The John Dau Sudan Foundation merges with the American Care for Sudan Foundation

On June 18, 2008, The American Care for Sudan Foundation (ACSF) and the John Dau Sudan Foundation (JDSF) agreed to merge into one organization in their joint pursuit of transforming healthcare in Southern Sudan. The new entity will be called the John Dau Sudan Foundation.

ACSF was formed initially under the leadership of John Dau and the dedication and hard work of a group of members of the First Presbyterian Church of Skaneateles to build the Duk Lost Boys Clinic in Duk Payuel, Southern Sudan in early 2007.

JDSF Founder and President John Dau will lead the organization into this new phase and continue to play a significant role guiding the entity's fundraising and strategy. Bill Coplin, Director of the Public Affairs Program at Syracuse University's Maxwell School, has been appointed Chairman of the Board of the new organization and four of the previous ACSF Board members are now on the seven-member Board of Directors.

"I see the merger with ACSF as a necessary step to create an integrated team to acquire the resources and implement programs to transform healthcare in Southern Sudan," said Coplin.

The merger of the organizations was approved by the boards of JDSF and ACSF. The merger is targeted to legally take effect by the end of 2008, but the organizations will begin merging operations immediately under the JDSF board of management. The new organization will be headquartered in Syracuse, New York.

"This merger allows for the strengths of both of the foundations to be combined, creating a solid framework to bring health care to my homeland in the decades ahead," said Dau. "My attention will no longer be divided as JDSF will be my only focus."

The Situation

The 21-year old current civil war in the Sudan has caused massive and severe suffering for the people of Duk County. This includes massive displacement, collapse of social infrastructure as well as the economy, increased spread of diseases in the area that can be possibly treated if help can be obtained. There is unendurable poverty, insecurity and an unbearable death rate among our people, which has been caused by the war-related disaster. It has been estimated that two million lives have been lost in the war and war related causes and another four million more have been forced into refuge or internal displacement.

The entire population of Duk County has felt the negative impacts of both the civil war and dreadful diseases that ranks with worst in human history. The destruction of their social structures, livestock and agricultural production has forced them to massively migrate to neighbouring countries and camps in the Equatorial region of Southern Sudan.

With the prospects of peace negotiations and political settlement in the Sudanese conflict looming, several humanitarian bodies are involved with repatriations plans for these refugees from the neighbouring countries and from the internally displaced people. Over 19,000 Internal Displaced People (IDPs) from Duk County will presumably be transported back to their areas with the onset of peace. The situation of these returnees upon their arrival back home is of a great concern to Duk County. The living and the health standards are very poor. There is not even one single health Dispensary in the area. The few livestock they have now are dying of diseases as the owners watch helplessly. There are no schools for the returning children and they will have no access to health care services. They will suffer from many more challenging situations that might be ahead of them.

A New Beginning...

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