by Kirby Lindsay, posted 22 February 2013
The Rotary Club of Fremont accomplishes amazing works of philanthropy here, including regular clean-up/maintenance of the Dino Topiaries, sock drives for Ballard Food Bank, raising money for the B.F. Day Elementary School playground improvements, etc.
However, Fremont Rotary also works with other clubs as part of Rotary International. Rotary Clubs around Seattle form District 5030 (with the motto, “A Life Building Hope,”) and connect the world in relationship with other Rotarians. This has given our little club, which meets at Hale’s Ales, an intimate connection with people all around the world…including the newly formed African Republic Of South Sudan.
Meet Thuch Malual’Deng
Thuch Malual’Deng recently returned to Seattle to pursue his Masters in Public Health at the University of Washington. Malual’Deng may well be one of the best educated citizens in South Sudan – an even more remarkable achievement given the efforts of the Sudanese government during most of his childhood to eradicate his entire generation.
“When you grow up in that atmosphere,” Malual’Deng said, “you don’t know what is normal.” As one of the ‘Lost Boys Of Sudan,’ Malual’Deng and his brothers were set adrift when his parents died during civil war and ethnic cleansing that also destroyed his village. Roughly 20,000 young men roamed Africa for years, seeking a home. At age 2, Malual’Deng became one of the ‘Lost Boys,’ who may not have know what was normal, but their time spent wander the forest, “we knew that was abnormal.”
The boys roamed the wilderness, “and a lot died of hunger, thirst and wild animals,” Malual’Deng recalled, before they found their way to Ethiopia. The Ethiopian government supported the South Sudanese Christians, and gave the boys food and safety, until 1991. With a change of regime, the camps were shut down and the boys were forced to return to South Sudan. More of them died, according to Malual’Deng, from hunger and crocodile attacks, particularly when they reached ‘home’ and discovered they had nowhere to stay there.
The ‘Lost Boys’ then went to Kenya, and were able to live in refugee camps there for 10 years, and attend school. He spoke well of that time, and of the food provided to them there from the United Nations.
Malual’Deng credits their faith for keeping the boys going through the decades of displacement. “Always there was hope,” he said. The ‘Lost Boys,’ often persecuted for their Christian beliefs, kept the faith. “Faith is something that comes from your heart,” he said, “not from people.”
“I don’t think God kills anything,” Malual’Deng observed of the persecutions, and the persecutors, “Growing up in camps, the only thing that came out for me was that conflict never resolves anything.”
The Road To Rotary
“Life is a lot better,” Malual’Deng said. He appreciates the safety and acceptance he found in the U.S. Here, he pointed out, we have no fear of the ethnic cleansing that he’s encounter. In fact, he noted, the U.S. “is the only place where you can see people that appreciate diversity.”
At age 16, Malual’Deng, and one of his brothers, were able to find a foster home in the U.S. through Lutheran Services In America. His foster family provided him with support, and acceptance, as he continued his education and eventually traveled back to South Sudan to find relatives, and provide aid to his war-torn country. Through them, he also connected with the Rotary Club Of Lake Forest Park and, through them, the Fremont Rotary.
Rotary Clubs have funded solar energy and clean water initiatives in South Sudan, through the work of Malual’Deng. One Rotary initiative provided solar powered flash lights to students as replacements for the kerosene lamps they previously used, and that were slowly coating their lungs.
John Booker, of Fremont Rotary, helped Malual’Deng (along with Engineers Without Borders at Seattle University) to learn to install and operate (so he could teach others in South Sudan) a solar powered chlorine generator. Booker helped find supplies for the generator powerful enough to get the job done, but also portable enough to be carried in luggage. The Fremont Rotary funded this effort in 2011 by selling raffle tickets for an Alaskan Cruise.
The ability to create chlorine in his village has been a great blessing, Malual’Deng reported. “Any water borne disease is a possibility,” in the villages of South Sudan, Malual’Deng reported. Chlorine can be used to treat the water, and instantly save lives and drastically improve the health of the whole village. The generators have proven so successful, and efficient, that the South Sudan government has agreed to install more of them, possibly funded by UNICEF.
Doing Good Work
“People are very kind here,” Malual’Deng stated. He continues to travel back to South Sudan, taking the support, affection and knowledge he’s gained here to help his people in Africa. He’s also taken a burdensome awareness with him – that corruption need not be part of the process.
Malual’Deng praises the Carter Center for Guinea Worm Eradication as an effective and honest non-governmental organization (NGO,) one that accomplishes its work without corruption. The Carter Center provides education and prevention of six preventable diseases. “A lot of disease,” Malual’Deng observed about his country, “can be easily controlled,” with treatment of the water and education of the people.
Yet, other N.G.O.s don’t help, and can ultimately hurt people in need, by exploiting the cause. “People are coming to help,” he said, “a lot of people are so generous. It makes you want to cry.” Yet, if people hear about money being wasted, or going to line already bulging pockets, Malual’Deng fears aid will end. “There are hundreds of N.G.O.s,” he said, “but 10% are doing what they say.”
Malual’Deng helped with distribution of 600,000 treated mosquito nets across one state of South Sudan. (Fremont Rotary held fundraisers for this project as well.) “It didn’t cover one-third of the population,” he admitted. He’d like to see more nets distributed, but governmental reports boasted about the project – and inflated the number to 1.5 million nets. This will make it harder to convince people a need still exists.
“How much money has been spent there to help that hasn’t?” Malual’Deng asked.
The Power Of Rotary
The power of Rotary comes from people like Thuch Malual’Deng – who provides eyes, ears, and feet on the ground to see distribution of treated bed nets or installation of chlorine generators gets done. “Part of the reason I’m so confident,” explained Jean Withers, a Fremont Rotary Past President and Rotary District 5030 Vocational Services Chair, “is simply who Thuch is and how he operates.”
“I think the U.S. government and individual people, many churches, social services organizations, and dedicated people like those in Rotary should be deeply proud: we took these vulnerable young people in,” Withers said of the ‘Lost Boys,’ “and we gave them sustenance and homes throughout our country. This we did, and we did it right.”
The result is a man like Malual’Deng, who Withers describes as someone who, “cares about this country, and loves his home country. He’s a good man in every sense of the word.” He’s also someone who continues to work with Rotary Clubs, like Fremont’s, to see the betterment of South Sudan.
To learn more about the work of Rotary, and Malual’Deng, visit the Fremont Rotary website or Facebook page. Attend a weekly meeting at 5:30p on Tuesdays at Hale’s, or, join the monthly sandwich making (on the second Tuesday) for Operation Nightwatch. Help Fremont Rotary help locally, or globally, and see the results for yourself!
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©2013 Kirby Lindsay. This column is protected by intellectual property laws, including U.S. copyright laws. Reproduction, adaptation or distribution without permission is prohibited.