Colleagues Help Sick, Stranded South Sudanese Student in Cuba
“JF Kennedy once said: ‘Don’t spend your time worrying or complaining about what your country can do for you, worry about what you can do for your country.’ Let’s join our hands together irrespective of your tribal and political affiliation. We are all one. If one is suffering, it’s our role to come in and help. That’s the small and noble act of solidarity, nationalism and patriotism you can show. If you want to teach people to be helpful to the nation or to others, be helpful to them. I always believe; Together we Can.” Sallah Lasu, President of South Sudanese Students & Doctors in Cuba.
A South Sudanese student stranded in Cuba with no money for food or other basic needs who suffers from Schizophrenia is being helped by fellow students studying abroad in Cuba. John Mathiang receives no support from his family or his government, which sent him to Cuba on government scholarship.
Doctors diagnosed Mathiang with Schizophrenia in 2018.
African, North and South American, Pacific, Asian, Cuban and Caribbean student associations in Cuba recently began a crowd sourcing campaign online to raise money for Mathiang’s return trip to South Sudan and his medication. So far, they have raised a little more than $2,200 dollars.
Hydnech Akiridzo, a student from the Republic of Congo and leader of the African Students Union in Cuba said part of the money will be used to buy Mathiang a plane ticket home.
Akiridzo told The Insider that African students in Cuba want to help Mathiang because they realized he needs the care and support of his family as he fights a serious mental illness which affects a person’s ability to think, feel and behave properly.
“The second reason is the lack of resources from his family and sitting by for the reply from your government, so as an organization, it’s very important and indispensable for you to look for other alternatives.”
“We have responsibility to integrate, to support different African students on the island,” Akiridzo said.
David Kokulo Sumo Jr, a fourth-year medical student from Liberia and executive member of the African Students Union in Cuba said he’s helping Mathiang because he knows that sometimes African governments send students abroad, then abandon them.
“They send us to Cuba or other parts of the world but they don’t care about the next problem, they don’t care about how you eat, they don’t care about how things are and then things become so difficult sometimes, but there’s no one around to help,” Sumo told The Insider.
Anthony Mabale, a 3rd-year South African medical student in Cuba, describes Mathiang as a good-hearted, humble, and respectful person who needs help. He said some Africans studying abroad experience hardships that they cannot overcome on their own.
“Through the African Union, we became a family and we can help each other as students, as Africans, as brothers and sisters without considering the nationalities, and as South Africans we are instilled with the spirit of ‘Obuntu’, a spirit to be helpful to one another. And we saw that our brother is in need,” Mabale said.
Arcus Makasa, a Burundian medical student attending the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba said he decided to help Mathiang after the two met in Cuba more than three years ago.
“I think solidarity should be one of the values which must characterize young people, especially nowadays in order to face all the challenges of humanity like poverty, [and] hunger,” Makasa added.
Some of the 11 South Sudanese students studying in Cuba graduated in 2019; others graduated in August of this year but have been unable to return home because they don’t have money to buy air fare.
Sallah Lasu, president, South Sudanese Students and Doctors union in Cuba says some students were able to return but half dozen are still stuck in Cuba. In the ongoing campaign to raise money to transport the student doctors back home, Lasu urges any well-wishers to help contribute money for the remaining students’ return air tickets to South Sudan.
“There are four South Sudanese medical Doctors that are stranded in Cuba with no tickets to return to the country. Some have a year now waiting for ticket from the ministry of higher education in vain. Initially, they were 7 doctors and one sick student (John Mathiang).” Lasu wrote to The Insider.
click on this link to listen and watch the conversations on the topic.
Recent Comments