By Belinda Nolan
KOT Monoah could very well be the only lawyer who learned to write in the dirt.
While completing a law degree is impressive under any circumstances, a childhood spent in danger and poverty makes Kot’s achievement all the more remarkable.
The 28-year-old has just begun his career as a first year lawyer at Slater and Gordon law firm in Sunshine.
Life is blossoming for the young man, who is poised to buy his first home in the same suburb.
But these achievements did not come easy for Kot, who spent the first decades of his life like a hunted animal.
Originally from Sudan, Kot’s miseries began in infancy, when civil war broke out in his homeland.
He was only four years old when his village was attacked by Sudanese soldiers, forcing his family to flee.
For the next 18 years they would travel from place to place, seeking refuge amid the carnage around them.
In 1989 the family made a treacherous crossing across the border to Ethiopia, travelling through the desert and the Nile river.
The experience remains chiselled in Kot’s mind.
“It was a very harrowing experience,” he said.
“The Sudanese Government had sent soldiers to stop anyone who tried to cross the border.
“There were bombs and land mines.
“With my own eyes I saw many people killed.
“I saw people blown up, shot in the head with shrapnel, people drowning as they tried to cross the river.”
