Sudanese start to settle in Albert Lea

Published 12:00 am Saturday, August 16, 2003

William Gatluak is one of the first Sudanese immigrants in Albert Lea.

In a predominantly Scandinavian town, he stands out with dark brown skin and a traditional African Dishiki shirt.

He is part of a small, but growing Sudanese population in Albert Lea.

Email newsletter signup

Born in Sudan in 1974, Gatluak and his family fled the country when he was still very young. In 1983, the Sudanese government, a mixture of military elite and an Islamist party, became embroiled in civil war. The government didn’t respect religious freedom. Gatluak’s father, an elder in his local Christian church, refused to bend when pressured by the government to convert to Islam. One day, the military took his father.

&uot;They came into our area at night and took my father away,&uot; he said. &uot;We never saw him again.&uot;

Gatluak and his family fled to Ethiopia.

Gatluak calls the Sudanese civil war a fight for religious freedom. Though the fighting has died down in the past few years, he says his country is still ridden with uncertainty and hunger.

In the early 1990s Gatluak first moved to Des Moines, Iowa. He was alone and unmarried. He soon went back to marry his girlfriend in Kenya, where his family had moved after Ethiopia. They moved to Albert Lea last year.

&uot;Our reason for moving to Albert Lea was that we heard they had

a good community college,&uot;

Gatluak, who is set to start his second year at Riverland Community College this fall, said.

Right now he is working toward his liberal arts associates degree, after which he hopes to pursue a degree in political science, a degree he hopes he could use to help his native people through an international organization such as the United Nations.

Gatluak said he enjoys living in Albert Lea.

&uot;It’s a big difference from living in Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan compared to the United States,&uot; he said. &uot;There is no war. No one worries about trying to get food. No one worries about trying to get clothes. We are very happy to live in such a free country.&uot;

There are 23 Sudanese people living in Albert Lea, according to Gatluak. They have formed a community within a community, he added, and started a group called the Southern Sudanese African Friendship Association.

The group has become part of the congregation at Zion Lutheran Church on Bridge Ave.

&uot;They really have been good to us,&uot; he said. The church has raised money for Gatluak to go back to Sudan to bring fresh water, clothing and other essentials to his native village.

He said it was nice to bring them those items, but many of them hope to come to Albert Lea to join Gatluak.

Gatluak and his other Sudanese friends had trouble finding work at first. Though he would get interviews, he couldn’t land a job.

&uot;You can’t blame them,&uot; he said. &uot;They don’t know us, we are new to the community.&uot;

He hopes that the community will become more accepting of the Sudanese in the area.

&uot;We need people in Albert Lea to support us,&uot; he said. &uot;We want to be part of the community.&uot;

(Contact Peter Cox at peter.cox@albertleatribune.com or 379-3439)