17 young workers bound for UAE gather in Juba for orientation. April 14, 2025. (Photo: Sebit Patrick).

JUBA, (Eye Radio) – At least 17 young South Sudanese workers are set to travel to Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and work there, in the country’s first ever initiative to send labor force overseas.

According to Ramsey Sagamu, the General Manager of Gaani Study Abroad, a company which says it helps South Sudanese seeking education and job opportunities overseas, the men aged between 20 and 25 years will be flown to Dubai and Abu-Dhabi on Tuesday.

They will be employed by companies as bike riders and cable pullers respectively. Mr. Sagamu said 11 of the men were cleared for the first flights on 15th and 16th April as bike riders.

Meanwhile, the six others are still processing their documents as cable pullers to Abu Dhabi.

“We managed to secure 17 work permits for our clients and 11 have already obtained visas and will be traveling on the 15th and 16th of April to Dubai, specifically because we have two sets of work, one is in Dubai, which is to do with bike riding or delivery,” he said.

“And then there is another one in Abu Dhabi which is to do with cable pullers or helpers. So, the ones that we are sending in this first batch are the ones going for delivery services, and they are 11 in number, like the first batch.”

Sagamu said his company signed agreements with overseas companies to mobilize a workforce from the country.

One of the laborers, 23-year-old Chikom Moses Mayom from Warrap State, said his aim was to seek study opportunities abroad. After learning of some work opportunities, Mayom said he picked an interest in it to raise fees to attend university.

“As I was looking for everything that is required to meet the requirement to study abroad, that is in Turkey, I got the opportunity of going to the Middle East to go and work, whereby I will be able to work and study at the same time.”

“That’s how I switched from planning to go and study only to go and work and study. If I go and raise the funds for study, that’s when I will go and resume school at university.”

Cirilo Majur Akech, 20, is a second-year student at the School of Arts and Humanity at the University of Juba. He said he welcomed the opportunity, saying it would give him the opportunity to try new things.

Majur said he’s not only going to work but also study in a better environment to change the narrative at home.

“I welcome this opportunity with great pleasure and honor, and really a great time for us to try a new thing. We have been trying to get the opportunity. As you can see, a lot of people are trying their way to better living, daily meals and all that.”

“And you see all the struggles will give you the courage if you could try elsewhere whereby you’ll get everything at hand. We were not only going as workers, but with plans of studying in a better environment and doing better things and still coming back home to change homes, not only for ourselves but for everyone.”

Samson Marial Madit, another candidate from Aweirial, said he is excited to start something new that will shape his life.

“I’m so excited to be part of this opportunity. I really love to go there and do something to change my life and something really important. That’s what I ought to do and to make sure that I live well just like I did here in South Sudan.”

The candidates were brought together ahead of their flight for the pre-travel orientation held in Juba on Friday.

Speaking during the orientation, the Director for Labor and Industrial Relations in the Ministry of Labor, Justine Jada Joseph, cautioned the candidates against misbehavior in the oil-rich Gulf kingdom.

Mr. Jada encouraged the young men to bring a good reputation to the country as this would open more chances for others who would choose to come after them.

“Since it is the first time, then you’re like the firstborn in a family. We are hoping that you bring good luck to South Sudan. Because if you misbehave out there as the first batch going out on officially, then you have blocked out, or you have closed the door.”

“Make sure you are there to bring very good credibility first to your families, second and most importantly, to the country, and if you mess it up, then there is no other second batch coming, because they have seen what has gone wrong there and even those countries where you are going to will also communicate to others that don’t have a give a chance to South Sudanese because they will mess it up.”