From Refugee to Gaming Guru
Born while his family was on the run from South Sudan and raised in a Uganda refugee camp, Lual Mayen is now CEO of his own video game company. In this podcast, he tells the story of his mother’s love, and his own creativity, determination, and luck.
[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.