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Designer Uses Fashion to Unite South Sudanese Diaspora in US

Ayen Bior

   WASHINGTON / MINNEAPOLIS - Two years ago, SaraDukureceived a telephone
   call that would change the way she saw herself both personally and
   professionally.
   An annual conference called South Sudan Unite, run by theLuolDeng
   Foundation, needed South Sudanese fashion designers to display their
   creations for the event's fashion show. Organizers wanted to
   featureDuku'sclothing at the event, which was held in Dallas, Texas, in
   2017.

   The now-22-year-old seamstress who "dabbled in sewing" hesitated.

   "They called me a fashion designer and I didn't see myself as a fashion
   designer. I didn't see myself as creative or in the art industry. Even
   when I first came, I didn't know where I myself was heading,"
   saidDukuat this year's show, held recently in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

   Nervousness

   Duku, who is from South Sudan and didn't even know how to cut clothing
   patterns two years ago, was filled with anxiety.

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