SOUTH Sudan refugee David Nyuol Vincent still remembers fleeing his homeland.
Aged 7, he ran barefoot, crippled with fear.
For three months Mr Vincent, now 34, and his father walked through the Sahara desert in search of food, water and safety.
In a memoir, the coach of the Western Tigers Soccer Club shares his story of survival through famine, war and almost two decades of living in refugee camps.
The Boy Who Wouldn’t Die will be launched next month.
“I made a promise to myself when I arrived in Australia that I wouldn’t let someone else go through what I had been through,” Mr Vincent says. He has since founded a number of humanitarian programs in Melbourne and South Sudan.
He and his father spent four years in Ethiopia, but when it became increasingly unsafe they fled to Kenya.
It was there that Mr Vincent, aged 12, was separated from his father and trained in the military as a child soldier.
“It was terrible, but it was a necessity. It was the only way I could survive to protect myself and the only chance I had to make it out alive.”
After four years as a soldier, he spent the next 17 years living alone in refugee camps. His escape came in the form of an Australian humanitarian visa in 2004.
“Sometimes I pinch myself because I still feel like I’m dreaming,” he says.
“The opportunities I have been given here have been amazing and probably the most important has been my chance to help other young people who have been through what I have.”
Since arriving in Australia, Mr Vincent has completed an arts degree with a double major in political science and criminology at the University of Melbourne.
He is co-founder of the Sudanese Summit, an annual event in Juba aimed at empowering South Sudanese youth.
Last year, Mr Vincent was named by The Age as one of Melbourne’s top 100 most influential, inspirational, provocative and creative people.
The Boy Who Wouldn’t Die will be launched on July 8, 2.30-4pm, at Fitzroy Town Hall. Bookings: 1300695427.
