Juba University

I've had a stomach bug and have needed to stay near a bathroom. But I did get out to tour Juba University today. There are 5 state universities in South Sudan. Rumbek, where our school is located, also has a university. In fact, they have chosen Abukloi Secondary School two years in a row as the place to send their education majors for their student teaching. We are proud of that distinction. Classes at the university do not start until next week but there were plenty of students on campus. Their dorms are called Hostels and they are extremely overcrowded. Most students commute via walking, bike, bus, or boda boda. Very few have a car. They come from all over the country and live with relatives in Juba. It is not an attractive campus by US standards but there is great hope in the students and faculty we met. We went to their Law School. It is a 5 year program that students enter directly from secondary school. The 5th year is spent in a law firm (much like student teaching) and then they are eligible to take the exam. Their specialties seemed to be less about corporate, criminal, family, etc and more about local, national, international. What was really surprising is that tuition per year is $100. You read that right! One of the administrators we spoke to told us about a USAID program that hooked the University of Juba to Virginia Tech and Virginia State. He was so excited when he learned that Angelo and I live in Virginia and were quite familiar with that exchange program, even knew some of the same people. Because Abukloi Secondary School teaches agriculture and because Abukloi Inc. has a 2.5 acre community garden, we were particularly interested in this academic exchange around agriculture. We visited Virginia State twice, met the South Sudanese students and some of the professors. However, USAID has withdrawn that funding so once the South Sudanese students completed their studies at Virginia State, that was the end of the program. It can be a small world! One of the major challenges for Juba University is power. They use generators because there is no reliable power grid in this capital city. The administrator said you could make your clock by the times the power went off and on. It comes on at 10 in the morning, goes off at noon to refuel, then goes off again at 3:30 for the rest of the day. Everything on campus is based on that power schedule: classes, meetings, use of labs, computers, projectors, etc. Interesting the challenges other people face that do not occur to us. Tomorrow I travel to Rumbek. Justin will pick me up around 8:00 am to take me to the airport. We will fly together. The plane is too small to take the caps and gowns we have for graduation so they are going by bus. (Pray for their arrival in time for the Feb. 10 graduation!). I would guess the plane will seat less than 20 people. Justin told me the teachers plan to greet me at the airport - so excited! These 5 days in Juba have not been part of my purpose in this trip, so grateful for what has happened here, but glad to move on to Rumbek.