Church fundraiser to help South Sudan clinic

SKANEATELES | After establishing a medical clinic in South Sudan six years ago, the First Presbyterian Church in Skaneateles is once again raising funds to boost the foundation that operates the clinic.

On Sept. 29 from 4 to 7 p.m., the church is slated to host its annual fundraiser for the John Dau Foundation at the Skaneateles Country Club, 3344 W. Lake Road, Skaneateles.

The $35 cost includes entry and hors d'oeuvres. There will also be cocktails, wine, beer, African items for sale and an advance screening of the film "Duk County" by Jordan Campbell.

Jack Howard, chairman of the board for the foundation, said the first hour of the evening will feature cocktails and a cash bar, while the documentary will be shown in the second hour and the audience will have the opportunity to ask questions in the final hour.

John Dau, a former Lost Boy who relocated to central New York, will join in the discussions and presentation at the dinner, along with other people involved in the clinic's growth. Skaneateles officials will be on hand to celebrate the village being named a sister city to Duk Payuel, the community where the clinic is located.

The film, which won awards at this year's Telluride Film Festival, chronicles medical missions in South Sudan that brought vision to 586 blind men, women and children. Duk County is where the clinic is in South Sudan, and Howard said it is where members of warring tribes have gained sight through an initiative called "Restoring Peace Through Sight."

"The cataracts are so bad, people there are going blind from cataracts," Howard said.

But, through the initiative and with the help of the foundation, a team of doctors from the Moran Eye Center in Salt Lake City travels to the clinic and performs 300 surgeries in just two weeks.

"People go from complete blindness to sight," Howard said.

Last year, Howard said, the fundraiser generated $42,000 for dinner, an amount that was matched by an anonymous donor.

That number is a huge boost for the clinic, which Howard said costs $450,000 to operate each year. World Bank provides $300,000 for the clinic, while the foundation must come up with the remaining $150,000.

"They won't allow us to spend a cent in the U.S.," Howard said of the World Bank contribution, which he noted goes solely toward the clinic. "We have to raise our own money to carry out operations in the U.S."

The clinic's origins began in 2001, when Dau was one of approximately 3,600 Lost Boys of Sudan who made it to the United States and one of about 121 who came to central New York.

Howard said the First Presbyterian Church worked with an organization in Syracuse that was finding homes for the Lost Boys.

"They asked us to sponsor four Lost Boys," he said, noting Dau was one of those boys.

Quickly, Dau expressed his dream of opening a clinic in his native village in South Sudan, so the church set up a task force to determine how to go about helping Dau accomplish his dream.

In 2004, the John Dau Foundation was established with the mission of bringing basic health services, such as immunizations, hygiene and nutritional counseling and maternity care, to the people of South Sudan.

With the support of the community and the church, the clinic opened just a few years later in May 2007.

"We've helped over 100,000 people by now," Howard said. "We keep expanding our services. The clinic is now classified as a hospital."