About Kolong

The Managing Director of PADA is William Kolong Pioth.  He was born in Ayat payam, Aweil West county, Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, and is a son of the former paramount chief of Ayat, now deceased. At the age of 8, Kolong joined the "Lost Boys of Sudan", who escaped from the civil war, first to Ethiopia, then to the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya.  He became one of the leaders of the boys at Kakuma.

Now a Canadian citizen, Kolong returned to his home country and village of Panlang in 2006, just over a year after the CPA ended the long war between northern and southern Sudan.  He had been away for more than 20 years. He was on a quest to find out if his father, mother and other family members had survived the terrible war. Miraculously, they were still alive, a shock for both parents and son. Kolong's father, the paramount chief of the payam of Ayat, has since died contented to see his son one last time.

In honor of his father, who was greatly respected by everyone in the region, Kolong decided to build a clinic for the people of Majok Adim. This also reflected the expressed needs of villagers. They themselves had identified clean water, better access to health care facilities, and improved education as their three greatest needs.  He also had a borehole and hand pump installed on his first visit back in Panlang.

He now has a permanent home and family in Aweil and returns to Canada for short visits.  He has proven to be very effective at initiating projects, involving the local people at every stage and seeing projects through to completion. Thousands of people have benefited from his work in education, health, agriculture, and provision of clean water. He has also become a leader in South Sudan in efforts to encourage and promote peace, reconciliation and dispute resolution.  His work is described in the Projects pages.