AID AND CARE, INC

The birth of AID and CARE came by the vision and dream of the former lost boys of Sudan and their American friends. Dominic Diing is one of the former lost boys of Sudan, child soldier, a refugee and the organization’s founder. Dominic was born in a rural village called Makuach Deng Ayom in Aweil, South Sudan. While Dominic was raised by dedicated farmers and cattle keepers father, Diing Diing and mother, Ajok Athian, Dominic was a cattle herder boy in his village, the Islamic Government in Northern Sudan and all Islamic regions in Sudan including Darfur had united against black Africans, Christians and Animists in Southern Sudan and had implemented a human's destruction mission called “ Wipe Them Off the Map”. Meaning militias and Jihadists raised from within Sudan and Arab countries were sent to South Sudan’s rural villages and towns to kill all people live there.

The wipe them off the map mission started in 1985 two years after the civil war began in the country. They enemies had continuously attacked and killed those who resisted and had taken those they captured to North for slave and Jihadist training. When Dominic was 7 years old, his village was massively attacked and many people were killed and the whole village was on the fire. Dominic and his young brother, Garang were lucky to escape the attack and ran away from his village and began to walk on their bear foot all the way to Ethiopia(1987), back to the borders of South Sudan and Ethiopia(1991-92z0 anf finally Kenya in 1992. Dominic spent 14 years in make shifts refugee camps and the rest of his life as a child soldier. Dominic’s brother and his cousins did not make it to survive the walk, fatigue, and illness in the desert and wild forests in Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya. In 2001, Dominic was one of 5000 lost boys brought to the United States.

Dominic Diing has been speaking about his life story as a child soldier and refugees’ life, how he and his country-boys survived war, disasters and genocide in Sudan and refugee camps. He has been involved in community and human rights activies in the United States for the past 10 years. In 2002, Dominic co-founded the Lost Boys of Sudan Foundation in New York to help funded the lost boys education and medical expenses. He served as vice president of the foundation’s board while attending Syracuse University studying double degree in Education and Economics. Two years later, he transferred to Niagara University where he completed his undergraduate degrees in 2006. After he graduated from college, Dominic quested himself what he would do to help people in South Sudan and her neighboring countries with similar situations in Africa.

Through one of his night’s dreams, Dominic realized that it was time for him to reverse his life story and education he obtained from college to serve vulnerable children and youth especially orphans and vulnerable in South Sudan . In June 2006, Dominic, some of South Sudanese and his former professors cofounded the Aid and Care with hope to respond the people needs in East Africa by raising the awareness and funds that enable to provide human basic fundamental needs such as shelters, medical support, and education for orphans, abandoned children and women starting with South Sudan. From his life story to a vision and dream, Dominic believes that giving love and care for unfortunate people especially vulnerable children and orphans while educating them will help them ignite hope and see a brighter future that lead them to self efficiency and productive members of their countries and our world.

Dominic s love for children, his personal history, and a dream came true gave him and his friends the inspirations and sense of urgency to rescue orphans, abandoned children, youth and women and help rebuild genocide and war countries like Rwanda and Ethiopia and also help build the world’s newest independence country, the Republic of South Sudan. Like so many South Sudanese families, Dominic’s family was damaged by 21 years civil war, famine, diseases, and natural diseases. Twenty-one members of his immediate family including his father, all his brothers, some sisters, relatives and other extended families have lost their lives to all of these while leaving 3 millions orphaned children and widows and homes destroyed in South Sudan. Today, the civil war in Sudan is over and the people of South Sudan got their freedom and independence from the Sudan, but a place that has never had a modern buildings, schools, health facilites or infastructures such as roads and others.

Therefore, building this new country is uncertain. Aid and Care mission is to save vunlerable lives, build hope and inspire future by providing children and oprhans with shelters, food, medicals and education. Aid works in South Sudan by building schools and orphanage for children, and provide health care and water projects for clean water in rural villages and towns. The organization also provides shelters, medical referral to orphans and vulnerable children and youth in South Sudan, sponsorship and scholarship to orphaned children and youth in Ethiopia and Rwanda. While we already built a primary school that educates nearly 3,000 children in Mabior villages and its neighboring villages, and undergoing construction of orphanage in Akobo village in South Sudan, plus more than 100 children and youth we put in schools and shelters in Ethiopia and Rwanda, we have our biggest project we need accomplish late in 2013 or early in 2014: Building a combined primary and secondary school for 1, 700 children without schools in Dominic’s and his mother's village in South Sudan. We also have a vision of increasing girls enrolment in schools by 2 % by 2015. On November 2, 2011, Dominic returned to his village and reunited with his family after he spent 25 years away. He came back to the United States with joyful and sad Homecoming. Most of all, the Proudness of his people about Americans with this strong message: "Thank you America, but three more things", the said. At this time, Dominic needs your help him achieve his promise to children in his village. Read more