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Published On: 3/23/17

Decatur students help go on ‘Long Walk to Water’

By: Kara Hallissey, Staff Writer via Bayside Gazette

(March 23, 2017) After being inspired by the novel, “A Long Walk to Water,” by Linda Sue Park, seventh grade students at Stephen Decatur Middle School decided raising funds to help build clean water wells in South Sudan was the right thing to do.
From 7:45 a.m. until school came to a close on Monday, 320 teenagers walked in shifts carrying the flag of South Sudan, awareness signs and large jugs of water to bring awareness and show empathy for the struggles people face in South Sudan every day.
“The kids cared after reading the book because they have huge hearts,” Michelle Hammond, a seventh grade teacher at Stephen Decatur Middle School, said. “Mainly girls in the South Sudan walk eight hours a day to bring back dirty and disgusting water with waterborne diseases. These kids are great. They wanted to do something.”
Charlotte Vit, 13, said it felt good to be participating in the walk and was surprised to learn residents in South Sudan fight over water.
“It feels good to be helping people who really need it,” said Kiersen Thorne, 13. “We always take water for granted. Turn on our sink and water comes out. People over there can’t get it and are dying because of it.”
The symbolic charity walk took place in a field outside the school with seventh graders carrying signs including one explaining how our toilet water is safer and cleaner than the water most South Sudan residents consume daily.
In addition, the country is currently in a bitter ethnic war and famine emergency with five million people unsure of their next meal source. Of them, 100,000 are facing death.
“When they carry the jugs of water, we are teaching the kids empathy,” Hammond said. “It is so motivating. If we raise the most money, we are hoping to earn a visit to our school from Salva Dut, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan.”
Dut was displaced and orphaned along with thousands of other boys during the civil war in South Sudan, which took place from 1983 to 2005. His historic story is profiled in “A Long Walk to Water.”
After relocating to the United States in 1996, Dut founded the nonprofit organization, Water for South Sudan, in 2003, which provides access to fresh water and hygiene education in remote villages of his native land.
He is a dual citizen of America and South Sudan, but spends most of the year in Africa overseeing Water for South Sudan drilling operations.
To date, Dut has helped fund 282 fresh water wells in South Sudan, Hammond said.
“He visits the school who raises the most money and spends the whole day out here with the kids,” Hammond said. “Last year, the winner raised $6,000. I think we can raise more than that.”
On March 13, a few teachers were guest bartenders at Burley Oak Brewing Company and garnered $500 toward the cause.
In addition, seventh graders have given up their birthday money and encouraged their parents to partake in fundraisers of their own to raise money.
As of Monday afternoon, Stephen Decatur Middle School had raised close to $5,000. It costs $1,500 to sponsor a well.
To donate, contact Hammond at mmhammond@mail.worcester.k12.md.us. The deadline to make a donation is March 27.
For more information on Dut and his cause, visit www.waterforsouthsudan.org.

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