09/10/2024
I am…a good person who likes everyone to come together as one people.
What’s your name? My Christian name is Rebecca. My Nuer name is Nyalam. It means that my mother lost three children before me. After five years of not being able to have children, people came to my mother and prayed to God to help her. After their prayers, I was born. My name means that people prayed for my mom to have a baby.
Where are you from? Originally I’m from South Sudan, Eastern Nuer. It’s a small city. I was born is Nasir.
What do you like about Iowa? I like Iowa. When I came to Iowa I could not speak English, now, I got a job, a good life. I have had five children Iowa—eight kids total. I brought two from Africa. I have more children from Iowa than from Africa. Iowa is where I have stayed together with my husband. My husband is a pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church—the Sudanese mission.
If I weren’t here, I would be... helping people from my community, sharing the good things that we have in our community. I am thinking about all of my community always, how we can be good people in Iowa and back home.
What is one thing that you wish more people knew about your community? The Nuer people have complicated history. We have been part of two countries, learning both Arabic and Amharic. There are some books about Nuer history, but we also share the stories with each other. I have to go to the library and dig out more of the stories about the Nuer people so that we keep our culture and history.
