One of the biggest reasons people fail to reach their full potential is the lack of access to information that could make a huge difference in their lives. Some months back, a dear friend approached me and asked me to read a manuscript draft of his book. The book turns out to be all about how to improve the flow of information about opportunities in South Sudan for the South Sudanese youth in the Diaspora. Authored by David Ayual Mayom Apioth, David Mayom , “The Diaspora Student and Youth Front” is this book, published this year by Africa World Books, a publisher founded by a childhood friend of mine Peter Lual Reech Deng. The book’s main audience is tertiary students and their parents/guardians. The book offers actionable information on current academic, career-related, volunteering, and impact-oriented programs and activities that diaspora students and youth can exploit to benefit their country of origin while gaining life-changing experiences. The book has four chapters. Chapter I gives a beautiful account of the author’s childhood in his village in the present Twic East County, Jonglei State, South Sudan. This childhood was dominated by grazing cows while simultaneously spending days playing games under the open sky in the natural environment. The civil war interrupted this beautiful life and the author ended up as a refugee in Ethiopia after walking barefooted on the muddy and thorny paths. While this arduous journey was already a life-changing experience, the author was quickly introduced to the type of work usually done by adults back in his village – that of building a shelter. As a part of military indoctrination, the author attended military training where he had to wake up at 3:00 am to sing military morale songs while during the day he had to attend military exercises such as crawling to simulate what happens in the battlefields – a future that was awaiting him like many other children who were there with him. Another war in Ethiopia forced the author out back to South Sudan, where he trekked to a refugee camp in Kenya, called Kakuma. At Kakuma, the author attended his primary school. His father who was a popular educator motivated him to excel in school by rewarding good performance among all the children under his care. The author performed very well, and he won a scholarship to study at a boarding school in Turkana District. He left Kakuma in his 12th year of high school for the USA, where he passed a high school equivalency exam and entered college. In the USA, the author held down a job while attending school, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Economics in 2008 and following that with a master’s in international and development economics in 2015. In between, the author gained experience volunteering in South Sudan and in the region. He also gained experience working in Africa. He founded a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) program for students in South Sudan as his way of giving back to his country of origin. Using his experience, he hopes to connect the South Sudanese youth in Diaspora with opportunities back home in South Sudan. Chapter II gives practical ways for young South Sudanese in Diaspora to volunteer in Africa. These practical ways include overseas academic-related activities for college and high school students. Chapter III gives ways of volunteering without traveling (for example, mobilizing school supplies and STEM resources). The final chapter IV provides vital information on how to invest in the region as well as South Sudan in various sectors. “The Diaspora Student and Youth Front” is a beautiful book, and I am sure the students and their guardians will find it very useful. I urge all of my friends on Facebook to listen to the author this Saturday when he launches “The Diaspora Student and Youth Front.”
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