Far, far away in the land of our brothers and sisters; the land of our forefathers in South Sudan, there were three boys and one girl living with their parents in the bush. Their names were John, Paul, David and Octavia. John was the oldest of them all. As they were suffering, they would kill an animal for their survival.

One day soldiers came unexpectedly, killing and shooting because of the war that was going on in those countries. Their parents got shot and died so they had to learn to be independent but they were still kids so it was difficult for them. John was forced to be the head of his family – his brothers and sister. Life was not good for them at all because they had no food to eat nor water to drink, but they trusted in God.

They moved from their country to another, walking. They had no transport, so they would travel miles and miles and they had no water to drink. They would get sick because of hunger, some of the people they were traveling with died along the way.

There is one thing that was surprising about these four siblings, even though they were suffering, they had dreams, but John’s dream was amazing. He wanted to be a doctor and he had the passion to help others. When they arrived in Kenya, at least they saw a change in their lives and opportunities came their way. One of them would get a piece job and at night they would eat and have something to thank God with.

John was attending the community classes that were educating people, but John’s interest was to know where he could find an institution that he could attend to be a doctor, but no one took him seriously. People were calling him names, telling him how foolish he was to think he could be a doctor with no high school education. Everyone that he ever talked to about his dream would turn him down and pay no attention to him. Prayers kept him going and he knew that perseverance was the answer to everything, so that was his remedy to his dream and his siblings were supporting him every step of the way.

He would help in the refugee camps in Kenya, giving medicine to the sick as practice for being a doctor. He was taking care of other people, giving the most special treatment that he thought they deserved and people liked him because in his presence, you would see smiles on people’s faces. One day a good Samaritan arrived to John’s rescue and this man offered him a scholarship to go study in the United States of America to study for what he always wanted, to be a doctor. It was like a dream to him and his siblings. They couldn’t believe it, but you could see the joy in his eyes that his dream had been fulfilled.

He went to America and studied, and when he finished his course he came back home to help his people. People who rejected him and turned him away because of his appearance back then and thought John wouldn’t be a doctor couldn’t believe when they saw him giving back life to the sick people. Today John is one of the most qualified doctors in Africa.

That is why it is very wrong to judge a book by its cover – people judged him too soon that he wouldn’t be a doctor because he had nothing.