The Water Empowerment Dinner
“No water, no life. No blue, no green.” – Sylvia Earle
Salva Dut was born in a rural village in southwestern Sudan to the Dinka tribe. At 11 years old, the Sudanese Civil War reached his village and separated Salva from his family. He joined thousands of boys, famously known as the "Lost Boys," on their journey by foot to seek safety in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya. After living in refugee camps for 10 years, Salva was given the opportunity to move to the United States, where he was embraced by a family in Rochester, New York. Several years later, Salva learned that his father was still alive in Southern Sudan but was suffering with disease caused by waterborne parasites. His father’s illness inspired Salva to help both his father and his country by bringing clean water to those in need. This was the beginning of Water for South Sudan. (Sourced from the Water for South Sudan Website)
When I was in highschool in the mid 90’s, my two friends and I frequented our beloved Wegmans grocery store on many Friday and Saturday nights. While other kids killed time looking for a house open to partiers by idling in parking lots around town or near the Erie canal, we chose to walk the aisles of Wegmans and then go through Salva’s line at check-out. His smile was magnetic. It drew us to always wait in his line just to say hi and smile back at him. We had no idea where he came from, nor did we have any sense of the journey he’d been on to bring him to working as a cashier at a grocery store in Upstate New York, but we were enamored with him all the same.
Nearly 30 years later, one of the same friends stumbled upon Salva’s story in the book, A Long Walk to Water. She bought three copies–one for each of us. And the day she did, the other friend’s daughter came home from school with the same book, telling her mom the amazing story of Salva that they were reading in her 7th grade class. “I knew a Salva, once, long ago…” my friend said to her daughter before she realized this was, in fact, the same Salva we considered to be a treasured part of our younger years.
With the discovery of this incredible story, my friend threw a fundraiser for Salva’s charitable organization, Water for South Sudan. We decided to throw a meshin meal as a pre-fundraiser fundraiser for event funds.
The meal’s narrative was built around water–its fluidity, strength and life-giving potential.
A match rolled up in a scroll of paper that says, “An ocean is nothing without drops of water. Like a spark to a fire we all have the power of a drop of water.” An instruction for everyone to light the candle in front of them with that single match.
A salad of things that were all green with the quote from marine biologist, Sylvia Earle, “No water, no life. No blue, no green.” Kiwi fruit for sweetness, avocado for depth, arugula for its fire, green olives and capers for their salinity. Every guest received an ingredient in a bowl and the table was prompted to build the salad together as a reminder that things that may not appear to work together can create something new and innovative in harmony.
These examples among every other course and reflection woven into the experience brought to life Meshin’s core principles of connection; intentional presence, open-mindedness, inclusion and gratitude.
And because a big part of the purpose of Meshin Meals is to create connection with and awareness of local non-profit organizations, the Water dinner supported Rochester Teen Empowerment as well as Water for South Sudan.
Just as Salva empowered his native communities in South Sudan with wells and water access, so too does Teen Empowerment empower Rochester community teens with life-giving skills and resources to “think deeply about difficult social problems and work successfully with others to create significant change.” (Teen Empowerment)
When I think about what both Salva and the teens of Teen Empowerment have achieved, I am in awe. You might even say I have impact envy. But I remind myself that small acts taken every day to create impact in the world add up to a life well-lived.
And with that I’ll finish with the quote that kicked off guests setting the table together for this meshin meal…
“Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us everyday.” - Sally Koch (Set the table, together)
