Awer Mabil, 23, comes from a South Sudanese family but was born in a refugee camp in Kenya. As a child, hunger and overcrowding were daily problems for him and his family. Thanks to a humanitarian program, his family was taken in by the Australian government in 2006, though he lived under the shadow of racism until he became a professional player.
Well, that's all in the past now, as Mabile scored on his debut for the Kangaroos in Australia's 4-0 win over Kuwait last October. And he scored again to help Australia beat Palestine 3-0 in the second round of the Asian Cup group stage.
In 1994, Mabile's parents were forced to flee to Kenya because of the war in Sudan, and a year later, Mabile was born in a refugee camp in the northwestern Kenyan city of Kakuma.
The Kakuma refugee camp was established by the UNHCR in 1991, initially to house 12,000 minors who had lost loved ones to the war in Sudan. By 1993, the camp was hosting some 21,000 refugees, 16,000 of whom were children. Due to the city's location near the borders of Uganda, South Sudan and Ethiopia, the number of refugees hosted has continued to grow, and the camp is now home to 180,000 people, about 60 percent of whom are South Sudanese or of South Sudanese descent. Keep in mind that Kakuma's nearest major city, Lodwar, has a total population of less than 50,000 people.
"We built a hut out of mud, about the size of a bedroom in an average house in the Western world." Mabir recalled.
"But you knew it wasn't your home. There were four of us crammed in there - me, my mom, my brother and my sister (Mabir's father died in the war in South Sudan). We get food from the UN every two weeks."
"Each person gets 1 kilogram of rice, so our family gets 4 kilograms of rice and 3 kilograms of beans. But we can only ration a little bit every day."
"We only eat one meal a day, which is dinner. There's no breakfast or lunch to speak of, you have to find a way to make it to dinnertime, so you treasure that meal very, very much. "
Mabir started playing soccer with his friends in the refugee camps from the age of five "because there was nothing else to do."
"I love playing soccer. It was the only thing that kept me out of trouble," Mabir said. "I follow Manchester United the most, but because there's only one TV in the neighborhood, you have to walk two hours and pay $1 to watch it."
"If you can't go, just have a friend to tell you the result of the game."
His life changed in 2006, when he and his family moved to Adelaide, Australia's southern capital, as refugees. Soon after arriving in this unfamiliar environment, Mabiel started playing soccer.
"I thought, 'Fantastic, this is my chance, if I train hard anything can happen and I can chase my dreams.' That's where the dream started."
A strong-willed, freakishly fast winger, Mabiel's talent caught the attention of South Australia's National Training Center. Operated by the South Australian Football Association, the center awards scholarships each year to athletes with the potential to represent Australia, and in 2011 Mabile received the center's "Player of the Year Award" for his performance.
At the age of 16, Mabile was signed by Adelaide United. On January 11, 2013, Mabiel, then 17 years old and earning around $50 a week, made his debut for Adelaide United against Perth Glory, making him the second youngest player to play in AFL history.
Like all young players, Mabiel was initially given few opportunities. Fortunately, then-manager John Kosmina was happy to give young players a chance.
In the second season of his career, Mabiel was offered a $40,000-a-year professional contract. Mabiel scored his first career goal in a 1-2 road loss to the Wellington Phoenix. At the end of the season, he also won the Australian FA Cup with the team. In recognition of his performance, Mabile won the Australian Football Association's U-20 Player of the Year award.
However, the changes in Mabile's life were not all for the better. He experienced racism for the first time in Australia, but he doesn't think Australia is a "racist place".
"I've faced it many times," he says. "Once when I was 16, when I came home, a neighbor attacked me." He said. "The first thing I did was close the door, and then I told my brother (brother above) and sister to hide. When I closed the door, I said, 'Go away.' And they kept saying, 'Go back to your country!'"
"On top of that, you experience similar things in your daily life, like when you're walking down the road, it's normal for someone to honk their horn in their car and say something bad."
Despite this, he said it made him proud to play for Australia. "I'm playing for Australia because this country has given me and my family a second life." He said.
"I don't think Australia is a racist country. Some people are racist, but it's a country that belongs to everyone. Australia is part of my life because I've lived there for half my life. I call it home, so I'm proud to represent Australia."
In January 2015, Mabile had a trial with Dutch Eredivisie giants Ajax, but failed to stay. In July of the same year, he moved to Danish side Midtjylland for the highest fee in AFL history at A$1.3 million. After spending time on loan at the start of his career with another Danish Premier League side, Espoo, and Portuguese Premier League side Ferreira, Mabile returned to the team for the 2017/18 season and went on to become a mainstay of the team.
Mabile got his first call-up to the Kangaroos for the Russia 2018 World Cup qualifying play-offs, but failed to make an appearance.He finally made his debut in a friendly on October 16, 2018, scoring a goal in the 88th minute of the match.
"The reaction from the outside world has been amazing," said Mabile, who even received a congratulatory text from one of his idols, Manchester United star Evra.
"I grew up watching Evra play for United," he said. "Getting praise from these top stars shows I'm on the right path, but there's still work to be done."
In 2014, Mabile set up his own foundation, Barefoot to Boots, with the initial thrust of giving soccer shoes to children in the Kakuma refugee camp, which four years later has turned into improving the living conditions of young refugees in Africa, and has received support from Qantas, Football Federation Australia, UNHCR, UNICEF and the Australian Government.
"I still have family in South Sudan and Kenya. That's my home, my roots and where my parents are from, so I still love it there, but it's still not safe. Hopefully everything will be okay."
"I will go back to the refugee camps regularly and donate sneakers, soccer gear and medical equipment to the refugees there. If I have a two-week vacation, I will spend a week there and then a week with my family."
"[Living there] was really tough, but I'm grateful for that time for the rest of my life."
"Those days taught me: cherish the good times and never give up on your dreams." Mabir lamented.