Africa Bound January 2018

I have made it through security and am sitting at gate A31 at Dulles Airport waiting for my flight on Ethiopian Air. It is a 15 hour flight, non-stop to Addas Ababa, Ethiopia then on to Juba, capital of South Sudan. I am traveling by myself until I get to Juba where I will be met by Angelo Maker, Lost Boy of Sudan and inspiration for Abukloi, and Justin Mathok, Director of Abukloi. Tuesday I will fly with them to Rumbek, location of our school. The primary purpose of this trip is to attend graduation, Feb. 10. It is the very first graduation of Abukloi Secondary School. There are 60 graduates. Many of these graduates started in the pre-session in the fall of 2013 when Bev Nelan and I started the school. So these are the students we know the best. They are much older than the other students, most of them in their 30's and 40's. Each year our students get significantly younger and we have more female students. This is a great indicator that the community is growing in their value of education even for their daughters. They can see the benefits education has for the individuals and the community. Our incoming class is likely to be 90 strong with many in their teens and at least 1/3 female. I don't know if I will have internet in Juba and not sure how dependable internet will be in Rumbek but I will try to post something on the blog every day. We have generated a long list of things to accomplish during this 2 week stay in South Sudan but only God knows what will actually happen. It is always like Christmas, these trips. You sent your list to Santa but not sure what will actually be under the tree!