UNMISS peacekeepers disinfect University of Bahr el Ghazal

UNMISS peacekeepers from Bangladesh disinfecting a university in Wau to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission (©unmiss.unmissions.org)

Bangladeshi peacekeepers based in Wau and serving with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan have disinfected lecture rooms, halls, and offices at the University of Bahr el Ghazal after studies resumed in early October.

‘’Since the university opened, it has been our priority to have the whole place disinfected,” said an excited Abdallah Ramadan Nasir, Acting Dean of Students’ Affairs, adding that the university had no budget of its own to take care of the cleaning operation, only for washing facilities, hand sanitizers and face masks.

‘’We sent requests to the UN, non-governmental organizations, the government and the private sector to help us, but only the Bangladeshi peacekeepers turned up. I hope that they will keep supporting us,’’ Nasir explained.

Lectures, in fact, started before the disinfection took place, with a large number of students combined with small facilities meaning that it has been difficult to maintain the recommended physical distancing.

‘’I am happy to see the disinfection of the lecture halls taking place,’’ said Malual Madut Ngor, a third-year student at the faculty of Public Administration. ‘’I am very worried of contracting COVID-19 because we are a lot of students here, but at least now our facilities have been properly cleaned.

The university, which had been closed since the emergence of the first COVID-19 cases in the country in early April, has both daytime students and boarding scholars. Students are coming not only from the Wau area but from across the country, including the capital Juba, the most COVID-19 affected place in the country.