It was while fleeing the civil war in South Sudan that Lual Mayen's mother gave birth to him 28 years ago. She had four children in tow and was near to the border with Uganda, in a town called Aswa. The journey was difficult; Mayen's two sisters died on the way and he became sick. No one thought he would survive. "I can't imagine what she had to go through. There was no food, no water, nothing," says Mayen. "I remember she said she was not the only woman who gave birth on the way. Other women abandoned their children because they didn't want them to suffer. But my mother thought: "He is a gift for me, I have to keep him."' Mayen's mother made it to northern Uganda with her newborn son and reunited with her husband in a refugee camp that remained their home for the next 22 years. Mayen grew up there, and although life was a struggle, he was happy and grateful for what he had. There wasn't much to do but Mayen says he found creative ways to keep himself entertained. Then, one day he had the chance to play the video game Grand Theft Auto, which mostly revolves around driving and shooting. "While I was playing, this thought came into my mind," he remembers. "In South Sudan, most of the population is under 30.

Lual Mayen, a 24-year-old software engineer, is determined to do what he can to bring change to South Sudan, a country ripped apart by civil war. Through the use of board and video games, he wants to promote unity and spread his message of peace throughout the world. "After the conflicts that started in 2013, I saw the horrible effects mass displacement could have with my own eyes. I witnessed it in IDP and refugee camps, but also online," Mayen told Al Jazeera. "These social clubs, both online and offline, were turned into sites for social evils and I could see the conflict brewing among various tribes that were crammed together. I knew that these scenarios could turn political and even physical, with people wanting revenge for what was happening to them."