From being born in a tiny village in South Sudan to becoming South Africa’s leading Pulmonologist – this is the extraordinary life story of Emmanuel Taban!
Johannesburg, South Africa (04 January 2021) – When a nurse once told a young Emmanuel Taban that he’d grow up to become a doctor, the thought was “absurd”, he says. “The possibility of being able to survive beyond childhood was difficult to imagine – let alone being able to go to school.”
Today, Taban holds three medical degrees and was recently named as one of South Africa’s leading experts in pulmonology.
Born in a tiny village in South Sudan, Dr Taban was one of five siblings raised by a single mother. At 14 he was arrested by the Military for being a rebel-spy, incarcerated, tortured and sent off to Khartoum. He fled to Eritrea, where he was again imprisoned. Upon his release, he decided to walk nearly 3000km to an uncle in Nairobi, Kenya, but he wasn’t welcomed – so, inspired by the “made in South Africa” printing on a cola can, he travelled another 3000 km through East Africa on his own and eventually into South Africa.
Carte Blanche recently featured and celebrated a life of epic grit and imagination – of a young refugee who became a leading pulmonologist who is saving the lives of critically-ill COVID-19 ventilator patients with his novel use of therapeutic bronchoscopies.
Watch the full episode here:
I’m impressed by this story, I can see myself into it.
I’m Baruani Ndume a refugee rights activist and the winner of the international children’s peace prize in 2009 from The Democratic republic of Congo who has been a refugee in Tanzania for almost 18 years, But Currently studying in Cape Town/ South Africa.
You can check my story on: http://Www.kidsrights.com or http://Www.baruani ndume.com
I hope through these different stories you’re inspiring hundreds of people out there.
You deserve so much recognition.
Baruani Eustache Ndume.
International children’s Peace Prize Winner 2009.