South Sudan refugee athlete visits PyeongChang

Yiech Pur Biel, a high-profile supporter of UNHCR, speaks at the UNHCR Seoul office, Tuesday./ Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

By Kim Ji-soo

Yiech Pur Biel, 23, doesn't mind the chilly weather in Korea, as he attends yet another Olympics with the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, which opened yesterday.

On Monday, Biel, a member of the first Olympic refugee team that debuted during the 2016 Summer Olympics, attended the unveiling of the Olympic Truce Wall in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, along with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and PyeongChang Olympics Organizing Committee President and CEO Lee Hee-beom. Korean artist Yi Je-seok designed the wall, inspired by Pope Francis's message of peace.

How did he find PyeongChang and Korea?

"It's cold... but it's okay," Biel said.

"Personally, it (Olympics) means a lot to me. Refugees need a lot of peace, and peace... not only refugees, but all people want and need it. The Olympics mean a lot," Biel said in an interview with The Korea Times held at the UNHCR's office in downtown Seoul, Tuesday. He is a UNHCR supporter.

"President Bach announced the truce wall aims to create peace and friendship among the athletes who are going to compete in the Winter Olympics. Apart from that, it helps the athletes to unite among themselves and not to have discrimination among themselves. It is what can create good relations among nations. Unite them," he said.

On Tuesday, he participated in a "talk" concert about the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics and the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At the event also attended by others representing other U.N. agencies in Seoul, he spoke about "peace, justice and strong institutions," which is the 16th SDG.

"Peace means harmony, to live without any violence, any form of threat to your life. Everyone needs equal opportunity to access basic needs for shelter, for healthcare as a person ... Peace is fundamental to everything," he said.

Biel, who is originally from South Sudan, was left on his own at the age of 10 when his family's house burned down amid the Sudanese civil war. His mother had to go with his siblings to search for food in Ethiopia. He reached the Kakumba Refugee Camp in Kenya, where he had lived for 10 years along with over 179,000 other refugees. His family is now in South Sudan, and Biel has only talked to them on the phone after Rio.

Today, he trains with Tegla Loroupe Foundation near Nairobi, Kenya. At the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games, he ran unsuccessfully in the 800-meter race. But the Rio experience is etched on his mind.

"I remember crying while entering the Maracana stadium in Rio. As refugees, we have been facing many challenges. But I was crying because I was happy as a person to represent refugees. I have somewhere to go. I have people supporting me," he said.

Biel remembers crying when his mother left him to go to Ethiopia. He said when he arrived at the Kakuma camp, he thought that now, without his parents, it was up to him to get an education, through which he could change his life.

Biel learned to speak English in primary school and improved upon this skill in high school.

"It has been a challenge for me to go to school. Many people live in a refugee camp... (where) a quarter or one-third of the children do not go to school because of the circumstances they face. But I believe in myself and that I can become a better person in life through education," he said.

One of the most interesting memories he also takes back from PyeongChang is his visit to the nearby Woljeong Temple.

"The temple means a lot to people in South Korea. It taught them to unite among themselves. If you believe, that belief is what helps South Korea to become strong and unite as one," he said.

Biel is now training for Tokyo 2020. It has not yet been determined whether there will be another Olympic Refugee Team after the first one, which was created after IOC President Bach introduced the idea at the U.N. General Assembly in 2015. Nevertheless, Biel continues to train, as he must qualify in trials with other refugee athletes in case another refugee team is formed.

He trains several hours a day, from Monday through Sunday, but he said training is still less difficult than living as a refugee.

"Because (when you're) living in a refugee camp, you don't know when you will be succeeding in life. In training, you are doing something, you can achieve something in life, if you work hard," he said.

Aside from his interest in sports, he wants to study public relations and international relations, and afterward to work for nongovernmental organizations or on government policies to bring peace and make life better for people in the world. "There will be no one who will be a refugee forever," he said.

Yiech Pur Biel, fourth from left, poses with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, fifth from left, and PyeongChang Olympics Organizing Committee President and CEO Lee Hee-beom, fourth from right, in PyeongChang for the unveiling of the Truce Wall on Monday. / Yonhap