29/07/2025
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My Letter to the Children of Kuol Adol Foundation
To the children who sit in the classrooms
Of Kuol Adol Foundation Nursery, Primary and Secondary School,
I write this letter with a heavy heart,
But with a hope that will never die.
You walk through gates built by dreams,
Dreams of a man who believed in you,
A man whose hands carried bricks of sacrifice,
And whose heart carried a vision for your tomorrow.
His name was Biong Bol Deng.
He was a father, a leader,
A builder when others destroyed,
A man who planted seeds of knowledge
In soil soaked with struggle.
But on the morning of July 28th, 2025,
Those hands were silenced by the sound of guns.
Cattle raiders from a Nuer armed group
Tore him from us…
But they could not tear away his legacy.
Children,
When you open your books,
Know that every page you turn
Is a page he fought for.
When you write your names in your notebooks,
Know that you are writing his story too.
Your laughter in those schoolyards
Is the victory they could never steal.
So don’t let the pain swallow you.
Don’t let fear chain your dreams.
Rise.
Rise like the sun over Abyei,
Strong and unbroken.
Because that is what he built you for.
You are the future he imagined
In every lesson, in every brick,
In every prayer whispered under the stars.
Stand together.
Love one another.
Learn as if the world depends on it—
Because it does.
And when the day comes
That you step into the world as leaders,
As healers, as teachers,
Remember the man who believed in you
Even when the world was at war with itself.
This is my letter to you:
Do not let his death be in vain.
Carry his dream forward.
Carry his name with honor.
Kuol Adol Foundation is not just a school…
It is a light.
And you—
You are the flame that will keep it burning.
Noel’s Pen 🖊️
