麻豆约拍

Valentino Achak Deng fled from fighting in what's now South Sudan as a small frightened boy and spent many years in refugee camps, before finally reaching America and having his story told in the best-selling book, What is the What.

But despite having the option of staying in the US, Valentino chose to return to South Sudan after it gained independence - and is now in charge of managing state schools in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, in the north of the country.

There, his mission is to get hundreds of thousands of children into school, but shortages of resources make it difficult. His district has just 5,406 teachers to teach 400,000 students - that's almost 75 students per teacher.

And in a country with poor access to electricity and the internet, prerequisites for online learning, the pandemic has also meant many children have had no schooling for a year.

But he says he's never regretted his decision to return.

"I'm using [my] skills to provide education and manage resources, to build basic infrastructure and to help eradicate poverty. I see these as very meaningful things I should do in life, rather than sit with my friends in New York and London and pretend nothing is happening."

(Photo: Valentino Achak Deng. Credit: Valentino Achak Deng/麻豆约拍)

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