"Lost Boy of Sudan" at Hommocks Receives Check for Clinic

by Naomi Lowenthal

(May 17, 2007) Threats of a tornado and torrential downpours did not stop more than 300 parents, students, and members of the community from filling the Hommocks auditorium on Wednesday night, May 16 for the Kids for World Health "Reach-out for Life" event featuring John Bul Dau, one of the "Lost Boys" of the Sudan.

The event included a screening of "God Grew Tired of Us," the award-winning documentary that chronicles the journey of the thousands of "lost boys" who fled war torn Sudan in 1987 on a three-month migration to Ethopia.  After war broke out in Ethiopia four years later, the boys began another several-hundred mile odyssey filled with starvation, disease and violence to a settlement camp in Kenya. After years in a Kenyan refugee camp, some of the boys, including John Bul Dau, were brought by the United States government to the US.  The film depicts the challenges of adapting to life in America, from learning the basics of  turning on an electric lamp and starting a shower to getting an education, finding a job, and adjusting  to a culture vastly different from their own.

John Bul Dau, one of the "lost boys of Sudan, accepts a KFWH check from Ryan Gerspach to add a pediatric room in a Sudanese clinic.

Following the screening, Mr. Dau delivered a message of hope, optimism and survival.  He told the audience of his goal to not just be a "receiver" but a "giver."  To that end, he has been working to create awareness of conditions in the Sudan and to build a clinic in his home village in Duk County. The clinic, which opened just 8 days ago, includes one doctor and seven nurses and will provide much needed medical care to the 195,000 inhabitants in the region. 

Ryan Gerspach, a member of Kids For World Health (KFWH), acknowledged their shared mission of bringing attention and medical care to regions in the world that suffer from "neglected diseases" such as sleeping sickness and kala azar, a chronic and potentially fatal parasitic disease. He presented Mr. Dau with a $7,000 check for the construction of a KFWH pediatric treatment room at his clinic. 

Mr. Dau thanked KFWH and the audience and said, "America has such a big heart, not just for itself, but for the whole world."  Kay Kobbe, a third grade teacher at Chatsworth who organized the event and in whose classroom KFWH was founded in 2001, thanked Mr. Dau for "reminding us how to be the best human beings we can be."  She added, "The student voices have expressed ageless truths about life, and find that it is intolerable for humans to die of curable neglected diseases due to lack of medicines and treatment."

The audience was invited to contribute to KFWH's mission by making a donation. Others wishing to contribute may send a check to KFWH, PO Box 557, Larchmont, NY 10538 or use a credit card at my.directchange.org/page/kfwh.For more information on KFWH, see kfwh.org.

Front Page

Print This Page
Email this page