Meet Deng Thiak Adut, a man who has made the journey from child soldier to refugee lawyer and is now making a difference in western Sydney.

An interview with Mr Adut must, by necessity, be an early morning matter as he attends his busy practice as a western Sydney lawyer helping refugees.

This is a remarkable achievement for a man who was unable to read until he taught himself as a teenager, newly arrived in Australia.

His days are full, so the conversation takes place not long after sunrise.

His photos show a tall man in a neat suit and tie, these days a Blacktown community leader and a very long way from the privations of his childhood in his native Sudan.

The word of his quiet but extraordinary achievements have suddenly spread far and wide after his alma mater, Western Sydney University, posted a video telling his story.

Within a week 300,000 people had watched it.

"I put the video up as a form of telling everyone that no matter how many journeys, how many problems, how many obstacles you have in your way, you have to acknowledge that your disadvantage is not entirely your disadvantage," Mr Adut told 702 ABC Sydney.

"It could be your advantage if you followed a way with the right ingredients or the right training or the right kind of people."

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At the age of six, Mr Adut was snatched from his mother and forced to fight in the war that eventually split his country.

He was trained to use an AK-47 and was wounded on at least two occasions.

Mr Adut was eventually smuggled out of Sudan into Kenya before making it to Australia in 1998, with the help and encouragement of his half-brother, John.

Mr Adut returned to Sudan in 2012 where he found his aging mother, who had not left the very home where her family was so tragically split many decades ago.

"What was there was my old mother ... waiting for me, I didn't recognise her," he recalled.

"Somehow she recognised me, maybe because I was different, I looked more like a westerner."

Australia is home now, and while he has come a long way already, he knows there is more to do.

"A friend of mine told me before that learning is a marathon, you've got to take it slowly, you've got to take time to get there and it shouldn't be rushed," he said.

"I think that is one of the things, the last thing now in my life is that I shouldn't be rushing."