Students skyped with director of water for South Sudan

Incarnate Word Academy Middle Level students in Marci Levings’ reading composition class skyped on Sept. 24 with Lynn Malooly, the executive director of Water for South Sudan.

Recently, the IWA students finished reading a novel by Linda Sue Park titled “A Long Walk to Water,” a true story about two 11-year-olds who face hours of walking and hardship to find water and safety. One of the children whose story is told in the book is Salva Dut – the founder of Water for South Sudan.

As an 11-year old from Tonj in southwest Sudan, Dut fled first to Ethiopia. As a teenager, he led 1,500 lost boys hundreds of miles through the Southern Sudan desert to the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya.

Dut relocated to the U.S. in 1996, where he now leads Water for South Sudan. The nonprofit organization provides thousands of people of South Sudan with access to clean, safe water. As of May 2015, the nonprofit has successfully drilled 257 borehole wells for water use.

“The students are very curious about Lynn Malooly’s relationship with Water for South Sudan founder Salva Dut,” Levings said.

The IWA teacher said both she and her class were excited about the skype session.

“My hope is for them to make a connection between their own lives and the lives of children on the other side of the world,” Levings said. “I also want them to understand what kind of impact this organization is having and what a difference it makes.”

In addition to the Skype session, the IWA sixth graders are pledging to drink only water for two weeks. They are saving the money that they would normally spend on sugary drinks at home and at restaurants to donate to the Water for South Sudan.