Gabriel Kech Kwai
Gabriel Kech Kwai
Education
Bachelor of Science in Finance, Murray State University
Background
Gabriel was born in 1979 in Bor, South Sudan. At the age of seven, his father was murdered in Khartoum,
the capitol of Northern Sudan. Civil war soon wracked the country, and the government eventually
attacked Bor in 1987. The turmoil separated him from his family, and he traveled to Ethiopia with 33,000
other parentless children who became known as the “Lost Boys of Sudan.”
In 1991, the Ethiopian government ordered Gabriel and the other refugees to leave the country within 24
hours of the announcement. While traveling to Kenya, Ethiopian militias attacked the fleeing groups,
killing 5,000 in one day. Gabriel eventually found safety in a camp in Kenya, where he lived for nine years
and received an elementary and high school education.
In 2001, the United States Congress allowed 4,000 “Lost Boys” to travel to America for settlement. Gabriel
left Kenya with the first of the 4,000.
Gabriel attended Murray State University and earned a bachelor’s degree in finance. He worked for
Republic Bank for five years as an Internet Banking Administrative Assistant. He is presently working as
an assistant manager at Kroger while pursuing a Masters in Business Administration with a concentration
in Accounting from Sullivan University. He is married and has two daughters.