In 1995, seven-year-old Simon Atem and his uncle were caught in a militia attack in South Sudan.

His uncle was killed and Atem fled into the countryside. Along with thousands of young Sudanese boys fleeing the civil war, Atem became a refugee and spent eight years in camps in Ethiopia and Kenya.

In 2003, Atem came to Canada as a refugee, arriving in Winnipeg and eventually moving on to Calgary. He finished his high school studies and with the help of his high school, began raising money. He wanted to build a school for the children in his native village, Aweng.

The Calgary Catholic school board teamed up with a registered Canadian charitable organisation,  called For the Love of Children, that would manage the project for Simon. According to Atem, he and his backers had raised $120,000 for the school project.

In 2008, Atem and the team left for Sudan.

Atem's family had not seen him since he fled the country in 1995. In fact, for a decade they thought he was dead.

After the emotional reunion with his family, Atem began trying to build the school. Those efforts did not go smoothly. He soon began to have serious disagreements with the registered charity overseeing the project.

Eventually, Atem became ill and decided he had to leave Sudan. The school project remained unrealised and the relationship with the charity ended.

Back in Canada, it took more than two years before Atem was ready to begin again. One of his key supporters, Calgary businessman Ron Greene, helped him find another charity to work with, YOUCAN, a youth oriented non-profit agency.

Atem says he never doubted he would complete the school, but he had to overcome the skepticism of the villagers in Sudan as a result of his failed first effort. Supporter Ron Greene advised Atem to write the village elders and explain his situation. He says when he returned to Sudan he told the villagers that  he would not leave without ensuring the construction of the school.

With the backing of the YOUCAN, Atem arrived in in Sudan in March of 2011, at the start of the rainy season, Atem brought together the professionals and unskilled labour along with the volunteers needed to complete the task. Because his project coincided with the pre-independence period in South Sudan, borders were closed and building materials were more expensive.

But before returning to Canada in November, he oversaw the completion of a six-room, school building with an office in the village of Aweng.

There is still a lot of work to be done. Atem's next task is to find the money to equip the classrooms and build a kitchen. That will allow the World Food Program to bring food aid to children in an area that is still suffering the after-effects of decades of war.