THE adjustment for Deng Thiak Adut was enormous. There were no guns, no fear, and he could finally stop running. Even the rules for walking down the street were different and he saw television for the first time.

After years of running from civil war, the young Sudanese refugee settled in Blacktown in 1998 as a teenager.

Going far ... Deng Thiak Adut put himself through law school. Now he helps police and members of the Sudanese community in trouble. Credit:Brendan Esposito

For a while he struggled and felt alone. But he learnt English, completed his HSC and put himself through law school while supporting family members left behind in Africa.

The 27-year-old is one of only a handful of solicitors in NSW who were born in Sudan and he is using his connections to help the Sudanese community in his spare time.