Our Story
The SEED Foundation was born from a simple yet powerful conviction: when communities invest in their teachers, they invest in their future.
David Gurak, Co-Founder and President, saw that many teachers and public servants in South Sudan earn less than US $20 per month, and that teachers may go months—or even up to two years—without receiving salaries. Yet many continue teaching because the next generation depends on them.
He mobilized community members from his father’s birthplace in Tali, both in the diaspora and at home, to each contribute toward supporting a teacher. This became the Greater Tali Educational Fund, co-founded by David Gurak and Yowa Soso, and has supported 33 teachers across five schools for more than three years.
The success of Tali inspired the same model in his mother’s hometown of Rumbek East through the formation of REEF, co-founded by David Gurak, Nyandit (Angier) Malual Arop, Pastor Abraham Deng, Aluel Makoi, and Dut Awad Makuer. The movement has since expanded to Melut, Terekeka County, Abyei Special Administrative Area, and future communities across South Sudan.