‘She’s my sister’: devastated cleric, pedestrian killed in St. Vital hit-and-run met as teens in refugee camp

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This article was published 29/09/2023 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s South Sudanese community is mourning the death of a single mother who was known for her humble and hardworking nature, and whose life was cut short by an impaired driver Tuesday.

Akuch Machuor Kulang, who was in her 40s, lived in St. Vital with her three teenagers.

Machuor Kulang was crossing the south side of Fermor Avenue at about 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 26 when a speeding motorist entered a busy intersection at St. Mary’s Road on a red light, struck her and fled the scene in his luxury car.

Police reported the accused, who has been charged with numerous offences — including dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death — narrowly missed other motorists.

“We were speechless. There was nothing, nothing to say,” said Rev. Abraham Monybuny Chuol of Emmanuel Sudanese Mission.

The community pastor has been hosting vigils for loved ones at the South Sudanese Canadian Community Centre, located at 129 Dagmar St., every night since learning about his friend’s untimely death.

Chuol and Machuor Kulang met when the two were both teenagers living in a refugee camp in Kenya. They bonded over being displaced from the same region of South Sudan during the second Sudanese civil war, which spanned from 1985 to 2005.

“It’s a long journey for us to come here,” he recalled. “It was a very difficult life.”

In early 2003, Chuol landed in Canada as a sponsored immigrant. Machuor Kulang and her sister arrived shortly afterwards as refugees, and the two reunited as new Winnipeggers.

“She was a very strong individual who would never give up. She’s very much independent. She’s working hard by herself,” Chuol said.

Machuor Kulang met the man who would become the father of her children in Winnipeg and soon became pregnant, in turn requiring her to put plans to graduate high school and pursue accounting at university on hold, he said.

Chuol said she later obtained her Grade 12 diploma through the Winnipeg Adult Education Centre.

Although his friend faced many challenges throughout her lifetime, including being a single mother, he said she was happy and always put a smile on others’ faces.

It is heartbreaking that she died while preparing for the next chapter of her life as an empty-nester — her children are 15, 16, and 17 years old — after selflessly caring for two sons and a daughter on her own for nearly two decades, he said.

“She was trying hard to get a better life for herself; she was still young.”

To her children and other youth in the local ethnocultural community, Chuol is known as “Uncle Monybuny.”

“She’s my sister because she knows my home. We became like very close family (members). Being a pastor in the community, you need to look after people — not just your (blood-related) family,” he said, adding preparations for a funeral for Machuor Kulang, an avid churchgoer, are underway.

More than 100 people visited the downtown community centre to offer condolences, participate in group prayer and sing at the evening vigils that took place throughout the week, he said Friday, shortly before welcoming more mourners for an informal service starting at 4 p.m.

“She was a calm soul, the most caring and unproblematic person. She enjoyed a peaceful life. This tragedy has shocked us all. May she rest in eternal peace,” one of her relatives wrote in a social media post early Friday.

Kelvin Mark Lavallee, 25, of Winnipeg, was charged with impaired driving causing death, dangerous driving causing death, failing to stop at the scene, being impaired within two hours of driving, and driving without a licence.

Anyone with information, including video or dash-camera footage, is asked to contact traffic division investigators at 204-986-7085, Crime Stoppers at 204-786-8477 (TIPS), or report information online at winnipegcrimestoppers.org.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca