“You make your reality” was the final daily motivational quote Kwar Ater wrote on the whiteboard he kept in his room.
He died during the early hours of Sunday, September 7, at a Parkville hospital, aged 26, from injuries sustained by a gunshot wound that police believe he suffered in the CBD a short time earlier.
Police believe the shooting was a targeted attack, but no arrests had been made when Star Weekly went to print.
The Seabrook man was a prominent figure in the South Sudanese community and a senior ruckman for the Point Cook Centrals Football Club.
While the community spent the last week mourning a friend, a gifted footballer and an aspiring businessman, the Ater family grieved the loss of their youngest sibling and a devoted uncle.
Majur, 37, the eldest of the six Ater siblings, said Kwar was devoted to personal success from a young age.
“He was a beautiful kid, always smiling – he would see someone from afar and just give them a hug,” he said.
“Even though his body is gone, his spirit is still with me and it makes me proud that I had Kwar around us.
“It’s not just a loss for the South Sudanese community, it is a loss for the Australian people.”
Majur said his brother’s ultimate life mission was to help others.
“One day, there will be another example like Kwar, who will share his legacy that he couldn’t finish.
“Because he had a long way to go – I believe he is still here with us today.
“Another Kwar will come tomorrow.
“When my kids eventually come and ask me what their uncle was like, I will tell them ‘your uncle was a great man’.”
Second eldest brother Ater, 35, said he spoke with Kwar just hours before his death and urged him to be safe, following the death of their cousin in an alleged shooting in Derrimut two days earlier.
“We were just talking for half an hour and I said ‘Stay safe and I’ll see you tomorrow’,“ Ater said.
“He said, ’yeah, I am going to see my girlfriend’.
“I said, ’I’ll see you tomorrow, we’ll talk more’.
“Then I get a phone call later from my mum saying Kwar’s been shot.”
Ater said that much of the negative commentary surrounding his death had been shocking to the family.
“He had a lot going on for him but it’s just shocking that all this other stuff that has been going around, because he was my brother,” Ater said.
To help the family with funeral expenses: https://www.gofundme.com/f/funeral-donations-for-our-brother-kwar-jidu-ater
