This is a first-person narrative written and provided by Haider, with permission to share.

My name is Haider. I’m 31 years old and my homeland is Sudan. Here is my story:

I was born in the small village of Azaza, Sudan. While living there, the Gangawid rebel tribes would frequently attack my village. Because of this, I left and sought refuge in the Algenana Refugee Center. After staying there for a while, the Gangawid rebels then attacked the Refugee Center. After that happened, my parents decided to leave the Refugee Center and return to our village.

They said, “It’s unsafe everywhere we go, and if we’re going to die, we want to die in our home village.”

After all these problems happened, my parents said to me,

“If you want to live, you must leave Sudan and live in a safer place.”

Therefore, I decided to look for ways to leave and go to a safe place in another country. I decided to try to go to Australia. I traveled from my village to our capital city, Khartoum. From there I flew to Indonesia. From Indonesia, I traveled to Australia by boat. The journey to Australia took 5 days. It was difficult and very dangerous, but there was no choice.

After the boat arrived in Australian waters, the Australian border guards came and rescued all of us on the boat. Because our boat almost sank, I thanked the Australian border guards for rescuing us. Then, the border guards took us to the Darwin City Refugee Processing Center where we all received medical treatment.

After one week, they met with all of us who arrived on the boat and said that them government is not resettling refugees who came to Australia by boat illegally. They flew us to an island - a place called the Manus Island Refugee Center, Papua New Guinea.

I spent more than five years at Manus. The place was not safe. It was difficult to stay alive. I have no words to explain the hardship I experienced there.

Finally, I came to the U.S. and was referred to the African Community Center in Denver. After enrolling in the NRPP Program*, my life began to change. With the help of the NRPP Program at ACC, my financial situation began to improve quickly.

ACC helped and supported me to start a new life. They didn’t just help me survive, they helped me thrive.

The NRPP program helped me to receive CDL training [Commercial Driver’s License]. While in training, ACC helped me and encouraged me. After I completed my training, I took the CDL certification test and passed it.

I am currently driving a truck, and the income from this job has changed my life completely.

I am no longer scared for my life. I’m now safe, settled, and happy. I now have hope and I plan to bring my family to join me here. I thank ACC for helping refugees and immigrants rebuild safe, sustainable lives in Denver. I thank the NRPP program for the help it gave me. I thank all organizations that work to help refugees.

*The Enhanced Services for Refugees from Nauru and Papua New Guinea (NRPP) Program is a national project created to provide supplemental resettlement support to refugees arriving from immigration detention facilities in Nauru, Papa New Guinea, and the Australian mainland. ACC is one of 10 sites across the U.S. where the program is conducted. Read more about the NRPP Program here.