The VAD Foundation
The Valentino Achak Deng (VAD) Foundation's mission is to empower children, youth, and women from poor communities in South Sudan through educational opportunities and other sustainable development initiatives.
Creating peace and sustainability through education, farming, and skill-building
While traditional schooling education is at the core of our strategy, the VAD Foundation believes that students and community members must be empowered to thrive beyond the classroom.
Our farming and vocational skills programs stimulate job creation while offering students, youth, and community members the chance to build livelihoods and pursue lifelong learning opportunities. Our goal, as an organization, is to promote economic development and security to provide a foundation for resilient and thriving communities in war-torn South Sudan.
To learn more about all our programs, click here.
“The school… it’s a reminder that sometimes the world’s most desperate and desolate places are the ones brimming with magnanimity and hope.”
— Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times
Our History
The Valentino Achak Deng Foundation was established in connection to the book What Is The What, a novel by Dave Eggers based on Valentino’s early life story as a refugee from South Sudan. As a child in the 1980s, Valentino was separated from his family during Sudan’s long-running civil war, and grew up in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya. In 2002, Valentino resettled in the United States in Atlanta, where he met Mary Williams, the daughter of Black Panther parents and head of the Lost Boys Foundation. After Valentino began telling his story to churches and community groups in Atlanta, he and Mary looked for a biographer to help him write
a book. Mary got in touch with Dave, who agreed to write the book for free, deciding with Valentino early on that the future book’s proceeds should aid South Sudan. Valentino and Dave became close friends, working for four years on the book. During that time, they traveled together to South Sudan, where Valentino reunited with his family after 16 years apart. He was overwhelmed by the difficulties his people were facing after decades of conflict, under-development, and suffering - caused in no small part by South Sudan’s historical lack of education and economic opportunities. Valentino, blessed with the opportunities he found in the
United States, felt compelled to give back. He decided that the proceeds from the book should be used to create a new charitable cause, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing access to education for young people and promoting sustainable development in South Sudan. The VAD Foundation was established in 2006, shortly before the publication of What Is The What, and Valentino has led the organization ever since.
To see what all of our supporters have helped us accomplish, check out our programs.
VAD at TEDxBerlin
The VAD Foundation’s co-founder, Valentino Achak Deng, speaks about his life as a war survivor, and his efforts for healthcare and education in the ravaged communities of his homeland.
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Every donation makes a lasting impact.
100% of donations go directly to our programs in South Sudan.