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When I met my hero, he measured
up to all expectations
BIG IN STATURE, BIG IN HEART:
Christy Jensen, in pink coat, found that John Bul Dau
is just like what you would expect. / Photo by Mike
Sweeney
By Christy Jensen
September 10, 2007 | PARK CITY -- "Don't meet your
heroes. You'll be disappointed."
I was told that once.
But when your hero is John Bul Dau, a Lost Boy of Sudan
and star of the 2007 documentary God Grew Tired
of Us, it is hard to be disappointed. He seems
more like a 6-foot-8 African Gandhi than a celebrity.
I got the chance to meet John Dau at an event Wednesday
for his charity, The John Dau Sudan Foundation, in Park
City. By luck and knowing the co-author of Dau's memoir,
Dr. Michael Sweeney, I was able to attend this event
that seemed reserved only for the richest of Utah.
I felt out of place as an undergraduate student in
a bright pink suitcoat next to the thin, blond wives
of men whose salaries were numbers I can't even pronounce.
A wave of resentment washed over me for a second as
I thought of these people exploiting John Dau for their
own personal use. But I quickly realized that although
these people have money, they weren't there to wave
it about. They were at the Glenwild Country Club to
give it to John Dau's charity, and to help him realize
his dream of building six health clinics in his homeland
of southern Sudan. They wanted to "give . . . money
to help, not out of guilt," as John had asked them
to do when he spoke that night.
A documentary called Miracle Doctors was
screened. It gave a look into the cataract surgeries
that Dr. Geoff Tabin performed in Nepal and will perform
in Sudan, with Dr. Alan Crandall, in February 2008.
I was excited and surprised that these two doctors would
give up a few months of their time to give sight to
those who would not be able to have surgery by any other
way.
After the speakers' presentations, as dinner was being
served, I managed to steal a minute with John Dau --
which had seemed almost impossible because everyone
wanted a handshake or a picture with the John
Dau. All I wanted was an answer to a question.
I told John I am a member of Aggies for Africa, a
student organization at Utah State University, dedicated
to educating people on the political and social injustice
of Africa. I wanted to know what he thought students
could do to help gain awareness of what is happening
in Sudan and, more importantly, the Darfur region in
the country's arid west.
Dau said to me, "Go out and talk to other people.
Spread the word. Students should be international citizens.
This is their time to change the world. They need to
take care of the world before they start their own families."
John's response was simple, but could have a profound
effect if implemented.
He didn't ask for money because he knows students don't
have any. He asked for time. As a student I can give
time, and a lot of it. I can give time to tell people
to watch the documentary God Grew Tired of Us
and to give money if they have it. I can tell people
about the current situation in Sudan and encourage them
to pressure the U.S. government to step in and end the
killing.
I wasn't disappointed to meet John Dau. I don't think
that would have been possible.
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