[00:00:00] Stephen Calabria: From the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, this is Road to Resilience, a podcast about facing adversity. I'm your host, Stephen Calabria, Mount Sinai's Director of Podcasting. 

[00:00:12] On this episode, we welcome Lual Mayan. Lual was born as his parents were fleeing South Sudan, and he was ultimately raised in a series of refugee camps in sub–Saharan Africa.

[00:00:23] It was there Lual taught himself English and computer coding, which set the stage for his big break that would catapult him to worldwide recognition.

[00:00:32] Lual's remarkable story illustrates some of the seemingly insurmountable challenges faced by many around the world, and how healthy doses of hope and resilience can be the drivers to a better life.

[00:00:43] We're honored to have Lual Mayan on the program. 

[00:00:47] Lual, welcome to the show. 

[00:00:48] Lual Mayen: Thank you so much. I'm really excited to be part of this conversation. 

[00:00:51] So my name is Lual Mayen. I'm originally from South Sudan. I actually was born as my family was fleeing South Sudan to find a place of refuge in Uganda. So I grew up all my childhood, I grew up in Uganda. I'm a former refugee, a lot of people may know. When it comes to work, I am a game programmer and a director.

[00:01:10] Stephen Calabria: Could you take our listeners through your first 22 years? Living in multiple refugee camps? 

[00:01:17] Lual Mayen: Yeah. Yeah. So first of all, like when I tell people that I'm from South Sudan and I spent almost 22 years in a refugee camp, a lot of people sometimes ask like, How does that look like? What is actually the main cause of my family had to, like, go to Uganda.

[00:01:33] When we look back at South Sudan itself, before they were independent, we were, like, one country Sudan, and there was a conflict, which resulted in a civil war that started a long time ago and it actually started 1953. 

[00:01:46] So it's a long, it's a long war that revolved, and then it turned into like becoming like a tribal war, which actually affected my family directly in South Sudan.