MANSFIELD – Students at Discovery School surprised a very special guest at their school with a gift last week.
The school welcomed Bol Aweng, a Sudanese “lost boy” and founder of the nonprofit organization The Buckeye Clinic, to tell his story of growing up in war-torn Sudan. But before he started his presentation, Matt Wicker’s sixth-grade class presented Aweng with $2,750 raised to support The Buckeye Clinic.
“I did not expect that at all,” a shocked Aweng said. “With this very small group of people, raising that amount of money, you are saving a lot of lives.”
Wicker explained that each year, the sixth graders at Discovery choose a different cause on which to take action. This year, the students chose the “lost boys” of Sudan after reading the book “A Long Walk to Water” that told the story of the child refugees who covered the African continent on foot as they searched for their families and for a safe place to stay.
“A lot of people aren’t even aware of the struggles that happen, even in the news today it’s something you don’t hear about, and it’s kind of disconcerting,” Wicker said. “Being able to expose (the students) to real-world problems and issues and show them that as kids they can do something about it and make a change and an impact, I think that’s important.”
In 1987, civil war drove an estimated 20,000 young boys from their families and villages in southern Sudan, including Aweng. At six years old, Aweng was forced from his village amidst chaotic smoke, fire and gunshots. For years, he and a group of boys wandered 1,500 miles through the African desert avoiding exposure, wild animals and attacks from soldiers – a distance equivalent to walking from Mansfield to Denver, Colorado.
Through it all, Aweng developed a talent for art, even creating toys from clay as a small boy in his Dinka village. While in a refugee camp in Kenya, he developed his art skills on his own from his memory and imagination, using material available in the camp. Many of his paintings tell the story of the “lost boys.”
Aweng came to the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, fearing that he had just left one war-torn country for another. But eventually he graduated from The Ohio State University in 2009 with a degree in fine art, and still lives in Columbus today with his wife and four children.
“I am very comfortable as a U.S. citizen,” Aweng said. “I spent many years not having an identity, so when I had that opportunity I was very excited.”
Aweng returned to his home in South Sudan in 2007 and 2010 and reunited with his parents and other family members. It was then he realized how dire medical care in South Sudan was, particularly for mothers and children. In 2012 Aweng established The Buckeye Clinic, named after his alma mater, which specializes in bringing medical services to remote areas in South Sudan.
After hearing about Aweng’s story and mission, Wicker’s sixth grade class established a goal of raising $1,000 to donate to The Buckeye Clinic. On April 27, they organized a fundraiser for the rest of Discovery School to carry gallon jugs of water on a course throughout the school’s property during a 25-minute timeframe.
Each student has gotten sponsors to pledge a certain amount of money to donate per gallon the student carries during the challenge. The significance of carrying water was to help students here who have access to clean water to have a different perspective of limited access to clean water in other countries.
“We wanted to do an experiment to put people in their shoes of carrying water,” said sixth grader SunChyna Tobias.
“The current problem in Sudan is a lot of them still don’t have water or food, and it doesn’t rain so they can’t grow their crops,” added sixth grader Lily Kime. “We didn’t like how people our age don’t have food or water or education.”
