Nageso Nyafaro
“You must talk to wise people if you want to be wise yourself.”
Nageso Nyafaro hails from Ethiopia and is living and training among the world’s best runners in Iten, Kenya with a keen focus on the 2024 Olympic Games. He is a member of the Nguvu Running Club, coached by Dr. Jason Karp. After fleeing his homeland at the age of 19, Nageso spent eight years living in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Turkana County, Kenya, where he was an interpreter and community worker for many humanitarian relief agencies.
Prior to coming to Iten, Nageso worked in Kakuma camp as a translator for African Voices and interpreter for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). While there, Nageso utilized his linguistic (fluent in four languages: English, Amharic, Oromo, and Swahili), multi-cultural, and relational skills among displaced populations and aid agency personnel.
Nageso is also an avid community mobilizer. At Kakuma, Nageso worked for three years for Windle International where he engaged high school Kakuma refugees who had dropped out of school and conducted assessments for orphaned children.
Additionally, Nageso served as a shelter monitor for the National Council of Churches and as a counselor for Jesuit Refugee Services. Specifically, Nageso assisted in relocation services for refugees coming from Dadaab refugee camp to Kakuma, provided support to disabled refugees, and counseling to refugees impacted by stress. When still in Ethiopia, Nageso taught English at Robes Teachers College to 7 th and 8 th grade students.
Currently, Nageso paces athletes who come to Iten to train and looks forward to engaging–and mobilizing, youth, communities, and women thru sport and other mediums of expression that bring people together.
“Patience is very important in athletics. Someone who is really patient can go really far.”