Thursday, September 10, 2015

Recognition and certification of my real life competences as a professional builder and a TVET teacher


The new nation has long been building capacity of its personnel to enhance vocational training management and training. For the recognition and certification, the graduates request viewers and followers to make comments for improvement in areas where need be within their real life competences
Links can be reach through the highlighted words.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

TVET-Malakal: ACQUISITION OF TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS THROUG...

TVET-Malakal: ACQUISITION OF TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS THROUG...: INTRODUCTION OF LIFELONG LEARNING:                                          



 I am Samuel Imma Romano, born in January 1957...

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

ACQUISITION OF TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS THROUGH INFORMAL, NON-FORMAL & FORMAL LIFELONG LEARNING:


INTRODUCTION OF LIFELONG LEARNING:                                                      

I am Samuel Imma Romano, born in January 1957 to the family of Romano Mangwi in Limi Boma of Kajo-Keji country / central Equatoria /South Sudan. My parents don’t remember the date I was born, but would recall only the month, by reflecting Christmas festival occasion and taking note of the next following month in which I was born and the first month of the year is always worldwide marked by celebration of the first day of the year. In our traditions, these two days are remembered by every person. The third day to be celebrated if resources are available will be the birth day.
Clan and recognition of birth day                 
I was born a Sudanese and Sera by clan.  In 1957 – but before that, 1955 was remembered nationwide because that was the year South Sudanese (Africans) mutinied against the Khartoum (Arabs) government in Torit town of Eastern Equatoria State in which very many northern Sudan (Arabs) Traders  and government army were gunned down and their properties looted. My parents related the story and told me that I  am the fourth child born to this family two years after this mutiny; this assumption was taken into consideration and later on the process my assessing my age to obtain the birth certificate;  the year 1957  was approved and became year that I was born .
The government authorities usually assess people who don’t know the birth day certificates to January 1st of every year. Therefore I have to be assessed to 1st January 1957. But after successful secession on 9th July 2011, South Sudan became an Independent nation and I became a South Sudanese and Sera by clan.
“War” a destructive fare
As a child, I would not actually much feel the effect and dangers of war until the age of seven years old, I began feeling the war effects and that was in 1964 when the war intensified and reached the rural villages of Kajo-Keji where I live and all the population there were driven to the forest. Forest is that hiding thin bush with tall trees; but bush is mainly used by rivals.
I begin to witness major events that were happening. In one of the days we ran deep into the forest and slept in a cave where throughout the night we were frightened by wild animals. I would remember it was by then raining and the night was very dark indeed.
MY CHILDHOOD LIFE EXPERIENCE
Of course, as a child; most of the events were related by mother and father that concern customs and traditions, I was taken bath after my amplicord had is worn out. This is a traditional principle for medical care, considering that when cold water is applied for bathing the new born baby, it can get affected by pneumonia. Therefore the baby should only be clean with a cloth dampened in lulu oil for a period from birth to the third or fourth day.
Naming of this new baby is always ceremonial and for a baby girl, this takes place on the third day of her fourth and for baby boy is celebrated on the third day; this is according to sera clan. It differs from one community to other community; but in sera clan; the baby boy must be brought out earlier because god created man first and women follow, secondly, sera believed that man should go first to clear the garden before the woman get to weed the weeds and sometimes during the war eras; our community believe that baby boy should be brought out earlier to prepare him to take victory in the front battles.
When I was born, it two days, the third day was celebrated with a lot of traditional beer, food and puddings. I was name Imma – meaning “Try” and my mother gave me the name to signify their close love that integrated the two clans of sera and moipi as one family. The occasion was marked by colorful traditional dances which included kore and bula dance which are meant for peace celebrations like the birthday, wedding, Christmas and New Year day celebrations
Mammy told me that, the year that I was born was famine era due to ongoing wars and making me to grow malnourished with poor health and contributed to slow beginning to crawl and walk; but able to hope up with active listening and getting meaning of signs; for example calling water (maa), food or something to eat (nyanya) etc. mammy taught me these before getting up to walk.
After getting up and walk, I began an important environment getting interest to get attractive elements at the surrounding for myself, but without knowing the safe and harmful ones. In one of the day; I got burnt because of catching a fire, I got attracted to the lightening without knowing it was burning. My mother have to tie for me a joggle bell in order to monitor my movement; I am quite sure, because of long stay on the ground without walk due to the malnutrition, I was now feeling cheated by other peers. So mother sometimes gives me a gourd filled with small aggregates to play with and this avoids me to go away and play in a confine area.  
After getting stronger, I began to join other peers to practice running and this becomes the point of getting new environment with new members; who I sometimes dislike them for rivaling and I had to accepting eating using my own hands. Before that mammy would instruct me to eating using my own right hand, but sometimes I cry since my right hand would not scoop enough food for quick satisfaction. So with the peer, I cannot now submit my complaint to anybody but to learn eating with my own hand. I got acquainted to eat with my peers started to spent considerable time with this group without thinking of mammy.
Now my parents would go far and last long in the garden, provide d that porridge is left for us to eat and we would now enjoy playing games such as building model huts, hunting butterflies, lizards and sometimes birds; football etc. the best favorite game I like is building model huts. I prefer this game because, it has no rivaling, pushing which result to fighting. Since building hut practice require individual gathering of materials, setting individual work area and rivaling and land grabbing is ever there practice.
We were guided by other elderly children, but still as kids, we fight against each in certain demands for example, singing songs, one may say the song is his and other may say it is mine and here it develop rivaling and fighting arise. As some kids, these differences erase away in our mine quickly and begin to enjoy the play.
In the building desire, I develop the interest of becoming experience builder, my work was to gather cassava and sorghum stock and try to fix them to make a hut; for the first time it was not possible to make these materials stand firm, frequently falling down, making to the extent of crying; discouraging my desire, making me to dislike the practice.
One day I ask one of the elderly children to show me how he fixed his cassava stock to stand firm and after showing the ways through he managed to make his work successful. I tried in the same way and fix them to stand firm; it stood firm and until the following day, I could still mine hut standing. I was very happy and excited to see it again standing; I would not allow somebody to move near my hut; avoiding them in dismantling the work I have made. I practice for a week and become skillful in working exactly like them. The challenges was when they ask me about the number of holes that I have dug for the cassava stock to be fix, I could not know; counting was a problem with me. What my mammy told me were the major parts of mine like the eye, mouth, ear, tongue, nose, hand, leg etc. these were told to know them, I am sometimes ask questions such as “what did you use for seeing? Eating?  Hearing? And so on, here I caught these parts as my important useful parts of the body.
My mammy would tell me to wash my eyes, nose, and mouth and clean my tongue before eating and one day I asked her why do you instruct to wash my eyes, nose, and mouth and clean my tongue before eating mammy? She replied me that food may be enjoyable when those human body parts are not clean and may cause stomach pain and vomiting. But she doesn’t know about hygiene or malaria and maybe she is sure that I may not know about hygiene and malaria.
My father dug a small hole and instructed me to excrete inside it when I feel excreta coming and clean my buttocks before pulling back my pair of short trouser. I should not go and excrete in an open area and leave flies to grumble over these excreta.
It was exactly this moment my father would request me to go with him to the take bath at the nearby stream; on our way he use to show me a lot of trees with names and areas which are near within our family; he would first ask me a question – do you know this type of a tree? Have you seen it one day? Or did you know that area? Pointing to the direction of the village or area and I would simply answer “No I don’t know or I have not seen this tree before” I think he might have realized the instinct potential developing around my understanding. As we continue to go to bath with him in the stream, he often show to me different types of trees such as kumi, kuwi, bio and kite those are with eatable fruits and burluto, kiret (mahogany) babanusa, kokobo (ebony) and kiriyo(bamboos) are trees suitable for building purposes. The fibers include tora (local sisal), terat and others are used for tying together the materials
Our buildings are renovated every after two years and when renovation time comes, my father would give use assignments, either uprooting the damaged poles which were destroyed by termites or splitting fibers for tying or thatching grass. I observe their work especially when tying or thatching grass; the skills that they apply and the measurements especially the normal height of the poles and the size of the grass bundles; the skills for splitting the bamboos which he said, it should begin from the eyes (an area which emerge the branch from). I developed those skills gradually while taking first observation as the first step and trial and error second step. After several practice together with my father and peer, I became a skillful person in building and renovation skill practice.
Other skills that my father shown to me was setting and building granary which is built using either split bamboos; granary is a silo built to store grains and other food item harvested from the farm or garden. It is a circular wall set to a diameter ranging from 60 – 120 cm with its height from 75 – 100cm. normally the vertical props are set of an odd number to allow correct opposite lapsing in order to confine together the props. These techniques and skills are traditional very important; in our communities customs, if you are preparing for an official marriage, the first step is to build a granary for your parent’s laws and without knowing these skills, it will be impossible for approval of the marriage by the parents of the lady as you have not fulfil the first condition for an official marriage
Of course, childhood life was not so comfortable; there were activities that not continued in practice as time goes and others were improved and redevelop. Practices which were immoral or wicked  such as insults, giving names, abused, fight, stealing, raping were discouraged; I personally had not taken step is applying them other than by observation I carried out observing other children stealing, abusing, insulting and we of course fought due to rivaling issues. We rival of building materials which my friend claim to have seen the materials first and I also claim the same and we fought.
Another stage of environment was when we were practicing smoking, drinking and dancing; this stage developed unwanted habits and this habits develop due to influence of either drinking or smoking. With my peers once we have taken alcohol, we became drunk and decide to go for dancing and there will be confrontation with young girls of our age. With the influence of drinks, our style of dancing may be not morally acceptable; then misunderstanding arose between us and the girls. As time passed, parents begin discouraging this habit and shown us how to behave and have a better future; giving us several examples of those youth who went drinking and were ruined and those who stopped drinking and become responsible and recognized personal. I decided to abandon this style of life and continue to live a sober life. Although in other ceremonial occasions, children could be offered alcoholic beverages to drink, I would only take the soft beverage.  As life pass, passing through adventures, with the parents, individually and with peers working in the garden, building sites and hunting.  I develop competencies and become skilful person and yet other skills need improvement and invasion of new skills.
Consequences of war
For the first time to be told by my father about wild animals; I have seen them and identified them, they resemble sheep, but with hairy long tails and broad necks; my father later told me that these are the wild animal known as lion and saying that a lion is a dangerous animals that can kill and eat people. During that night my eyes would not sleep and the same with my parents have never slept throughout the night keeping the fire lighting to prevent these animals from moving near us and kept on throwing stones to dislodge them from attacking us. Due to this war the schools were closed, social gathering were banned and every gathering made by infants were restricted and this has forced the village youths to move to the urban towns or major cities like Khartoum and Kampala. On one occasion, my father was arrested, accused of collaborating with those in the bush (freedom fighter) and later on released after spending 48 hours in detention cell.
Although war was ongoing, cultivation was being carried on in the gardens, rearing exists and as a child; I could dig only very small area. In the other day, I remember, I hurt by young brother on the head with a hoe and was serious beaten by my father. He  had to show to me how to use the hoe and demonstrated how to lift up the hoe to avoid further accidents and ordered us to dig at least a direct apart to avoid  accident occurring. The war made me not to be enrolling to school at the age of 5years as expected; until I was seven years old. Although we attend to class teachings; yet learning was not regular as rumors frequently interrupt the learning process.
Informal learning / the social learning               
John Dewey wrote in his book – “Democracy and Education” quote “A being whose activities are associated with others has a social environment. What he does and what he can do depends upon the expectations, demands, approval, and condemnation of others. A being connected with other being cannot perform his own activities without taking the activities of others into account.
During my activities in the garden, cattle keeping and hunting, I have learned a lot, working together with peers, age – mate teams and imitating other activities from the elders- this learning here means acquisition of what already is incorporated in books and in the heads of the elders. e.g. how to prepare an area for cultivation, cutting trees and bushes down and burning them, heaping the big stones in one place or forming steps to protect soil erosion and getting advise to dig a distant apart to avoid injuring one another. Yet as a child, I would not manage to cut down those big trees, but with observation method, I would yet learn the ways how the other youth handle the cutting tools and working together with the peers enables learn the skills of felling down all the big trees and finally acquired the technic of cutting
During hunting, shooting arrows anyhow were prohibited; unless you see to it that your colleagues are not in that direction that the arrows are travelling. Throwing big stones on domestic animals are not allowed and when practicing building huts, cutting or skinning fibers should be carefully done to avoid cutting yourself with the knife or cutting tool.
Gradually I was able to learn skills that had enable me to build huts, cultivate very big gardens, planting varieties of food and cash crops and acquired tactics of hunting for example how to trace out animals in the thick forest.
I began getting experiences in those skills mentioned above and manage to grew up responsible, although very many challenges were encountered during the process, among others incidences of hurting mates during the process of learning how to dig, killing calves (young cow) accidently due to throwing them with big stones, injuring colleagues when skinning animals etc. and through these poor workmanship events, I learnt a lot from it and became a skilled family housing figure.
John Dewey in his final account in the book title “Democracy and Education” – Education and communication – wrote, quote “not only does social life demand teaching and learning for its own permanence, but the very process of living together educates. It enlarges and enlightens experience; it stimulates and enriches imaginations; it creates responsibility for accuracy and vividness of statement and thought. A man really living alone (alone mentally as well as physically) would have little or no occasion to reflect upon his past experience to extract its net meaning. The inequality of achievement between the mature and the immature not only necessitates teaching the young, but the necessity of this teaching gives an immense stimulus to reducing experience to that order and form which will render it most easily communicable and hence most usable”.
Together with the learning earned from the informal learning and the knowledge taught in the class and demonstrated by practices; basically I began to get experiences in taking responsibility as a gentleman who would share experiences together in team work, maintaining the informal knowledge and skills and improving it with what is acquired during the formal learning; For example helping parents in the family housing, working closely with the age-mate teams, at schools with colleagues, paying respect to teachers and the school administration.
Culture
John Dewey in his book “Democracy and Education” the nature and meaning of environment wrote, quote –“Beliefs and aspirations cannot be physically extracted and inserted – “the question is how then, are they communicated? Given the impossibility of direct contagion or literal inculcation, our problem is to discover the method by which the young assimilate the point of view of the old, or the older bring the young into like-mindedness with themselves – the answer, in general formulation is by means of action of environment in calling out certain responses. The required beliefs cannot be hammered in; the needed attitudes cannot be plastered on. But the particular medium in which an individual exists leads him to see and feel one thing rather than other, it leads him to have certain plans in order that may act successfully with others, it strengthens some beliefs and weaken others as a condition of winning the approval of others. Thus it gradually produces in him a certain system of behaviors, a certain deposition of action. The word environment, medium denote something more than surroundings which encompass and individual. They denote the specific continuity of the surroundings with his own active tendencies”.
I would still remember that in my culture; a person who has no skills in building a hut, digging in the garden , dancing and singing his/her native language songs and given other names and always degraded in any gathering. Considered of no value and sometimes girls would not entertain your talks and marriage may be difficult for you to achieve. These traditions and culture has encouraged me to play a role in the garden, cattle keeping, building skills and in social gatherings to enable me have these values.
Courtship and marriage
I married an active lady, hardworking and cooperating to her parents in laws, although she has not gone to school. Within few months my life was change and began knowing the importance of a wife and the contribution the wife could inject to the family. Our first born child was in 1984; I realized that staying as single person in our culture has great consequences. Although mistrusted sometimes do occur between couples but it is always being down played by the children born; they improve you and minimize your differences.
Relationship
The relationship expanded after I had married – that, having parents in law, sisters in law, brothers in law and etc.  With the cordial life in the family, many friends visit our family and contributed in sharing the cordial family life. The challenges were lack of resources for welcoming frequent visitors and we always struggle to look for resources. Secondly the children have no enough resources for their social life, education, medical care etc. due to poverty which has penetrated deep into the family. But with cooperation between me and my wife, we were able to find solutions to our family problem and this created peace and freedom in which we continue to stay well and continue to pursue with my studies and on-the job training.
Formal /organized learning
In the formal learning, other languages were taught, like English, French, Arabic and mathematics, geography, reading and writing etc. which built up the capacity and encourages me to participate in building construction course and become a builder. As a trained builder, I acquired knowledge and skills for investigating to soil texture, working on foundations, floors, walls, concrete slab roofs, general wall finishes etc. and although these knowledge and skills I acquired helped me a lot; still I incurred mistakes in other occasions.
Reflection of weakness - I would remember, one day, I have wrongly admitted a cement ratio which was wrong and caused a building to collapse. Casting a beam supposed to take concrete ratio 1:2:4 (one part of cement to two parts of sand and four parts of crushed stones) but the client ordered me to change the ratio to 1:2:6 (one part of cement to two parts of sand and six parts of crushed stones). Due to wide span of windows and doors; and heavy walls above the span caused the wall to collapse. This mistake that happened would not be forgotten because it has degraded my reputations and charged me to maintain the wall in my own expenses. It has also given me an experience and wide knowledge for determining accurate and correct ratios that could stabilize and correct stability of a building foundation in any type of subsoil.
On-the job training /industrial practice
Now as a learnt person, a teacher and at the same time experience parent; I have to move through various activities and this activities requires knowledge and skills within their various fields- management of the family, roles of teaching and management of a class and skills for demonstrating and giving instructions in the workshop; and learning as a student in the college. These activities or tasks become on-the job training as its basics has theoretically and practically been learned. I would experience challenges because it looks as I am serving some many masters at one time or throwing two birds with one stone. The advantage of the on-job training is to acquire experiences in managing family, abilities of values of resolving disputes and creative, innovative for both family and community issues; as an experience will be working with less supervision.
ANALYSIS:
LEARNING - learning means acquisition of new ideas, feelings and things can be learn different ways – this learning can be informal or formal. Informal learning begins right during birth; a child once given birth, this child can immediately feel a new environment and begins to cry very loudly and this is an indication that he/she has join another world environment. Therefore the child has to start learning new events by feeling, observation, touching and breastfeeding sources.
The mother comes in diligently with lovely smiles, talking to her new born, although at the moment, the child cannot talk but the concept of love and gratitude makes her to begin developing hope that eventually the child need to learn. The child can cry when taken bath with cold water; this indicates that feeling has taken action and directed the child to cry because the body had felt very cold  water is applied on his/her body. When the child is breastfeeding and milk would not satisfy her/his needs, she/he cries and this reveals that the milk is not satisfying the needs of the child.
When I was born, I started to learn the world through feeling, observation, touching and sucking (breastfeeding); and assisted by my mammy who continuously cared for me, talking to me. The environment is also one of the learning ways, the environment directs the instinct of a person to act according to the situation and actions practice within the peer groups. From childhood, youth hood, and adulthood, through learning from the parents, environment and peers and experience various competences. Other competences are recurrent (traditionally inherited) and others are incorporated (assimilated) from neighboring communities through intermarriages and others are environmentally integrated.
EXPERIENCE – when frequent activities happens and continue to acted upon, experiences are acquired and other experience are compulsory assimilated, for example those actions which are conditional and environmental – like annual maintenance of buildings carried out in Malakal due the climate situation caused by the poor type of soil and materials found within the vicinity.
Experiences also can be acquired through observation, feeling, and touching; but gradually through growth, they are translated into actions and sometimes these actions are assimilated from the surrounding that it has become a habitual part of our mental and moral make-up. But similar experiences in other environment have different meaning and conclusion depending on beliefs and moral forms of social life.
John Dewey further defined Experience as “Sound educational experience involves, above all, continuity and interaction between the learner and what is learned.”
 
CONTINUITY – in this context, learning, experience and continuity of learning and experience depends on the way of judgment of the habit. Basically every experience is enacted and undergone modifies the one who acts and goes, while this refinement affects, whether it is like or dislike, the quality of subsequent experience.
Summarily – continuity of experience means that every experience both takes up something from those which have gone before and modifies in some way the quality of those which come later. Therefore, things learned by feeling, observation, touching are later replaced by their condition experienced during the action taken through demonstrating upon it and acquire its theory of practice that gradually refined to competences and this happens as time goes, developing it physically, intellectually and morally.
REFLECTION
LEARNING – is a compulsory activity that every person born alive undergoes the learning process. Knowledge can be acquired in different ways and avenues and any knowledge learnt has purpose. In my long-life journey, I started feeling the environment from childbirth that I am already in a different world that requires talking/crying depending upon the sensory feeling, observation, touching and feeding/sucking. Through the presences of my parents (mother and father) interactions and utilization of the surrounding (environment); I developed experiences that continued to open up new environment for subsequent learning as I stated earlier and become a confident and competent experience builder and family man.
John Dewey wrote in his literature book title “Experience and Education” quote - “Learning is define here as means acquisition of what already is incorporated in books and in the heads of the elders, moreover, that which is taught is thought of as essentially static. It is taught as a finished product, with little regard either to the ways in which it was originally built up or to changes that will surely occur in the future.”
 EXPERIENCE – Experience motivates /influences the desire and new environment. Experience is considered a moving force and encourages continuity of work. The valve of experience can be judge on the ground of the process procedure (means) and the product (ends).
John Dewey wrote – quote, “moreover, every experience influences in some degree the objective conditions under which further experiences are had. For example, a child who learns to speak has a new facility and new desire. But he has also widened the external conditions of subsequent learning. When he learns to read, he similarly opens up a new environment
Oh the other hand, if an experience arouses curiosity, strengthens initiative and sets up desires and purposes that are sufficiently intense to carry a person over dead places in the future, continuity works in a very different way. Every experience is a moving force. Its valve can be judged only on the ground of what it moves toward and into. The greater maturity of experience which should belong to the adult as educator puts him in a position to evaluate each experience of the young in way in which the one having the less mature experience cannot do.”
CONTINUITY – Continuity of activities justifies existing practice which involves habit desires and promotes greater maturity of experience. I continued to learn, practice and demonstrates the skills through improvement of them; and develop competencies that continue to improve.
John Dewey wrote “Above all they should know to utilize the surroundings, physical and social, that exist so as to extract from them all that they have to contribute to building up experiences that are worthwhile”.
Again John Dewey express in point of the means and goal for granted the sound- ness of the principle that education in order to accomplish its ends both for the individual learner and for society must be based upon experience--which is always the actual life-experience of some individual. This meaning that the continuity of the past to the present pave means for the future (ends); and it is the continuity.
Dewey wrote again Quote “The educational system must move one way or another, either backward to the intellectual and moral standards of a pre-scientific age or forward to ever greater utilization of scientific method in the development of the possibilities of growing, expanding experience. I have but endeavored to point out some of the conditions, which must be satisfactorily fulfilled if education takes the latter course.
I  would rather emphasize that learning begins from child birth and continue to exist until the day of the death and learning, experience and continuity are integrated or embodied when accomplish qualify a person to become  experience professional human being. Here learning is of course education and Dr. Dewey interprets education as the scientific method by means of which man studies the world, acquires cumulatively knowledge of meanings and values, these outcomes, however, being data for critical study and intelligent living. The tendency of scientific inquiry is toward a body of knowledge which needs to be understood as the means whereby further inquiry may be directed. Hence the scientist, instead of confining his investigation to problems as they are discovered, proceeds to study the nature of problems, their age, conditions, significance. To this end he may need to review related stores of knowledge.
It is this concept of learning to become a confident person translated to the current imposed learning which outside imposed knowledge is impact to a person; the knowledge which has no various existing foundation that can be reflected. Both learning has the same quality or values when they are taken into consideration, their merit are the same.  Therefore, through interactions with my parents (mother and father) peers, school mates, environment and the objects; I developed experiences that continued to open up new avenues and environment for subsequent learning as I stated earlier and become a confident and competent experience builder and family man.

 

 

 

 

 

MY LIFELONG LEARNING ADVENTURE


An introduction to my lifelong learning Adventure:

Family housing life is a long process development which is acquired throughout the human growth lifespan and influenced by the nature, culture and environment surrounding the childhood, teen-age, youth and adult. These experiences are built throughout the stages in which they develop the understanding of strengthen some beliefs and weaken others within the family house members and the results determined the understanding of the value of the family housing. It enlarge and enlightens experiences and stimulates and enriches imaginations and creates responsibility for accuracy and profession that gives out sound statement and thoughts within the society that  include clan, birth hierarchy , nature and environment and in my own reflection of family housing life; it is imperative to write the anecdote of how and what experience I acquired from childhood until today which staged such as introduction of “Imma’s” clan and birthday, war destructive fare, childhood experience, consequence of wars, informal/the social learning, formal /organized learning,  culture, courtship& marriage, relationship, on-job training. Analysis and reflection on learning, experience and continuity.
The full text, images and discussions of this story can be got in Google Doc, Multimedia websites  and flickr.com  follow the links accordingly.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

HOW TO DEVELOP TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL CAPACITY IN SOUTH SUDAN


REALIZATION OF TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL SKILLS IN SOUTH SUDAN

 

 
 
 
“Are these skills, the plans of the Technical Vocational Education Training [TVET] and the Innovative Thinkers?”

South Sudan had for long period been expecting development of its infrastructures, but because of being dominated by the northern elite; nothing had been achieved. The management of the resources was in the hands of the northern Sudanese and the southerners had been streamlined to the military, local labor market and other positions of the academic education.

There were no decision-makers from the south who would plan for the development of south Sudan; the hand-picked politician had no say to any decision negatively made by the government. With the secession of the south Sudan, emerging as a new nation; considerable developmental strategies has been enforced. Although as a young nation with little human resources in terms of professional engineers, doctors, agriculturists and technicians in all fields; basic realization of development in infrastructures are on-going.

South Sudan has managed to include in its strategies of creating the ministries, the Directorate of Technical Vocational Education Training [TVET] which shall be engaged in skill training programs that creates a competitive infrastructures and development.

In the innovative thinking, construction skills are among those focused and when youths are engaged in this training of “learning by doing” to acquire excellent skill levels for the re-construction and development of the young nation. Now when south Sudan as nation is compared with the period when it was one Sudan; there is a considerable improvement in all fields of works and this indicates that, there is a responsible government managed by the southerners themselves and attention of technical and vocational education training has been put as top priority.

Numerous indicators assumed that, learning by doing in the vocational training constitutes greater role in the production of the human resource, yet there is need to have enough vocational training centers for training the manpower.

Innovative thinking is to be encouraged to build up the entrepreneur’s skills capacity for the development of south Sudan in all technical fields.

The package of IGAD Capacity Building Initiative for building up the skill capacity in South Sudan is one of active wing that will contribute to skill capacity build up in all the government vocational training institutions. The two-year contract will build up the capacity of instructors and create reliable corridors that will bring a change and create a sustainable life.
 



The construction infrastructures are being geared as a result of intensive training of skills in south Sudan.

Figure 1: construction on process in South Sudan.

 
Lecturing alone cannot demonstrate practical talents, so after such lectures, students have to practically demonstrate their ability competencies in their respective areas of specialization.

 

 


Figure 2: Lecturing to students:
 


The RSS and IGAD initiative has to improve skill training through the technical and vocational center that is being established by the government.

 

 


Figure 3: Improvement of skills through RSS and IGAD initiative
 


The RSS and IGAD initiative has come up with tentative plans for developing intensive training of skills in all technical areas and this will improve the skills for sustainable life in South Sudan.

 

 
 
igure 4: RSS/IGAD partnership in MTC

 
The RSS/IGAD Capacity Building Initiative partnership has come at the right time when the young nation was devastated by war during the north/south conflict that resulted to the creation of the new nation. Infrastructures were at state of collapse with no skill worker to maintain.

 

 

Figure 5: South Sudan infrastructure before becoming a nation







Improvement of skills in the technical and vocational centers requires join sharing and interactions amongst the trainers and the collaborators or the industrial sector to find out the needs of the market.


 

 

Figure 6: Skill Conference or seminars
 


Improvement of vocational centers, both the infrastructures and human resource and this is how to develop technical and vocational capacity in South Sudan.

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

The Types of buildings in South Sudan

Buildings in the Republic of South Sudan are traditional types of structures; this nation has types of buildings inherited from their ancestors; mainly the three major ethnic groups of Nilo-hamids, Nilotic and the Bantus.

They have a distinct ways of building their houses using grass, palm leaves and paprus from the nile bank and applying ebony wood for poles and mud for the walls and fencing it with thick wood plunks to protect them from attacks by wild animals such as lions, hyenas, elephants etc.

New / modern buildings are recently introduced during the colonial era by the British and these skills are yet practice in the urban towns. The materials use for building using modern skills are either imported from abroad or excavated locally from the ground and the materials excavated within includes lime, cement and crude oil use as DPC material (Damp Proof Course material) - for details of these skills and the types of materials - check photos from flickr.com.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

UNSTABLE GROUND IS A RISKY FOUNDATION

" Black Cotton Soil might be cracking and unstable causing severe cracks in foundations and walls again might cause buildings to collapse"
Figure [1] The wall thickness
is one and half brickwall,
flemish bond, built on black
cotton soil.A perpendicular
cracks are seen at the face of
the walls [Malakal].
A building on unstable ground has a risky and might result in a collapsed of building. The foundation is affected by severe cracks as shown in figure [1]. Although thick walls built in English and Flemish bonds are applied for the construction [figure 1]; the foundation is yet at risk, the wall may need maintenance.
The cracks may cause undue settlement to the building, making the foundation unstable and the building collapse without taking its expected lifespan.This type of ground is sometimes called Black cotton soil (Vertisols); it is a type of the ground seasonally changing its nature; swelling in wet seasons and shrinking with severe cracks in dry seasons. 
Typical examples of these soil are found in Malakal, Upper Nile state and at Juba-Nabari in Central Equatoria state/ Republic of South Sudan.
Figure 2: Cracks penetrating from the
ground, making walls to collapse.
There is need to share ideas, techniques and approaches for successfully building of houses on loose ground; shared ideas enable us to minimize penetration of the massive cracks into the buildings which causing buildings to collapse.
The  the rate of cracks rapidly expands from the foundation of the building and penetrates to the eaves when the roof weigh intensifies as shown is figure 2 are the effects of the unstable ground movement related to the nature of the soil. Those  building materials which are used in the construction and  yet cracking continue need modification or improvement of skills to minimized the cracks.
 My point of departure is “how shall I build safe and durable houses on loose grounds, and what are the types of buildings, materials, and applicable techniques?