His “Living Testimony”

From “Lost Boy” to international humanitarian, John Dau takes up the cause of improving literacy and health care in his native Sudan

John Bul Dau came of age in a refugee camp after a harrowing journey from his homeland in Duk County, southern Sudan, where he and his family had lived an ordinary life, raising cattle and farming.

Dau, one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan,” was separated from his family in a raid by government soldiers on his village, Duk Payuel, in 1987. He and a small band of refugees fled. They kept on the move, going for days without food or water. They ate wild fruit and the roots of plants and grass. At night it was cold and he remembered praying, “Please God, make the night shorter.” They thought they were going to die. To quench their thirst they drank human urine and tried to squeeze moisture from mud.

It was his perseverance and will to survive that enabled him to overcome the tribulations he endured. Later, these traits and his struggle to attain the “gift of literacy” and education propelled him to help others who suffered as he did.

Dau, 34, gave what he called his “living testimony” at the International Literacy Day event held September 11, 2007, in Washington, DC.

When people hear such testimony, he said, they may be helped by it personally, but even more importantly, should feel compelled to help others. Most of those in attendance represented organizations involved in literacy, libraries, and education. Dau’s story served as a clarion call and reaffirmation of the importance of promoting global literacy.

Because of his height—today he is a graceful 6'8"—the tall 14-year-old appeared to be in charge of the band of refugees, which grew to about 50. Every day they trudged along, many sickened by cholera because “everything was so dirty,” and two or three would die. The hyenas would come at night to feed on the bodies of the hastily buried. After three months, the refugees finally reached the Pinyudu camp in western Ethiopia, where Dau spent nearly four years.

He recalled that the United Nations workers brought powdered milk to the camp. Dau’s tribe, the Dinkas, raise cattle, and a childhood bedtime ritual involved drinking a cup of milk. At first, it was hard to believe the powder was milk, but when mixed with water, it proved to be so, and the incident remains fresh in his memory.

Forced out of the Ethiopian camp by rebels from northern Sudan, 27,000 refugees fled. Some 1,200 drowned or were killed by soldiers at the outset. Eventually, their numbers reduced by more than half, the group reached the Kakuma refugee camp in northern Kenya, where Dau lived for a decade. “It was good; there was no killing,” he said.

At age 17, Dau began learning his “ABCs, 1-2-3s” in the shade of a large tree at the camp. A library there drew eager beginning readers who would line up at 3 a.m. to be first in line when the library opened at 9. And it was at Kakuma that he realized that “education is my mother and father.” He said the first book he read was George Orwell’s Animal Farm and he also enjoyed John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.

In 2001, Dau was one of about 3,800 Sudanese selected to resettle in the United States.

He remembered earlier conversations with other camp dwellers about “What’s the USA?” They pronounced it “you-sa” because they didn’t know it was an abbreviation. Then the stories circulated about America. Some said the technology was so great that you could sit at a table and press a button for “chicken” and a chicken would appear. They also heard the people in the United States were crazy and would shoot you as you walked down the street. American girls were “very radical” and had small bags that held guns so “you didn’t want to mess up with them or they would shoot you.”

Dau arrived at the airport in Syracuse, New York, in 2001, and stepping into American culture was like stepping onto the moon, he said. But he quickly adapted to its pressures and pace and soon realized how inaccurate had been the portrayal of “USA” in the refugee camps. With his high school diploma from the refugee camp, Dau enrolled in college and is currently working on completing his degree at Syracuse University. He also is interested in studying immigration law, he said.

Much of the reason for the delay in obtaining his degree is that he has embarked on a mission to build schools and clinics in Sudan and publicize the plight of the Sudanese. The John Dau Sudan Foundation (www.johndaufoundation.org) was established to develop such facilities in Duk, Twic East, and Bor South County in the State of Jonglei, Sudan. Basic medical services and remedial reading and literacy classes for children and adults will be offered, as well as specialized ophthalmology and OB/GYN services, and training for health workers.

So far, Dau has raised more than $400,000 for a clinic, written God Grew Tired of Us with Michael Sweeney, and was featured in a National Geographic film with the same title. Because of the despair felt by Dau and many others who made the soul-numbing trek, he felt at times that “God grew tired of us.” He no longer feels that way. “To survive you had to have one thing—perseverance. My motto is to never give up. I got the chance to go to school. Education made me who I am today.”

Dau has nothing but praise for the “generous spirit of Americans who will give and not expect anything in return,” a trait he finds lacking in other cultures he became familiar with on his odyssey.

In her introduction of Dau, Linda Gambrell, president of the International Reading Association, spoke of the “vital relationship between literacy and health,” the thematic emphasis of the 2007–2008 biennium of the United Nations Literacy Decade.

“This relationship brings benefits to all age groups: early childhood, school children, adolescents, and adults,” she said. “Literacy strengthens the capabilities of people to take advantage of health care and educational opportunities. John Dau supports this vital link and is working hard to combine literacy and health care in Southern Sudan.

“John has risen from the atrocities of civil war as a child without his family to become a humanitarian with the ability to inspire us all,” Gambrell said.

The International Literacy Day event was cosponsored by the International Reading Association (IRA) and My Wonderful World, a campaign of the National Geographic Society (NGS) that aims to support parents and educators to expand geographic learning at home, in school, and in the community.

Organizations displayed their work and projects at the National Geographic Society’s headquarters on 17th Street, N.W. and were on hand to answer questions before and after the program. In addition to the IRA and NGS, organizations participating included the John Dau Sudan Foundation, Rotary International, ProLiteracy Worldwide, CODE/Project Love, International Book Bank, The Ronald Reagan Institute of Emergency Medicine at George Washington University Medical Center, Academy of Educational Development’s One Shared World, the Lubuto Library Project, Inc. and Pearson Education, which sponsored John Dau’s appearance.

His “living testimony”. (October 2007). Reading Today, 25(2), 3.