ACDF `s Mission

Our mission is to bring about necessary and positive development into our civil-war devastated

Adhiok community, to improve the lives of the vulnerable and the deprived off members, and to

provide substantial services by working tirelessly for the better future of our community. In the

wake of the Sudanese civil war between the Sudan People Liberation Army/Movement and

Sudanese government, our indigenous community has been drastically devastated and

underprivileged from its long standing decent livelihood. Our people were displaced and had been

disadvantaged most but not limited to socially, economically, politically, developmentally, and

above all; educationally. With their long experience, mostly infested with horrific occurrences,

these enthusiastic young men formed the ACDF to help them and their community decreases

many of the problems facing the current generation of Adhiok community, including dreadful

images left by the civil war, underdevelopment in the Adhiok Area, unavailability of health care

facilities and medical supplies, immense poverty, starvation/hunger, lack of education and

unimaginable level of illiteracy, and ultimately; the abuse of human rights and

civil liberties such as freedom of expression, freedom to assembly and association, freedom

of conscience, and freedom to worship.

Dreams and Visions

Before the civil war erupted, the Adhiok community, and from it subsequent generations, was one

of the best known decent life-leading communities in the region. However, its current situation

tends to be the worst in the Adhiok long standing history as a result of the disreputable civil war.

It is with this deterioration conditions that the current Adhiok young generation, especially those

few who made it to America, wanted to restore and carry their long time respected community

into a reliable and sustainable future. Therefore, the dreams and visions of ACDF members are

to acquire and achieve quality education and life in America with the optimism that one day they

will be able to return home and positively apply such realizations to their country (South Sudan)

as a whole and to develop their indigenous Adhiok community in particular. While struggling to

attain this educational prospect here in the United States, the ACDF members are simultaneously

envisioned to reinforce their sick people back home by sending basic necessities such as

medical supplies and school materials, to mention but a few.

Where are ACDF members located?

Members of the ACDF are spread out all over the United States of America. However, no matter

what their geographical locations are, they always have the same steadfastness, "One

Community with One Vision: Changing the lives of Adhiok community for the brighter prosperous

future".

ACDF Get Togethers

The civil war has pitied and left horrifying and shocking images to our community. When these

young men left their villages in late 1980s, most of them were young boys aging from six to eight.

The majority have lost their parents and relatives. This means most have lost community social

values and norms which were taught primarily by parents and the elders of the community. With

this, the ACDF members would like to foster annual social get togethers in order to have time

socializing and sharing their community morals, principles, values, and ethics in their mother

tongue which is nearly being forgotten. Since many are still struggling to get adjusted to their host

communities in the U.S, there are some who virtually need more basic information such as

immigration procedures and forms, legal status, and how to apply and obtain permanent residence

and citizenship cards/forms, and travel documents from the US Bureau of Citizenship and

Immigration Services (BCIS). Such will be the time for them to share all this information in person.

Ultimately, any contributions or donations to this longed-for special time will surely restore

immeasurable hopes and sense of being bound together as members of one and same community.

Our Aims

The ACDF aspiration is to build a stronger community foundation which will help us achieve our

futuristic mission of "bringing necessary and positive development" that will in turn lead to a greater

prosperity of our Adhiok citizens. ACDF members work tirelessly to ensure a more supportive

community of high innovative aspiration.

I. OBJECTIVES AND GOALS

ACDF objectives and goals, as encompassed in its broader vision, aims, and mission statements

are numerous and intense, and as such, ACDF strives to fulfill a wide range of goals and

objectives such as:

     1. Helping in reconstructing our civil-war torn Greater Adhiok Land in the post-conflict

         Southern Sudan by:

          A. Introducing modern agricultural methods and techniques in to the

               Greater Adhiok Community.

          B. Digging wells and water taps to ensure a sustainable source of clean water.

          C. Helping in constructing local community centers such as community meeting hall and

               youth centers.

          D. Helping in constructing infrastructures (roads, railways, water transport, and other

               transportation means) in the Adhiok Land. "Southern Sudan has never seen tarmac

               roads since the days of Adam and Eve" (By the Late Dr. John Garang De Mabior).

               Adhiok Land is no exception!

     2. Providing and sponsoring education to all the ACDF members, be they at home or in

         the Diaspora, by:

          A. Subsidizing scholarships to its member students who do not qualify for financial aid and

              are eager to further their studies but stranded because of financial hardships.

          B. Participating in setting up educational facilities such as kindergartens, primary and

              intermediate schools, libraries, and providing school materials and supplies such as

              stationery, blackboards, and chalks.

          C. Supporting adult education programs to encourage the middle-age members that

              education has no age limitations.

          D. Setting up technical, vocational, and training centers to provide workshops and to impart

              practical skills such as carpentry, masonry, plumbing, and/or mechanical works to the

              talented Adhiok citizens.

     3. Providing medical and health needs through:

          A. Assisting ACDF vulnerable members with medical expenses and bills.

          B. Supplying First Aid and other medical supplies to cure our sick people from malaria,

              bilharzias, or yellow fever among others. Our people are exposed to all types of tropical

              diseases to the extents beyond imagination. Simple diseases such as smallpox, which

              the world has got rid off long time ago, still kill our people.

          C. Promoting Community Health Awareness regarding immunization, early child care, and

              prevention measures.

          D. Setting up feeding programs and centers for malnourished children, nursing homes for the

              elderly, rehabilitation and remedy centers for the convalescences

          E. Building or setting up health care facilities like clinics, dispensaries, or hospitals in our

              Greater Adhiok Area in South Sudan.

     4. Promoting stronger unity and harmony through:

          A. Encouraging communication and interaction among students, professionals, community

              elders, intellectuals, and the entire Adhiok community both in the Diaspora and at home.

          B. Allowing the ACDF members to socialize with one another and to realize their bond as

              members of the same community.

          C. Safeguarding our important traditional values and cultures

          D. Bringing communal harmony within the Adhiok community as well as with other

              communities within Southern Sudan and beyond.

II. MEMBERSHIP

Membership to the ACDF is exclusively to ALL Adhiok members living in the United States of

America, Canada, and beyond. However, non-Adhiok members, especially our fellow American

friends and volunteers are highly welcome. We consider any American friends to our ACDF

members as "Adhiok members". A one-time registration and membership fee, as agreed during

our general meeting in July 2005 in Michigan, is $120 (one-hundred twenty US dollars); that's

automatically a contribution of $10.00 a month for 12 months. Considering our hardships,

destitutions, as well as vast responsibilities we have, we designate membership and monthly fees

to members aged 18 years and up. However, "good will" and voluntary hand from our below age

members is encouraged and welcome.

III. GOVERNANCE AND AUTHORITY

The governing and leading bodies of the Adhiok Community Development Foundation, ACDF, shall be

as follows:

                    a) The Executive Committee

                    b) The Board of Directors

                    c) The State Representatives

                    d) The General Assembly

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

The executive body shall be the presiding and authoritative branch of the ACDF. This comprises the

President, Vice President, Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Treasurer, Deputy Treasurer, and Secretary

of Information. The obligations, duties, and responsibilities of the officers shall be provided in the "By-

laws section".

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

This branch shall act as the overseer and a trustee body of the ACDF. The Board of Directors shall

be the most vital branch as it shall be the chief management team to the legal affairs and property

of the ACDF. Decision-making is a prime responsibility of the Board of Directors. Additional

responsibilities, accountability, limitations, and misconducts as well as their consequences shall

be furnished in the By-Laws section. The number of the members to compose the Board of

Directors is yet to be decided. But the number must be ODD so as to enhance consistency during

voting process.

THE STATE REPRESENTATIVES

This body shall be the most important branch to ACDF success given our geographical and regional

differences. Each state MUST have a representative who will act on behalf of the state. Full

responsibility and duties of the representatives will be assigned as per By-Laws.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The General Assembly comprises the entire members of the Adhiok Community. Overall, this is what

is known as the Adhiok Community Development Foundation. The General Assembly therefore, is the

fundamental part of the ACDF. All ACDF members are to attend the general meeting. In most cases,

what the general assembly discusses, or agreed up on is what the selected officials will implement.

CHALLENGES/Their Setbacks

Most of the ACDF members- Lost Boys of Sudan- do not qualify for governmental funding programs

including financial aid due to incompetent slogan that says most of them make too much annual

income of just between $13,000 and $15,000, a figure far below average earnings for the low-income

class Americans! Therefore, they earnestly need your support to help them pay for their treasured

college education, which they value most than any thing in their lives. They have a saying "education

is our mother and father" in which they see education as their only key to better their lives as well as

the lives of their dear left-behind loved ones.

Your contribution, no matter how little it may be, always makes difference in their needed "positive

change" in their lives. In all aspects, they count on to your assistance for them to realize this

hallucination.

Remember your contributions will not only help them obtain their cherished college education, but will

also support the war victims of their community in their motherland, Southern Sudan.

Please we encourage you to visit our website (www.adhiokfoundation.org) and find the ACDF

members in your local community. If you need more information please contact one of our officials

on the given information on the web and we will be glad to assist you earnestly and promptly.