The Lost Boys of Sudan went through an experience similar to that of the Holocaust victims before most of them were even 18 years old. Absolute hunger and complete thirst tortured the orphans for months. There was no refuge and little hope. A few had the will to survive, and Stillwater Junior High School has the honor of hearing some of their stories.

Geography teacher Sara Damon has been raising money since 2009 for two organizations called H2O for Life and Water for South Sudan. She has gotten her students involved as well. Each year, she invites one of the Lost Boys to speak to the students about his experience, which gets the students excited to raise money.

Junior Brady Nahkala has attended these annual presentations for three years. Nahkala listened to this year’s speaker, Moses Deng Joknhial II, on Oct. 3.

“One of the pieces of advice he gave was really good,” said Nahkala. “He essentially said just keep at it. Get an F in school like he did, come back, get a D, then a C. There’s no reason to pity yourself and give up.”

Junior Mikaela Ackerson has also attended multiple speakers. She heard John bul Dau in 2011 and Moses this year.

“John was more on the serious side and the things he said were much sadder,” said Ackerson. “Moses touched on the serious parts a lot but told some jokes here and there to make it less sad.”

Damon has her students read a novel called They Poured Fire On Us From The Sky to give them background information on the situation in South Sudan. The three authors, Benson Deng, Alephonsian Deng and Benjamin Ajak have visited SJHS in the past as the guest speaker of the year.

“When you finish reading [this book], you feel depressed,” said Damon. “If you can channel that depression into something positive, you can help those in need. How can we take a horrible situation and turn it into something good?”

This year’s speaker told the audience of how he started as a man with nothing and became a man of many talents and experiences.

Damon said, “One thing that he’s really accomplished is his academic goals. He has his bachelor degree and other associates degrees. It was a struggle for him because of the language barrier.”

Each year, the different speakers tell their personal story and their own advice, however there are commonalities among them.

“The theme really is don’t give up,” said Damon. “All bad things eventually come to an end. Hope and hard work will help you achieve your goals.”

The Lost Boys of Sudan are helping their native country through SJHS. They inspire the kids to raise money to build wells in this poverty ridden country. The wells provide clean water close to home for a lifetime.