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| Sixth grade students from St. Ann School in Stoughton are collecting money to send to Water for South Sudan to help build a well in a village there. Students include Savannah Hendrickson, Anthony Teche, Maggie Langenohl, Charlie Mehring, Lillian Talbert, Ellee Milota, Max Mueller, and Seth Allhands. (Contributed photo) |
STOUGHTON — A group of St. Ann School sixth graders is putting their empathy into action for people in a village more than 7,000 miles away.
Inspired by the book A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park that they read and discussed in their language arts class, the students put together a Lenten project to help build a well in South Sudan.
A Long Walk to Water is about Salva Dut, a boy from a village in South Sudan, Africa, who fled his village as war erupted outside of his school. He ran with many other children to escape the violence. They ran not knowing if they’d ever find their families again.
Dut ended up walking more than 1,000 miles to safety, first to a refugee camp in Ethiopia, and eventually to Kenya. He spent 11 years in refugee camps until being sent to New York City to start a new life.
The book talks about Dut’s journey and about the plight of the people who often do not have access to good, clean water. Dut, after working and saving money, decided to go back to help his fellow Sudanese people by drilling wells.
The kids decided they wanted to do more than just learn about the hardships of the people there. They wanted to do something, so they are collecting donations to send to Dut’s organization, Water for South Sudan, to contribute toward a well being built there. Their goal is to raise $1,000, which will bring fresh, clean water to 100 people in a South Sudan village every day.
To help the student’s efforts, send a check made out to St. Ann School with a note in the memo line “Water for South Sudan” to St. Ann School, 324 N. Harrison, Stoughton, WI 53589.