According to former Ambassador Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth (Head of Mission in Washington DC for South Sudan), more than 100,000 southern Sudanese live in the US,[1] whose ancestors (or they) emigrated from their native country, mainly in the 1980s and 1990s.
They were brought as child war refugees from South Sudan to parts of the US, including Michigan, Chicago[2] and Omaha, dispersed among 38 cities.
[9] According to former Ambassador Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth (Head of mission in Washington DC, for Southern Sudan), more than 100,000 South Sudanese live in the US.
[1] Refugees from South Sudan come from the three geographical regions: the Bahr el Ghazal, the Upper Nile, and Equatoria (which includes Juba, the capital of the country).
Sudanese Americans communities are also found in other cities such as Greensboro, North Carolina, Dallas, Texas; Flint, Michigan; and the Washington Metropolitan Area.
According to the census, the states of Virginia, Washington, Maryland, California, Idaho, Minnesota and North Carolina have the largerst Sudanese populations in the US.
The number of South Sudanese refugees who emigrate to Omaha has decreased due to the official end of the civil war in Sudan as of July 2012.
[2] In 1997 was founded The Southern Sudanese Community Association (SSCA), a non-profit organization whose goal is provide an education at a basic level (case management, learning English, household budgeting, understanding currency and money, new cultural ways and social norms, transportation, and driver's education) for refugees in Omaha.
This foundation makes grants to American colleges and universities for scholarship funds to assist South Sudanese students enrolled in degree programs.
Grants also are given to community organizations that assist South Sudanese refugees during the difficult adaptation period in the United States.
Almost a decade later and with members from diverse backgrounds, NSAH still helps refugees in Rochester and also is a source of education about the consequences of the war in Sudan.