Wenyen Gabriel Amazing News Refugee at the Court of ‘King’ James

A Refugee at the Court of ‘King’ James: The Wenyen Gabriel Story

 

The Lakers player lived in a refugee camp for the first years of his life until he was able to settle in the United States.

Wenyen means “dry your tears” in Dinka, the main language of South Sudan. Consolidated as a rotation player in the Los Angeles Lakers, Wenyen Gabriel was given that name to honor his sister who died due to medical negligence, common in the poorest countries of Africa. The doctor who attended to his sister and his mother during childbirth made a mistake with the medicine.

Born in Sudan in 1997, Wenyen Gabriel lived from a young age with the misfortune and horror of a civil war that divided his country and forced his family to sell all their belongings in order to flee. However, Wenyen’s father had to stay in Sudan as they did not have enough money to pay for everyone’s trip.

At just a few months old, he ended up in a refugee camp in Cairo, where he lived for three years. The time it took his father to join the rest of his family in Egypt and be able to leave, thanks to his mother’s efforts to get the paperwork done, to the United States within the UN refugee program.

In Manchester, New Hampshire, a new life awaited them. There Wenyen and her family were able to start over, although it was not easy. No one in her family spoke English and the transition was difficult.

Thanks to the Catholic Church in Manchester and the education that both Wenyen and her brothers were receiving, they were able to settle, little by little, in his new house. In fact, Wenyen himself was the one who helped his mother with her studies to be a nursing assistant. A fundamental step for the well-being of the family.

However, despite their new life, they were not going to stop “drying their tears.” In fact, the Laker’s power forward would discover the meaning of the expression in his own skin. In 2007, his cousin and best friend De él Bol, also a refugee like him, drowned in the Merrimack River.

A loss that would mark him for life. In fact, it is the reason why he always tries to wear ’32’, the number his cousin wore: “Every day when I put it on, I think of him. Every day I have symbols for him. But every time I I see the 32, it’s the first thing I think of.” So he was already playing basketball, his escape route. It was the best way to feel good and he made it his passion.

After spending two years at the University of Kentucky, he made the leap to the NBA. Although, like everything in his life, he was not without difficulties. He was not selected by any team in the 2018 Draft, so he had to look for opportunities in the NBA Summer League with the Sacramento Kings, which led him to win a contract in the Californian franchise although to play in the G -League.

He then begins a period of instability, being traded on several occasions – he goes through the Kings, Blazers, Pelicans, Nets, and Clippers – without being able to find a permanent foothold and alternating between the NBA and the development league. Until, finally, the Lakers appear where he has made a hole for himself next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis, earning the minutes by providing strength and versatility to the interior rotation of the renewed Los Angeles team.

 

Scarred By War

 

Wenyen has spent 22 of his 25 years in the United States, yet the feeling of belonging to his native country is very strong. This leads her to affirm, without any fear, that she wants to be part of the change that will definitely help her country. “To see what our country is going through now, the war is not really over yet. They started a new tribal war and there is still conflict.

I the opportunity that was given to me I want it to be for the people back home as well. To start that, we need to fix that conflict. It’s easy to think about returning home when so much goes wrong. I want to be a part of that. I want to go back one day and help my nation,” he declared in a recent interview.

South Sudan is the youngest country in the world. It gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after many years of war and is still considered a conflict territory today. Hence, the majority of its population lives as refugees in neighboring countries. Wenyen returned to South Sudan for the first time in the summer of 2022, since his family fled to Egypt in 1997, with the sole aim of giving voice to the problems that continue to exist in his country.

 

About to fulfill a dream

 

Wenyen Gabriel is also about to fulfill a dream. The South Sudanese team is just one win away from qualifying for the 2023 World Cup to be played between Japan, the Philippines, and Indonesia. For the youngest country in the world, this is a major challenge.

Drawn in a group with Egypt, Cameroon, Senegal, Tunisia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan has nine wins and one loss. The ‘Bright Stars’ are practically classified and about to make history thanks, above all, to the work of their president. An old NBA acquaintance: Luol Deng.

The former Chicago Bulls player is the president of the South Sudan Basketball Federation, and his intention is to develop basketball in “the country with the tallest people in Africa”, from which another historic NBA player also emerged, Manute Bol. Except for surprise, Gabriel will be able to fulfill the dream of representing his country in the World Cup. And then, the tears that he dries will be of emotion.

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