Former 'Lost Boy' brings clean water to Sudan
By Nicole Charky
The Rotarian -- July 2009
Crews from Water for Sudan dig a well.
Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Mead, POV-ROSE Films
For centuries, the rival tribes of Salva Dut and Dep Tuany have fought in the Sudanese desert. Today, the two men, both U.S. Rotarians and refugees, are working together to bring peace and clean water to the troubled region.
Since Dut launched Water for Sudan in 2003, the organization has drilled 43 wells in 43 villages. His latest project established two drilling crews with members from rival Sudanese tribes. In January, Dut, a member of the Dinka tribe, traveled to dig wells with Tuany, of the Nuer tribe.
For such efforts, the nonprofit was named a candidate for the Kyoto World Water Grand Prize, awarded at the triennial World Water Forum in Istanbul in March.
At age 11, Dut fled his village in South Sudan and joined the thousands of boys who trekked across Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya in the late 1980s. Many of these "Lost Boys" died of hunger and disease along the way. Dut was among the fortunate ones and immigrated to New York in 1996.
Several years later, he learned his father was in the hospital in South Sudan, dangerously ill from drinking contaminated water. Friends from church bought him a ticket for his first return home. "The doctor told my father to drink clean water," he recalls. "But there was no clean water in my village."
When he returned to the United States, he launched Water for Sudan with help from John Turner, a member of the Rotary Club of Penfield, N.Y., who is now chief operating officer. In 2006, Dut joined Turner's Rotary club.
Dut spends the dry season (November through May) drilling wells in remote villages and the wet season raising funds from Rotary clubs and other donors.
Drilling teams travel through the bush from Kampala, Uganda, to South Sudan. Village leaders choose where to drill, and the community collects gravel and digs the hole. Four villagers are trained to maintain the new well, so the people are no longer forced to migrate seasonally with their livestock in search of water. "They build a school, they have a market, and have houses and clinics," Dut says. "The children who walk eight hours a day to get water don't have to do it anymore."