Salva poses with the check presenters Sam Coyle, Jordan Miller, Talia Danno and Brittany Ellsworth. The four students are Student Council officers at the Fred W. Hill Elementary School.There was a deafening roar and burst of applause at Brockport’s Oliver Middle School from about 900 students, teachers and interested others as a check for $8,507.67 was presented to Salva Dut, a “Lost Boy refugee” and founder of Water for South Sudan, by Talia Danno, a fifth grader who attends Fred W. Hill Elementary School. Talia was representing many students in the Brockport Central School system, that Library Department and a host of supporters in the community who helped raise money to sponsor a well in South Sudan. As organizer Kathy Jaccarino, Brockport High School Library teacher exclaimed: “This has been an exciting project. The students have learned so much about conditions in Salva’s country and they have shown a true desire to improve these conditions for the people in South Sudan.” Kathy was helped by a committee of elementary school librarians, including Maria McCarthy, Cathy Mangan, Suzanne Shearman and Ellen Zinni.
Salva Dut gave a talk about his life and the movement to bring fresh water to the inhabitants of South Sudan. Many groups came together to help Brockport schools with this project, including: Brockport PTSA, Lift Bridge Books, Robb Fruit Farm, Image-Pro Embroidery and Screen Printing, the Rotary, PEO Sisterhood, the Brockport First Baptist Church, the Unitarian Church and the Newman Center, The LIFE Program, Brockport Ambulance and Fire Department, The College at Brockport, Seymour Library, Drake Library and many others.This activity on June 18 wrapped up BCSD’s year-long initiative to raise funds and global awareness through reading. Grades 5 through 12 had read Sue Park’s book, A Long Walk to Water, a poignant, true story of one of the lost boys of Sudan, Salva Dut, who finally settled in Rochester.
Brittany Ellsworth, 4th grade, presents Salva with a tee shirt inscribed with the slogan “A Walk along the Water.” Part of the fundraising came from a sponsored community walk of 12 miles along the Erie Canal. That walk represented the distance people in Sudan travel each day for water.The program featured videos of the people and the poor conditions in South Sudan and the local fundraising walk followed by personal stories, many of them heartbreaking, from Salva. He related: “We were lucky to have one meal a day (in the Sudan). You are very lucky. You complain too much. We don’t even have birthday celebrations over there; some people don’t know when they were born.”
He was very thankful for what America has given him. “I came with nothing and this country has nurtured me. Thank you for having the heart to help other people.”
Fifth grader Talia Danno gets a hug from Salva after she presented him a check for $8,507.67, with fourth grader Sam Coyle assisting in the presentation. The check was made out to Water for South Sudan, Inc. The money was raised by students who participated in various fundraisers throughout the year along with much help from the community.About the water well situation in South Sudan, he had this to say: “We have drilled over 134 wells so far and drilled 33 in 2012. They are about 300 foot deep. The Brockport-sponsored well will begin to be drilled in January 2013 and be finished in May 2013.”
The presentation was organized by High School Library teacher Kathy Jaccarino supported by librarians Maria McCarthy, Oliver Middle School, Cathy Mangan, Fred W. Hill Elementary School, Suzanne Shearman, Barclay Elementary School and Ellen Zinni, Ginther Elementary School.
