Education Helped Him Rebuild His Life; Now He Helps Others Do the Same

When Mojeeb Stanikzai looks at the displaced children of South Sudan, he sees himself.  He was just six years old when his father was killed in a bomb blast during the Soviet-Afghan war. Out of money and options, his family fled their native Afghanistan to a refugee camp in Pakistan, traveling through the desert for three days. Stanikzai still remembers the makeshift graves of those killed along the way.
Life in the refugee camp was hard, but with help from a relative he was able to get an education and graduate from medical school. Stanikzai gave up a career in medicine for another calling: international development. Now he works with Winrock, helping South Sudan’s children have access to a safe education and a better future.
Stanikzai spoke to Haydé Adams FitzPatrick about the lessons he learned from life as a refugee and how he’s paying it forward.