clipped from: www.guardian.co.uk By the age of 18 he had travelled more than 4,000 miles, crossing eight African borders without a passport - a lone boy living on his wits and depending on the kindness of strangers.
Now Aher Arop Bol sells sweets and cigarettes under a railway bridge in the South African capital, Pretoria, but his adventure is not over. He has just become one of the most extraordinary authors in the history of African literature.
''My motivation is to make money to pay my law studies which cost 27,000 rands a year [£2,000]," he said "and to get my two brothers through school. I have put them into a boarding school in Uganda."
His stall - a sheet of plywood, balanced on two crates and displaying boiled sweets, matches and single cigarettes - looks like any other serving commuters outside the station. But unlike the other informal traders, Arop Bol wears a suit and exhibits the seriousness and restraint of a man twice his age.