Improving lives of South Sudanese communities through water and sanitation: The story of Salva Dut Salva Dut,

a former lost boy who is assisting communities in South Sudan by drilling boreholes in disadvantaged communities yesterday mentored seventh graders at Holy Cross Lutheran School in the state of Indiana, USA on water and sanitation activities in South Sudan. A special video Skype call was facilitatedby UNICEF South Sudan for sharing his experience with these children.. The pupils from Holy Cross were curious to know about accessibility of water to communities, the situation in South Sudan, and the needs of communities with regard to water and sanitation. They developed an interest in South Sudan after reading the book A Long Walk to Water, in which Dut is featured as the main character. The pupils were excited to chat with the character from their course book and learn about communities in South Sudan. The students, as well as the school headmaster, asked a range of questions, wanting to know about technical issues as well as Duts experience in America. How do you drill a well? asked one boy to Jesse Pleger, WASH Cluster Coordinator. What was it like when you first came to America?, asked another to Dut. Dut was able to share about his initial arrival, and his shock at how cold it was and how much food was available. What was it like the first time you used electricity? asked young Tom. Dut simply answered, Cool. His final advice to the students was simply profound. I encourage all of you to be thankful for what you have, do not complain about petty things, and avoid using hate to deal with problems, but rather to solve things with love he concluded Dut started a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) - Water for South Sudan--back in 2004 after his father died of a water-borne disease. Since then he has drilled over 100 boreholes serving over 50,000 South Sudanese in Guinea Worm endemic states of South Sudan. Duts NGO has changed many lives in South Sudan. Not only does his organization drill boreholes, but they also build the capacity of the locals to repair and maintain boreholes in their areas. The best part of my work is seeing the joy on peoples faces when we successfully dig a well, said Dut. Duts NGO is part of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster in South Sudan in which UNICEF is the lead agency. The WASH Cluster has over 50 agencies, which work together to provide effective, timely and coherent WASH humanitarian response. In 2012, the WASH Cluster partners provided clean water to over 1.2 million people in South Sudan. For more information on the WASH Cluster and UNICEF South Sudan, please visit the websites: http://sites.google.com/ste/washclustersouthsudan/ http://www.unicef.org/southsudan/