As Southern Sudan closes in on the prospect of recovery from decades of conflict with the north and nears a vote for independence, one small village in Southern Sudan is heading toward a different kind of healing.

The village is Duk Payuel, home to the Duk Lost Boys Clinic, founded by professional speaker and human rights activist John Dau, now a public policy student at Syracuse University. The clinic, which opened in 2007 and is funded by the John Dau Foundation, is one of few operating clinics in the region. It provides treatment for many illnesses, including malaria, diarrhea and malnourishment.

‘We actually are regarded as the best medical clinic in the region,’ said Sean Herron, public relations director of the foundation and a sophomore policy studies and economics major at SU.

The goal is for the government to provide the same level of health care, but that will not happen until the clinic can ensure the government has the proper resources and will be able to support the clinic for the long run, Herron said.

‘We don’t want to all of a sudden pack our bags and leave,’ he said.

In Syracuse, where Dau relocated in 2001, there is still a tight-knit community that continues to support the clinic and Dau, who is currently in Sudan and voted in the independence referendum earlier this year. Voting has ended, but results are still being counted. At more than 3,790,000 votes cast, 98.81 percent of the votes are for the secession of Southern Sudan, according to the Southern Sudan Referendum results website, last updated Sunday.

Sudan’s north-south war, which spanned five decades and ended in 2005, was Africa’s longest civil conflict. The conflict was fueled by differences in ethnicity, oil and ideology, and religion. It killed an estimated two million people and displaced four million people in Southern Sudan. The conflict officially ended in January 2005 with the signing of a peace agreement.

The Southern Sudan clinic is operated by a team of mostly Sudanese staff, with Kenyans comprising the majority of the medical sector because of the lack of trained Sudanese doctors. The clinic sends its Sudanese staff to training programs that teach skills in proper childbirth procedures and, most recently, malnutrition management.

More than 20 percent of the children in Dau’s home village of Duk Payuel are severely malnourished, according to the John Dau Foundation’s December 2010 nutrition survey report. The nutrition program focuses on educating the locals on how to grow their own crops, although flooding in the region has slowed efforts. The clinic distributes packets of seeds, which has a double benefit because the plants can be grown for food or to sell for money, Herron said.

Today, the clinic serves more than 55,000 people throughout Duk County, said Tom Dannan, executive director of the John Dau Foundation.

Dannan explained that nutrition was last on the priority list because of other issues the clinic had to deal with in its infancy stage, such as childbirth and blood banking.

The clinic is being built up little by little, Dannan said.

‘Because JDF is small, we’re able to stay focused on one thing at a time,’ Dannan said.

This long-term approach has paid off. The child mortality rates in Duk Payuel have fallen by more than half since the clinic opened. Since the distribution of bed nets, there were no confirmed cases of malaria for the month of November, Dannan said, who spends six to eight months a year in Sudan.

Handing over clinic operations to the Sudanese government at some point is one of the clinic’s biggest goals, Dannan said. This is not likely to happen soon but planned for some time in 2012, Dannan said.

Although there is no set time frame for the handover, Dannan said he hopes the government will take more responsibility as funding for the clinic will ultimately run out. Another global disaster, such as the Haitian earthquake, could draw away help from the clinic.

‘At the moment, it’s a big issue when there’s a huge need, but we’re mindful that in five years, it could be something else — that’s why the government needs to get going,’ Dannan said.

As hope for the independence of Southern Sudan grows, the same goes for the future of the clinic in Duk Payuel, which recently hired a team of new staff.

Dannan echoes this hope for a prosperous new Sudan. 

‘They have a lot of resources,’ he said. ‘So if they invest it properly into education and health care, then that place can be a paradise in 20 years.’

atanying@syr.edu

Published on January 23, 2011 at 12:00 pm