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Anjelina Nadai Lohalith hopes Rio 2016 success will reunite her with parents
James Nyang Chiengjiek to change the life they are living.” James Nyang Chiengjiek Chiengjiek grew up in Bentiu in South Sudan’s northern Unity state. He fled his home to avoid being recruited by rebels and arrived at a refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya, in 2002. There, he went to school and started running competitively. He joined the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation in 2013, where he has been training ever since, according to the U.N. refugee agency. Chiengjiek, 28, will compete in the men’s 400-meter race in Rio. “By running well, I am doing something good to help others – especially refugees,” Chiengjiek told UNHCR in a recent interview. “Maybe among them are athletes with talent, but who did not yet get any opportunities. We are refugees like that, and some of us have been given this
Rose Nathike Lokonyen opportunity to go to Rio. We have to look back and see where our brothers and sisters are, so if one of them also has talent, we can bring them to train with us and also make their lives better.” Yonas Kinde After fleeing his home country of Ethiopia, Kinde has been under international protection in Luxembourg since October 2013. The long-distance runner has competed in a number of marathons and reached the qualifying standards for Rio during the Frankfurt Marathon last year with impressive time of 2 hours and 17 minutes, according to UNHCR. Kinde, 36, will compete in the men’s marathon race in Rio. He said he’s been training even harder since learning about the Olympic refugee team. “I normally train every day, but when I heard this news [about the
Paulo Amotun Lokoro refugee team] I trained two times per day, every day, targeting for these Olympic Games,” Kinde told UNHCR. “It’s a big motivation.” Anjelina Nadai Lohalith Lohalith was forced to flee her war-ravaged home in South Sudan when she was just 6 years-old. She hasn’t seen or spoken to her parents since. She arrived in Kakuma, Kenya, with her aunt in 2002, where she went to school and participated in running competitions. She was selected to join the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation’s refugee training center in 2015, according to the U.N. refugee agency. Lohalith, now 21, will compete in the women’s 1,500-meter event in Rio and hopes to earn some prize money to help her parents. The first thing she plans to do with the money, she told UNHCR, is “build her father a better house.” Rose Nathike Lokonyen Rose and her family fled war in South Sudan when she was just 10 years-old. They arrived at the refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya, in 2002, where she went to school and started running competitively. She’s been training with the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation since last year. Lokonyen, 23, will compete in the women’s 800-meter race in Rio. In an interview with the U.N. refugee agency, she said she hopes her story will inspire others. “I will be representing my people there at Rio, and maybe if I succeed I can come back and conduct a race that can promote peace, and bring people together,” Lokonyen told UNHCR.
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