For many DHS clients, the agency means a better life. For some, however, it means a new life.

William Deng is one of those. Deng, a 21-year-old refugee from the Sudan, was forced from his home when he was 8 years old by a civil war. His parents are dead, and he has had no word of his siblings since 1998.

After fleeing his home, he lived for 13 years in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya. He suffered greatly in his flight, and his life in the camps was not much better.

Now, thanks the Texas Department of Human Services, Deng lives in Houston, where he works, attends school and is making a new life.

After years of forced migration, Deng was interviewed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. He hoped to get out of the camp; he had not dreamed of coming to the United States.

To his surprise, he was approved to come to the United States. One day in February, his name appeared on a list of children were approved for emigration to America. The next day he was on a plane bound for Washington, D.C.

Deng knew little of America. “I knew nothing about the U.S. before I came here,” he said. “All I knew there was a time when we were refugees that we were given some relief foods, and on those small sacks we used to see written ‘United States.’ “

Since his arrival, DHS played a major role in his new life. “When we came to the United States,” Deng said, “someone from the agency welcomed us at the airport. He took us to our new apartment. Most of the things we found there on that day we did not expect came from the agency.”

“I was supported financially ¾ I was approved for food stamps and Medicare, and the apartment bills were paid through the agency,” he said.

Deng is now in school, studying for his General Education Development diploma. He hopes to go to college and perhaps study medicine.

Whatever his future holds, Deng’s life is better than he could have hoped for. “I have nothing to ask for,” he said, “because my needs are already fulfilled.”