Stillwater Junior High Students' "Walk for Water"
STILLWATER, Minn. -- Sara Damon's job is to bring the world closer to students in her 9th grade AP Human Geography classes at Stillwater Junior High.
That means maps give way to a human narrative through books, movies and people who bring the story directly to students.
That's why Damon jumped on an opportunity to invite members of the so-called "Lost Boys of Sudan" to speak at her classroom. These boys, now men, survived war, separation from their families, and sometimes years in the wilderness as they fled their villages in advance of attacks from government troops and militia.
John Dau was this year's guest speaker, telling students his story of survival, and eventual reunification with family members.
Now settled in the United States, Dau told students not only about his journey in Africa, but also his struggle to become educated, and his excitement over the birth of The Republic of South Sudan, which is where Dau's ancestral home lies.
Damon's students are used to learning about migration and refugees, but with the Lost Boys' visits, students are also learning about the human will to survive.
"I don't see how they could walk for years and years, always thirsty, always hungry," said 9th grader Brady Nahkala.
"It's so amazing what these people have to go through, and it's astonishing... their struggle for survival," said Story Schwantes, who also participated in the school's Walk for Water.
Damon has partnered with the Minnesota based non-profit H2O for Life to raise money to build wells in Sudan. "We've fully funded three, and now we're in the process of trying to fully fund two additional wells," explained Damon.
Students simulate the walk many Sudanese children make every day to find water by carrying jugs of water for fifteen laps at the school. Additional funds are raised through a community talk given by Lost Boys guests every years.
All of which makes the tragedy of genocide in the Sudan a very real experience for students like Schwantes, "It just broadens my view of everything."
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