Towering above Williston students (especially those starry eyed 7th graders), John Bul Dau, at 6′ 8″ tall, recounted his journey as a former “lost boy” of Sudan and his current foundation work to bring health, education, and modern agricultural practices to his native village. The Williston Northampton community welcomed Mr. Dau as the second of our annual Sarah Wattles Perry ’77 Speakers, in which the entire school comes together to hear from an author whose book we have read. 

Not lost on anyone in the audience, however, was that Mr. Dau’s account of his childhood village, prior to the desecration of civil war, was of another century: theirs was an existence largely untouched by the modern world. And as we had just recovered from a week-long power outage, it gave pause as we heard from someone for whom electricity, running water, and school were never part of his childhood experience.

His harrowing tale of survival, recounted in his memoir God Grew Tired of Us, is one that Mr. Dau shares with audiences around the country, and he told me that he especially liked the intimate exchanges he had in the many classrooms he visited during his full day with us. Telling students that “struggle and success” are two sides of the same coin, Mr. Dau’s soft-spoken presence captivated all; in fact, throughout the day clusters of students sought him out lunch, dinner, and in between his many appointments. 

A humanitarian who believes in the power of an individual’s message to pass from person to person–as he calls it a “living story”–Mr. Dau no doubt inspired our already globally minded students to reach even farther. He enjoined everyone to “give back to their community” when they achieve success as adults, no matter what form that success takes. Mr. Dau’s message seems particularly well-suited to Williston students as they embrace lives of purpose, passion, and integrity.