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Peace Jam Looks to Build A New Well in S. Sudan

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Contributed by: Sophie Thunberg on 1/28/2008

This year at Manitou Springs High School, a group of students started a new Peace Jam club to promote global awareness throughout the school and the community. Topics such as water distribution, genocide, homelessness, and poverty have all been discussed and studied. The group has already raised $200 for "Care and Share" and gave 3,000 non-perishable food items this winter to a local food bank.

However, the students also wanted to reach out internationally. For weeks, they looked for a central project to concentrate on this year, but nothing really caught their eyes.

Then, came Dan Babuothkai. Babuothkai offered Manitou Springs High School students an opportunity to get involved in his project "Clean Water and Clinics Foundation for South Sudan Inc." This charitable organization was started as a way to improve water conditions and build wells for the South Sudan communities.

In 1994, Babuothkai came to the US after years of growing up through South Sudan's war. He has experienced the tragic deaths of many friends and family, and has escaped a similar fate only by crossing the border into Ethiopia. Babuothkai has been places only heard from on the news - where death is a reality and clean water often times is a rarity.

"Every morning women and children walk many miles to collect drinking water from rivers. The river water is dirty, muddy, and contaminated with bacteria that could spread diseases like cholera, worms, and others," said Babuothkai in a recent informational letter.

Building his first well in 2004, Babuothkai hopes to build even more wells, and plans to go back to Southern Sudan in April 2008. Babuothkai lives here in Colorado Springs with his wife and children, and currently attends Pikes Peak Community College. To Babuothkai and his organization, there is a solution to every problem, and all he needs is help to bring more awareness to this issue.
The well that Peace Jam students plan to help build will cost $6,000. In March, the students will also participate in the Peace Jam Conference, featuring 1980 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel.

Many more fundraising options are on the way to help build the well. A spaghetti dinner will be held later in March to raise money, and soon many local shops will have jars for donations. For more information on ways to help the students raise the money or contact Babuothkai, email Bridget O'Connor at boconnor@mssd14.org.

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