2024 Just before the semester break for Christmas, students and faculty of the Amherst Middle School invited former "Lost Boy" Fidele Dhan and Fr. Ron Sajdak, Executive Director of ROTA for an assembly program.
Within the seventh grade curriculum is the reading of "A Long Walk to Water" by Linda Sue Park. The text includes the real accounting of some details of former "Lost Boy" Salva Dut who is of the Dinka tribe and a factitious character of a young Nuer girl called Nya. Some of the more current conflicts in the country centered around the disagreements of these two tribes. In the story, the commitment of the Dinka young man, Salva Dut to bring fresh water to people in his homeland impacts the welfare of young Nya.
The seventh grade students were so moved by the story that they organized various fundraisers. Members of the school's administration discovered that former "Lost Boy" Fidele Dhan drove a school bus for many of the youngsters. They also discovered Fidele's involvement with ROTA as well as South Sudan Villages Clinic. They reached out and the assembly was scheduled. The students were captivated by the story and Fidele's answers to their assorted questions. Fidele recongnized many of the students and they recongized and were proud of him as well. They shared the proceeds of their fundraising, over $1,500 with Fidele to enable medicines to be purchased for the medical clinic he and ROTA built in his village of Koiyom. Congratulations to the Amherst Middle School Students. Job well done!
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