Wednesday, May 16, 2007

John Dau

I had the privilege of listening to a speech by John Dau, the keynote speaker at my bro's graduation ceremony at the U of M.

I get beat down & disappointed by the avalanche of douchebags, or even worse sociopaths, that are prevalent in modern society, even in the most important jobs (such as Gee Dubbz Bush).

It's great to hear the story of a real stand-up individual like Dau. It give me faith in my fellow humans to see such an inspirational individual.

Here's some links on Dau.

Dau has overcome as much adversity in his life as anyone I can recall:
1 In 1987 At age 14 his Dinka village was attacked. He was separated from his family, but an adult led him & some other kids as refugees. They were refugees travelling in Sudan & Ethiopia. They finally settled in Kenya
2 In Kenya at age 17 he started his basic education in the refugee camp
3 In 2001 he emigrated to New York state

Despite these hardships that are 100x what me & most of everyone has had, this guy has
1 raised $400K for a health clinic in Sudan. If you want to give to a charity, probably few have as much of a good done per dollar given ratio as Dau's charity
2 is about to graduate with his BA degree from Syracuse U
3 has a family, as well as got his mother out of Sudan to emigrate to New York

John Dau, you get props over here (c) The Beatnuts

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thanks for your post on John Dau and your plug for his charitable work.

While money was raised to build the clinic, help is still needed to provide health care to the people of John's home village. You can help John's Duk Lost Boys Clinic at his Sudan Project at Direct Change.