World Refugee Day 2023: Monate Akuei, South Sudanese Pro Rugby Player, Inspires with Message of Perseverance
Meet the first South Sudanese native to play professional rugby in the U.S. Major League and learn how he discovered solace and strength in the sport after fleeing his war-torn homeland.
Rugby Sevens
Monate Akuei’s rugby journey has been nothing short of incredible.
From fleeing war in South Sudan to surviving being shot by police and becoming the first man from his home country to play in America’s Major League Rugby, his current experience sometimes feels surreal.
He settled in a refugee camp in Kenya before moving to Nakuru, the country's third-largest city, where he joined a street gang to help ease the financial burden at home by stealing.
Weighed down by a troubled past and challenging present, sports provided a much-needed relief for him.
“I used to play soccer and rugby at the same time…then I decided to go with rugby,” he told Olympics.com in a video call from Virginia.
In March 2023, he signed with Rugby New York, marking an inspiring turnaround that serves as a poignant testament to the transformative power of sport in the lives of refugees.
“When they signed me, it was the biggest highlight of my career, the biggest highlight of my life. I'm living my dream and I get to motivate people with my story. Never give up, you can always make it!”
As the world celebrates World Refugee Day on 20 June, the rugby star has a message of hope to millions of displaced persons: despite the scale of their suffering, they should never give up hope and belief in themselves.
“It’s hard being a refugee. Hard living in a foreign country because of something bad going on in your homeland. But don’t take that as your downfall because there's a lot in this world that you can get, and they're all right there.”- Monate Akuei to Olympics.com
Monate Akuei #7 of Rugby New York in a match against Dallas Jackals on June 04, 2023 in Mount Vernon, New York.
Monate Akuei's journey from war-torn South Sudan to a refugee camp
It is a story Akuei has heard and recounted numerous times. A tale of a child forcefully displaced from home due to the outbreak of war in South Sudan.
He might have been two or perhaps three years old, but such details hold little significance for families compelled to leave their homes urgently in search of a safe haven.
Certain fragments of the experience have remained etched in his memory—the arduous and sweltering days of travel, crossing into neighboring Kenya, and life at Kakuma Camp, one of the largest refugee camps in the world.
“My family, my extended family, my uncles, my aunts were there during that journey because the war was so bad and there was no means of transport or anything.
"So people had to walk from South Sudan to the border and into Kenya,” he recalled eferring to one of the longest civil wars in Africa, which displaced over 2.5 million people and claimed the lives of tens of thousands.
Struggling to cope with the worsening crisis in their country and faced with limited employment opportunities, life was challenging for Akuei and his six siblings, who were settled in Kenya while their parents returned home in the hope of finding work.
Finding employment is a daunting task for the majority of refugees living in Kenya, which, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), is the second biggest refugee-hosting country in Africa.
The family’s income, amounting to approximately $80 USD, left them grappling with their needs and barely able to survive. Skipping meals became the norm.
“[That was] 2010- 2011 when I was about to go high school…It changed the trajectory of my life and my siblings. That made life so harsh because we only had one meal a day unless I go out to look for money.”
As a teenager, he resorted to the streets, endangering his life by stealing anything valuable.
“I decided to go to the streets and join some gang groups, stealing people's phones and stuff, selling them, make money, take the money home, to provide food for the kids,” he told Olympics.com of his bad habits that also got him expelled twice from school.
“When I was expelled, I was idle and was just in the street full time. That’s when I was shot. [One night] I went out, and we were stealing, and the cops started chasing us, “And they said, ‘Everybody down!’ I just [felt] my patella shake. The rubber bullet hit the side of my knee and tore every ligament in my knee.”
After being sidelined for four months due to his injury, he returned to his old habits briefly before having a change of heart.
“That night, I heard the same sound again, I tried to run and he [the police] hit me on the hip with a live bullet this time. I fell down so bad. I limped, until I found a place I could hide. I went home and decided that I am not doing this anymore.”
A young Monate Akuei in Nakuru, Kenya. (Photo: Courtesy)
Monate Akuei on how rugby saved him from rock bottom
As he tended to his untreated wound at home, unable to afford medical care, memories of finding solace in sports during difficult times flooded Akuei's mind.
Football and rugby had always served as an escape, allowing him to momentarily forget about the complexities of life. Sports provided a way for him to shut out everything else and, more importantly, fulfilled one of his basic needs – food.
“There was no money to go to the hospital, so after the infection was healed, I said,' no more street life'. I started going to regular [rugby] practices,” the back row recalled. “In soccer, I was a striker averaging like two goals a game, I was really good…but I decided to go with rugby.”
“That was in 2015, when I also went back to high school to do my final exam. People [who watched me] thought I [had] played rugby for ten years because I was extremely good, in a short period of time. And it's just because of the love that I had for rugby.
“After every practice, they could give us food. I was like, ‘Yes!’ So I had that meal and then when I got home, I have my one meal a day which I kept overnight and my siblings would share it in the morning as breakfast.”
He trained with a local rugby team, Nakuru RFC, and a year later, he started playing for their second team.
“My game kept on getting better without knowing. But I was just playing rugby now because of the food we got after practice, and the chicken and rice that I always got after playing."
“The first match I played they gave us like 1500 shillings [approximately $15 USD]. I’ll never forget that. The first thing I did, I went straight home and bought us food and got myself some training shoes and kit."
This change in his circumstances also shifted his approach to the game. Akuei realised that if he could break into the main team of Nakuru RFC from their second team, he could earn more money and support his family. This motivated him to push himself even harder in practice, drills, and scrimmages.
Before long, Akuei's talent caught the attention of the Kenya Rugby selectors, and he was called up to the U20 team.
He earned six caps for the Kenya 15s, but breaking into the Kenya 7s team proved to be a challenging task.
The 6-foot 4 inches [1.93m] flanker possessed the physique and game flair, but he was deemed to lack the necessary muscular power necessary for the speed and acceleration required in the shorter version of the sport.
“They said, ‘I'm too skinny’. The following year, 2017. They called me again and said, ‘I'm too skinny,’ and dropped me. 2018, they said ‘you're fatigued we don't want you on the team',” the 25-year-old shared.
Finally, in 2019, he received the opportunity and played for Kenya B in one of Africa's premier rugby tournaments held in the capital, Nairobi. His team, Kenya Morans, emerged as the winners of the event.
“That was my breakout year. The following season they named me to the Kenya 7s team, but a week before travel I injured my ankle.”
Despite the injury, Akuei still accompanied the team to the World Rugby Sevens tournament in Los Angeles. However, it was during his visit to the United States that the Covid-19 pandemic struck, leading to the closure of borders.
As a result, he found himself stranded in Virginia while visiting an American missionary whom he had previously met in Kenya and who had become a mother figure to him.
Monate Akuei: I get to inspire people with my story. You can always make it!
Akuei continued training with a local club, Richmond Lions, holding onto the hope that one of the top U.S. rugby teams would eventually draft him. His persistence paid off when he signed with New York Old Blue and even served as captain in the American Rugby Premiership.
Just as things were falling into place, the East African native faced another setback—a debilitating injury.
“I have a book that I was writing, 'Road to pro rugby’. It got to a point where I was tired, I was crying because I didn’t see anything going right. I was just drawing some tears, some raindrops,” he said of the difficult 2021-22 season.
In April of the following year, fortune finally smiled upon him as he secured a turning point in his career: he was signed by the defending Major League Champions, the New York Ironworkers.
“I'm living my dream and I get to motivate people to with my story. You can always make it!” - Monate Akuei
It has been an incredible journey, and there is no denying the significance of rugby in Akuei's life.
“My dream is to play in France whereby rugby is like the highest level ever and then go back to growing rugby in the community, if not Kenya, maybe in the U.S. and then home in South Sudan.”
As the world commemorates the United Nations' day dedicated to supporting refugees and shedding light on their rights, needs, and dreams, the Kenyan international aspires for his rugby journey to reflect the resilience of refugees and inspire others who have been displaced to pursue their dreams.
“My mum always told me, ‘you can get anything you want in this life as long as you're alive’. I know it's hard being a refugee, but there's a lot in this world that you can get, and they're all right there. You can grab everything that you want in this life,” said the flanker who adopted the name Monate from a cooking show catchline meaning joy, happiness.
Monate Akuei stuck, and very few barely remember him as Akuei Gai John.
As a professional rugby player, he is aware of the narratives and stereotypes surrounding refugees and feels compelled to share his journey to challenge those perceptions.
“Being a refugee made me tougher. It has helped me look at life with a different perspective. I appreciate each moment. I appreciate being given that chance to live in a foreign country, getting those small rations from the U.N to keep us going.”
The New York Ironworkers star is urging millions of refugees and displaced individuals to hold onto the one thing that unites them: hope.
“We're all struggling in some different ways, and I just wish people knew that. But at the end of every storm, there's a rainbow. Keep believing that everything will get better with time.”