06/06: Meet SUNY Oneonta's Distinguished Alumnus
It's our own Ron Moulton, who was at his alma mater's reunion weekend to accept the Distinguished Alumnus award for his work with Village Help for South Sudan.
Here are his remarks:
"Thank you! It is a great honor for me to be back on campus today. I am sincerely grateful and pleased to accept the Distinguished Alumnus Award.
"I would like to divert attention away from myself, however, and highlight the amazing accomplishments of the truly distinguished people I support. The organization I co-founded is called Village Help for South Sudan. Our mission is to provide grants and management support to indigenous groups in remote villages in southern Sudan. This enables them to implement community development projects that address their most urgent and serious problems. The villagers we support deserve our honor and recognition.
"The village of Wunlang is one of the poorest places on earth. There was none of the infrastructure we take for granted here in our homes. No electricity. No sanitation. No permanent structures. No roads, only footpaths. In fact, before Village Help for South Sudan and our donors began supporting them, there was not even clean drinking water.
"Since our work began in 2007, the village has organized a water and sanitation committee and installed deep-drilled bore holes and hand pumps for water and installed latrines. A village education committee organized a team to make bricks and constructed an 8-classroom primary school. A health committee is now constructing a village health center and will soon bring supplies and training to address the most urgent health issue: maternal and newborn mortality and suffering.
"By comparison to the hard work of the villagers we support, my job has been easy. I hope that students, faculty and alumni here will take an interest in participatory community development such as this. You can learn more by visiting our website: villagehelpforsouthsudan.org.
"Again, I deeply appreciate this award, and I am honored to be an Oneonta alumnus. Thank you!"
Here are his remarks:
"Thank you! It is a great honor for me to be back on campus today. I am sincerely grateful and pleased to accept the Distinguished Alumnus Award.
"I would like to divert attention away from myself, however, and highlight the amazing accomplishments of the truly distinguished people I support. The organization I co-founded is called Village Help for South Sudan. Our mission is to provide grants and management support to indigenous groups in remote villages in southern Sudan. This enables them to implement community development projects that address their most urgent and serious problems. The villagers we support deserve our honor and recognition.
"The village of Wunlang is one of the poorest places on earth. There was none of the infrastructure we take for granted here in our homes. No electricity. No sanitation. No permanent structures. No roads, only footpaths. In fact, before Village Help for South Sudan and our donors began supporting them, there was not even clean drinking water.
"Since our work began in 2007, the village has organized a water and sanitation committee and installed deep-drilled bore holes and hand pumps for water and installed latrines. A village education committee organized a team to make bricks and constructed an 8-classroom primary school. A health committee is now constructing a village health center and will soon bring supplies and training to address the most urgent health issue: maternal and newborn mortality and suffering.
"By comparison to the hard work of the villagers we support, my job has been easy. I hope that students, faculty and alumni here will take an interest in participatory community development such as this. You can learn more by visiting our website: villagehelpforsouthsudan.org.
"Again, I deeply appreciate this award, and I am honored to be an Oneonta alumnus. Thank you!"
