The Skype call from Salva Dut, one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan” is likely something the sixth-graders at Pine View Middle School will never forget.
Social media for 15 minutes linked two worlds – the one of privilege in America and the other of poverty in South Sudan.
(Kathy Steele/Staff Photo)
About 40 students filled the seats in the media center to listen to Dut and ask him questions about his life and his nonprofit, Water for South Sudan.
Pine View Middle was among more than 80 schools worldwide to accept the Iron Giraffe Challenge. The students collected more than $1,300 in donations to aid in drilling wells that deliver safe drinking water to villages in South Sudan.
As one of the top donors, the school was placed in a drawing. The prize was the Skype call from Dut.
Their funds are part of nearly $75,000 collected in total from all schools. The Iron Giraffe is the nickname, given by Sudanese children, to a drill used to bore wells.
“It kind of made me feel good to help people who aren’t as privileged as we are,” said 12-year-old Jackson Hilborn. “I didn’t know much about Sudan. It really helped me learn about other cultures and how they live.”
Hilborn and others in sixth grade language arts classes had read “The Long Walk to Water, “ a book by Linda Park that includes a biography of Dut as well as a fictional story of a young Sudanese girl. They also studied water issues, viewed a documentary on the Sudan and the Lost Boys, and saw the movie, “The Good Lie”, starring Reese Witherspoon.
“We were super psyched about the Skype,” said sixth-grade language arts teacher Chrissy Arrington.
Students delved into a culture they never knew existed.
“They are so in a bubble here,” Arrington said. “It’s opened their eyes where they see how much water they use and what other countries have.”
The fundraising by the students will help many people, Dut said. “You should be proud of yourselves,” he told the students.
He also spoke briefly about his experiences as a “lost boy” and answered questions posed by students.
The “lost boys” were orphans who fled the fighting that overtook their villages during Sudan’s second civil war from 1983 to 2005. Some were as young as age 5. They endured violence and years of hardships at refugee camps.
His story was inspirational to the students.
“He had a rough start to life, but he has changed things to where he’s doing something great,” said 12-year-old Hannah O’Conner.
Dut fled to Ethiopia, then led 1,500 lost boys to a Kenya refugee camp. In 1996, he was among 3,000 lost boys chosen to relocate to the United States. He went to school, found work and became an American citizen.
“The United States was different,” Dut said. “It was a cultural shock for me.”
Adjusting to cold weather was a particular challenge. But the abundance in America also was revealing. “Just going to a grocery store where you can see all the food and eat three times a day was awesome,” he said.
Dut thought all his family had died. But nearly 20 years after he escaped from the war, he learned his father was alive in South Sudan but ill from a water-borne disease. Dut returned home and started his nonprofit to bring clean, drinking water to people who had no access to water.
“I drilled one well. That was that,” said Dut who now has dual citizenship. But “good people” pushed him to do more.
Now more than 257 wells are pumping water to serve about 500,000 people.
“He doesn’t want other people to go through the same thing,” said 11-year-old Destini Randall. “It made us happy that we got to help out and saved people so that they can get healthy.
Published June 10, 2015
