali, people from Sudan, and because of a lot of religious differences there was a lot of argument at a water point and sometimes fighting."

Finally finding peace

By the time he was 21, Celian had managed to achieve a secondary school education, and through his local Catholic church, was sponsored for a university scholarship.

To prepare for his acceptance into the university, he was placed in the lakeside town of Kisumu.

The change from a life in refugee camps to a waterside village was remarkable.

"Personally I found that there was a bit of rehabilitation there."

He spent three months in Kisumu, learning how to use computers and improving his English skills.

"It was difficult to learn in English, particularly to be a little bit technical."

Whilst in university, Celian rejoined the Dominican Order of Friars and became a Catholic brother.

"Until I came to Australia I was still a Dominican brother."

Crossing the oceans for a better future

Celian initially did not want to travel to Australia on a refugee visa, he wanted to arrive under a skilled migrant visa.

The Australian High Commission offices in Nairobi were opposite the university that Celian was studying at, and in 2001 they were advertising for applications from people interested in entering the country on skilled migrant papers.

In his third year of studies, Celian applied, and was told he would not be accepted as a skilled migrant, but would still be able to travel if he had had friends or relatives in Australia that could send him an application for refugee status.

He explained to the staff that he knew a lady in Perth.

"Somebody, out of their own wish, they decided to help me out from the High Commission."

The lady quickly posted a form over for Celian, and by June of 2002 his visa had been approved.

He finished his studies in Nairobi, and in late 2002 Celian left his homeland and travelled to Perth.

"I felt very isolated, up to the extent that I thought maybe I should go back to Nairobi.

"In Western Australia where I came, in those days Africans were very few as well."

Celian found friendship and support in a local church group after a while, and things began to look a little brighter.

One year later, Celian was on the move again, and travelled to Tasmania in the hope of furthering his education and finding work.

"My nose was running all of the time," Celian laughs as he recalls arriving in Tasmania in the middle of a bitterly cold winter.

After three years of further study and work Celian had completed his degree, and began to apply for regional jobs throughout the country.

In 2006, he was employed by the Australian Refugee Association as a community case worker and moved to Adelaide, and now works as a training officer.

A different appreciation of life

Celian's life now revolves around his family.

A wife, eight year old daughter and four year old son.

He has settled in Adelaide for a while, secured by the mortgage on the family home.

"I came to understand that I think this is where home is, because when I went back [to South Sudan], it is not like it used to be."

Becoming accustomed to Australia's healthcare system, Celian said he was constantly worried.

Compared to his old home, Celian said we almost have too many things here to worry about.

"The problem with people who grow up here is they have nothing to compare their situation with.

"When I go to emergency and have to wait three hours, I don't really mind, because I compare with where I came from."

A visit to the doctor at Celain's homeland could mean hours in a car, or even travelling across borders to seek help.

Giving back

About every three years Celian tries to return home to help out other families with charity work.

He has recently been working with an organisation to raise community awareness and build a school in Sudan.

"This year we are starting the construction of a school and I am going back around the end of November with some volunteers from here."

Celian is looking forward to seeing the faces of the local people when the school is completed, to see the joy from a group of people who have had so much stripped away receive a gift for their community.

His children, who also place savings in a piggie bank at home each week to donate to the project, are also excited by the idea.

"When they see people, they say 'people who are poor, we need to give [to] them' and if we can save the money and give to people, I think that is where we are going to give some happiness."

Celian counts his blessings every day that he was able to leave to war torn conditions of South Sudan and start a new life at home, and makes sure his children are also aware of where they may have grown up, if not for the person at the High Commission office in Nairobi who bothered to track down his relative in Perth and place his visa request in motion.

"There are many people out there who wanted to come but did not get the opportunity... so the best thing we can do is share part of our blessing with those who were unable to get it."

Refugee Week is celebrated in Australia from 17 to 23 June 2012, to find out about details near you, visit the Refugee Council of Australia website.