Wells for Hope for South Sudan
Who We Are
Founded in 2014, we are a group of volunteers committed to raising funds to build wells to provide clean water to villages in South Sudan.
Great News!
Just when we had nearly given up on drilling a well for more than one village this year, several donations arrived that have put us within $395 of being able to drill a second one, for the village of Atiaba!
Majok leaves for South Sudan on March 16. If you're able to help us complete this last stretch toward our eighth well, we'd really appreciate it - and so would the people of Atiaba who will otherwise have to wait for Majok's next trip, probably in 2025, for a well. As you know, clean water wells improve the lives of hundreds of villagers, eliminating the need for women to walk many miles each day for water and allowing for village gardens for a food source and for income.
"I Thirst" Event Featured in Georgia Bulletin
On Feb. 26, the St. Philip Benizi Church, Jonesboro, hosted an "I Thirst" event followed by a fundraiser walk. Check out the article in the Georgia Bulletin to read more about the wonderful day. To the left are some of our volunteer board members, from left to right: Darleine A., Majok Marier, Lois W., Kendrell P., Mary H., and Wendell P.
About Us
In 1983, when the Second Civil War broke out in Sudan, thousands of children had to leave their villages to search for a safe place to live. They walked hundreds of miles to refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya. They are known as The Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan.
In 2011, as a result of the ending of the war, people in the southern part of Sudan voted to become a separate nation known as South Sudan.
Majok Marier was one of the fortunate “Lost Boys of Sudan” who was relocated to the USA. He settled in Clarkston, GA where he found work as a plumber’s assistant. When his sister back in his home village died in childbirth. Majok knew that he needed to do something to give rural villages in South Sudan access to better medical care. He wanted to raise money to build a health clinic but realized that no clinic could operate without clean water, which was very hard to get in these villages, so he wrote a book about his refugee journey to help raise funds for wells and with his co-author, Estelle Ford-Williamson and a small group of volunteers, formed the non-profit known as Wells for Hope for South Sudan in 2014.
South Sudan is at this writing the newest country on earth and one of the least developed. It is usually women and children who fetch water for their families in these villages, walking up to 12 miles round trip and carrying a full jug on their heads on the way back.
Every year, millions of African people die of diseases from unsafe water sources. More people die from contaminated water than from all forms of violence combined, including wars. One village well can bring clean drinking water to hundreds of people.
To date, thanks to many individual donations and funds raised with the annual Walk for Water and Health, Wells for Hope for South Sudan has provided six wells, each costing $10,000 or more.
Where are our wells?
So far, we have raised funds to successfully build six wells. Check out the locations of our wells on the map to the left. They are numbered in the order they were built.
Thanks to many contributors from all over, Majok brought a drilling rig to Billing Daldiar, Lakes State, east of Rumbek, in June 2015! Residents are able for the first time to have clean water in their village, and they have begun growing more crops in the dry season, resulting in income for their families.
In spring and summer 2016, two more wells went in, at Mabor Koch, home village of former Lost Boy Stephen Chol Bayok, and Mading Thon. A fourth well was constructed in April, 2018 in the village of Majak. In the summer of 2021, two more villages received these ground water sources.
Majok addressing the International Convention of BBYO at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights
Majok after speaking to the students of Inman Middle School
Well in use with an honorary tile
Image from the book Seed of South Sudan: Memoir of a "Lost Boy" Refugee, a memoir written by Majok Marier and Estelle Ford-Williamson. Click the link above to purchase a copy.
In the news
Mama Gini Eagan honored on 11Alive
Check out the video to see this wonderful tribute to Mama Gini and her role with the Lost Boys.
Majok speaks at Creekland Middle
The Gwinnett Daily Post featured an article about Majok's visit to Creekland Middle School.
Majok's Memoir and Story
The Georgia Bulletin featured a story about Majok's journey and what led him to write a book about it.
A Path Beyond Violence
A Global Atlanta article also tells the story of Majok's path from violence to author and fundraiser.