Anjelina Nadai Lohalith: ‘Hope should always be the tool to encourage you’ – Refugees’ Voice

Anjelina Nadai Lohalith is a refugee from war-torn South Sudan. When she was just nine years old, she fled with her aunt and settled in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. She found solace in running and a few years later, was selected by the Tegla Loroupe Foundation to train in Ngong.

Soon after, she represented the first-ever IOC Refugee Olympic Team at Rio 2016 and has since competed at Tokyo 2020 and three World Athletics Championships. Earlier this year at the 2023 European Championships Clubs Cross Country in Spain, she made history by becoming the first-ever refugee in athletics to win an international race.

But up until Tokyo, she had no idea whether her parents were still alive. Just before the Games, she received the incredible news that they too were soon to arrive at Kakuma. Fresh from the World Athletics Championships in Budapest competing for the World Athletics Refugee Team, she describes how reuniting with her parents and becoming a mother motivates her to give her best to the track and everything else that comes her way in life…

Budapest was tough and amazing at the same time. The weather was so hot and it was my first World Championships racing in the 5000m, not the 1500m. I missed my target because my time in the heat was 15:35 and I wanted to run 15:15 or maybe 15:20, but I was still very happy with the achievement. I did my best so I would say that it was perfect!

It was my third World Championships and I have really learned a lot since my first one in 2017. Before, I had a lot of fear that I couldn’t compete with world-class runners, but now I have more confidence and know that I can. Faith Kipyegon from Kenya and Sifan Hassan from the Netherlands are my inspirations. I observe them competing and admire their determination.

I think Budapest was good for preparing me for the Olympics next year and I now have to go and train much harder to see if I can qualify for Paris – that’s my main goal and I would be so honoured to compete in my third Olympics.

Tokyo was very special for me because I found out my parents were still alive just before I travelled there. My cousins told me they had spoken to them and they would soon be arriving at Kakuma Refugee Camp. I cannot begin to describe the feelings I had in that moment because it was so tough for me during those years when I was not able to be with them, or even know if they were well or still alive.

So I went to Tokyo with this information which made it hard to give all my concentration to the competition! I was so happy that they were now in the camp and waiting for me. After the Olympics, I got to meet them there. We couldn’t hug because it was still during the time of coronavirus, but I was so happy I cried! I was thanking God that at least they were alive and I now have my parents. That moment gives me so much hope and motivates me to do my best in life because I want to be able to give them the best life that they have never received.

Five years ago, I became a parent too. Being a mum is amazing and it also motivates me to work extra hard. Whenever I see a challenge, I think about my son Jayden and it makes me put even more effort into everything I’m doing. I want to achieve good things so that I can change his life. I don’t want him to be a refugee like me, or go through similar hardships and not have a parent. I just want to dedicate all my effort to him.

He’s so amazing and he’s a runner too! When he was only one year old, he started running around in the field. He can dance, he can sing, he can do everything! Any time I do anything, he’ll just join me and have a chat. I always love to be around him, though I miss him lots whenever I travel or I’m training at the camps.

It is not easy being away from him, but sometimes you have to make sacrifices. For example, we both feel pain when we’re not together, but I know this is the best for him. Normally, I organise it so that every weekend he will visit me and we spend three to four days together at camp. We both cry when he leaves but I know I have to sacrifice everything for the sake of him.

Being a refugee means that you’re used to overcoming challenges. For example, in the team, one of the biggest challenges we face is people’s mentality towards the status of ‘refugee’. Sometimes when you’re doing well they don’t see you as a refugee, but when you’re not doing so well, they have negativity towards you. But it’s up to us to show that it is only a status and people’s words can’t knock us down.

Another challenge we have is with travel documents because sometimes we’re told we can’t travel because we don’t have the right document. None of us wished to be a refugee so we should be given support instead of being told, “No, it’s the wrong document”.

But with all these challenges, my message to refugees around the world is to still have hope in anything you’re doing. Just because you are a refugee, you don’t need to pity yourself. It is not a curse – it can happen to anyone, but hope and faith will take you far. Whatever barriers you are facing, hope should always be the tool to encourage you. I know sometimes that the situation can be so bad that you can feel like you want to curse yourself or God, but nothing is permanent and things always happen for a reason. We should always have hope and we should always learn to get up and go for something in life which can help you.

Some months ago, I told myself that I could win an international medal and then I won Gold at a race in Spain. I dedicated that achievement to my colleagues in my team to show hope to refugees all around the world that if you work on it and dream on it, then anything is possible. Winning is for anybody, it is not for one specific person. Anybody can win at any time. So if you have a talent or you love something, then go after it and try to change your life – if not today, tomorrow, if not tomorrow then the next tomorrow.