Lost Boy thanks Sioux Falls for assisting village
Moses Joknhial II speaks Saturday about projects in his village of Panyang, South Sudan. They were sponsored by members of the church of the Holy Apostles in Sioux Falls and other South Dakotans. Peter harriman / argus leader
Written by: Peter Harriman
As a pilot, Moses Joknhial II knows the moment when a plane goes wheels up, breaks free from the earth and soars.
It is the arc of his life as a Sudanese Lost Boy. He spent 14 years in refugee camps after fleeing civil war in Sudan before coming to South Dakota in 2001.
Now, he is completing an aviation degree at South Dakota State University as a U.S. citizen.
But because of who he is, Joknhial, 33, is not reveling in his astonishing change of fortune. He’s taking some South Dakotans along for the ride.
As the new nation of South Sudan began to take shape in the aftermath of decades of war in Africa, Joknhial decided to give something back to his native village Panyang.
"In 2009, I came up with the idea. I’ve got to do something," he said.
Education in the U.S. had transformed his life. It would be a good place to start to help Panyang, he figured.
And then his philanthropic impulse went wheels up. A goal to raise school supplies, in which he enlisted members of the Church of the Holy Apostles who had taken him under their wing when he came to Sioux Falls as a Lost Boy, expanded dramatically when Joknhial decided to build a school for Panyang.
Gary Stanley, a Sioux Falls architect, designed the building. Stanley’s wife, Myrna, joined Rhonda Morse and others in raising money for it. Morse had helped Joknhial settle into life in South Dakota when he came to Sioux Falls as a refugee.
In 2009, she accompanied Joknhial to Africa on his first trip back since leaving as a 9-year-old, and Myrna Stanley followed a year later when the school was built.
This was just the start. Joknhial and his allies raised money to staff the school and to buy gristmills so girls who traditionally ground corn by hand would be able to attend school.
People in Watertown raised money to drill a well in Panyang, and United Thank Offering is providing money for a second well, a medical clinic and a women’s center. Joknhial also started what essentially is a revolving loan fund with goats. Widows are given a goat to become the foundation of a herd that will give them a livelihood. Each goat’s first kid, though, goes back to the program to be given to another widow.
Plans also are in the works to replace a truck used for hauling goods to the village, to build a fence around the new school and to hire more teachers.
Joknhial and some of his friends spoke Saturday about the work in South Sudan at Church of the Holy Apostles.
"You have to convince people of your planning, tell them what you want to do and how you will get it done," Joknhial said. "Today I report, where did I put the money. I get to thank people and show them where we put the money."
The presentation in the church sanctuary and a subsequent party in the church basement was hardly an audit, however. It was a celebration, and many saluted the fact they were drawn into Joknhial’s orbit and saw their own lives expand.
Ellie Keirnes met Joknhial in 2008, and it made her recall hosting an Ethiopian immigrant in the early 1990s.
"God called me back to these wonderful, wonderful people," she said. "I told Rhonda, ‘When you go again to South Sudan, I want to be on that plane.’ "
Keirnes was able to use her training as a nurse when she went to Panyang last year.
"What an experience. It changed my life," she said. "It’s part of my being right now."
The Rev. Warren Shoberg at Church of the Holy Apostles when the congregation reached out to the Lost Boys, noted that Joknhial had fled Panyang as a barefoot kid.
"He had the privilege of piloting the plane that landed in his village" upon his return, Shoberg said.
From the chaos of civil war, new opportunity through education and medical care has settled on Panyang "thanks to you and hundreds of people who helped with this project," Shoberg told the group.
A gentle chuckle rolled through the church as he added, "See what happens when the phone rings, and you say, ‘Yes?’ "
Reach Peter Harriman at 575-3615.
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