In observance of Refugee Week 2022, the Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District Inc, in collaboration with GOTAFE, hosted a screening of ‘Thon’s Long Walk from Sudan to Shepparton’ at the Harder Auditorium last Wednesday.
Refugee week ran from June 19 until June 25 and the theme was ‘Healing’.
Thon Thon is the Ethnic Council’s community development officer, and the film screened at GOTAFE detailed his harrowing journey as a nine-year-old where he walked from Sudan to Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp.
Audience members had a chance to ask Thon Thon questions, with one person asking if Thon ever had feelings of despair and giving up during his journey.
“I was so tired every day, we all were. However, I was tasked with looking after a five-year-old boy, the youngest in our group. He never, ever sat still. Whenever we had a rest, he would be running around, even though he’d been walking for hours,” said Thon.
“Whenever I felt a sense of despair, I thought to myself, if this young child can keep going, can make it, so can I.”
