Mou "Phillip" Riiny stands near a map of southern Sudan. He had just pointed out the location of the village where he was born and where he hopes to install his first sustainable village energy solution.

Mou will be a senior this year at the University of San Diego majoring in Electrical Engineering. USD has approved his proposal for serving the energy needs of a remote village in South Sudan as his senior project. Two other students, Emmett Perl and Michael Rios, will work with him on the project. The results of their work will be an appropriate energy model for the Theou school Village Help for South Sudan plans to build in 2011. His cousin, Bol Riiny, is project manager for our Theou village work.

Mou's senior project will be done over two semesters. The first semester is mostly research, planning, and design; the second semester's focus will be construction and implementation. Initial implementation will be a working prototype at USD, but Mou and his project partners are aiming to go to Sudan to install a pilot at the Theou school. Once field tested in Theou, the design should become the basis for energy installations for other schools and health centers constructed with support from Village Help for South Sudan.

Although solar is a likely component, no foregone conclusions exist at this time as to what the power source will be – that’s part of the research. Several experts in energy and technology will advise the project, including faculty and staff at USD and interested community supporters here in the Boston area where Mou was resettled as a refugee (one of the "Lost Boys of Sudan") ten years ago.

We look forward to reporting progress on this very exciting project over the coming year.

Bol and friends Philip and Kevin from We Care to Give hosted a wonderful event on April 11th to support Bol’s Theou Village Project and the Theou Freedom School. About 150 guests enjoyed a special evening of music, dancing, food, and fun aboard the Spirit of Boston. It was a beautiful night for a cruise around Boston Harbor.

A big “Thank You!” to all the organizers and guests who made this a very successful fundraiser.

It's a long way from Boston Harbor to the waters of Theou Village, but they'll be connected on April 11, when "Sail for South Sudan" leaves the dock at 200 Seaport Ave. at 6 p.m. This harbor cruise and dinner will benefit Theou Village Project and Bol Thiik Riiny's dream of building a school.

This fundraiser has been organized by We Care to Give, a nonprofit formed by recent Providence College and Boston College graduates. Tickets are $100; you can purchase tickets with this link.

Boarding is at 5:30 p.m. We'll see you there!

On Martin Luther King Day, Bol Thiik, his cousin Mou Riiny, and Franco Majok spoke at McCall Middle School's Martin Luther King Day celebration. You read all about it in our Village to Village blog post!

Our most recent blog posts have been on Malong Malual's departure to work on Alal Community Project, but back home, Bol Thiik Riiny has been working hard to raise money for Theou Village Project. Bol has an upcoming speaking engagement at the Human Rights Club of New Rochelle High School. Bol's a terrific speaker -- some years ago, he made a presentation at the United Nations. Feel free to contact him at bolthiik@yahoo.com

It's not every high-school graduate that goes back to talk about the school that he himself is building, but Bol will be doing just that Monday, August 31, at Winchester High School. A graduate of the Class of 2004, Bol will speak about the Theou Village Project and his plans to build a school in his part of Southern Sudan.

When Bol was a student at Winchester High, he was part of Franco Majok's caseload; Bol came to America through the Unaccompanied Minor Refugee Program of Lutheran Social Services of New England, and Franco was his case manager. Time flies, and now Bol, also a graduate of Concordia College of New York, is now a program manager in Franco's non-profit. VHSS is delighted to expand into other parts of Southern Sudan, and to share our expertise with others who want to help their homeland.

Bol and Franco spent some time this June raising awareness and funds for Theou Village Project at Winchester Town Day. Bol is a graduate of Winchester High; one of his several jobs is in town.

We are eager to spread the word wherever we can -- whether it's making a presentation at the UN, or passing out brochures at a summer festival. You can contact Bol at bolriiny@gmail.com if you'd like him to give presentation.

Bol Thiik Riiny was born in Theou village. In 1989, with several thousand other boys and girls, he fled the civil war in Southern Sudan. He spent four years in a refugee camp in Ethiopia and nine years in Kakuma Refugee camp in Kenya. As one of the "Lost Boys of Sudan," he came to American through the Unaccompanied Minors Program of Lutheran Social Services of New England.

Bol was settled with a family in Winchester, MA. He graduated from Winchester High School in 2004 and from Concordia College in Bronxville, NY, in 2008. In 2008 he traveled back to his village. He found a school under the trees. The closest school building is a two-hour walk away.

In Theou, children are writing their letters in the dust. The teachers are teenagers whose parents can afford to send them to boarding school. On their school holidays, these students are returning to their villages to teach what they know.

Bol returned to America determined to give back to his homeland.

Here's where you will learn about our expansion into Warrap State, and our new program manager Bol Thiik Riiny.