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June 2008
Graduates Honored for Sudanese Scholarship Program
By Julia Parmley In just one morning, Makwei Mabior lost his home, friends, and childhood when his village in southern Sudan was attacked and set on fire in 1992 by a government troop called the National Islamic Front. Mabior managed to escape with several of his family members and eventually settled at the Kakuma Refugee Camp on the Kenyan-Sudanese border after months of traveling and running from the government troops. Now a 21-year-old teacher and administrator at the camp, Mabior will get a chance to help those who have suffered like him, thanks to four GW students who graduated in May. The four graduates—Jeff DeFlavio, Evan Faber, Neil Padukone, and Justin Zorn—received the 2008 Manatt-Trachtenberg Prize during GW’s Commencement for their creation of a pioneering program designed to make a higher education possible for survivors of atrocities in Sudan. In 2006, the students formed Banaa: the Sudan Education Empowerment Network with the mission of matching Sudanese refugees with scholarship opportunities in the United States. The goal is for the scholarship recipients to return to Sudan with the skills necessary to address the underlying causes of conflict facing their country. As a result of the work of DeFlavio, Faber, Padukone, and Zorn, there are now 29 Banaa chapters at universities across the country, and Mabior, who was selected from a pool of 177 applicants, will attend GW on a full scholarship beginning in the fall. “We desperately need a cadre of Sudanese advocates who are immersed in the political and ethnic idiosyncrasies so often overlooked by the international community,” says DeFlavio. “Banaa seeks to address these shortcomings by empowering native peacemakers with the skills necessary to address the underlying grievances that cause conflict.” After graduation, three of the Manatt-Trachtenberg Prize winners will pursue their scholarship and public service abroad: DeFlavio will work at Sulayman JungKung General Hospital in Gambia as deputy administrator; Padukone will be a fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in Delhi, India; and Zorn will research the role of long-range scenario planning in government decision-making in Singapore as a Fulbright scholar. Faber will stay at GW to pursue a master’s degree at the Elliott School of International Affairs. The Manatt-Trachtenberg Prize is given to graduates who have engaged the social and intellectual conscience of the University, while displaying leadership, integrity, and goodwill in carrying out university responsibilities. The prize was created in 2004 by former Chairman of the GW Board of Trustees Charles T. Manatt and President Emeritus and University Professor of Public Service Stephen Joel Trachtenberg.
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