"Be different": South Sudan lady raised in Kenya leaves US to start 19-acre farm

South Sudan woman gives up US life

28-year-old Joy Adu puzzled many after giving up her life in the US and returning to South Sudan.

Speaking to YouTuber Wode Maya, Joy disclosed that her family moved to Kenya when she was two weeks old because of the civil war.

“I studied in Kenya and after KCPE, I got a scholarship to Norway where I studied for two years. I got another scholarship to the US where I stayed for eight years.”

The public health graduate finished her post-graduate studies but her passion was elsewhere.

“I had a passion for farming but I had repressed it. I decide to leave America and come to South Sudan to do farming.”

Joy utilised her ancestral land to plant numerous vegetables, including kale, coriander, zucchini, eggplant, green pepper, and okra.

Joy ploys 12 people and also trains the community to equip them with skills that will help them establish their own farms.

“We supply hotels, and markets and also do door-to-door marketing. Many people do not believe we grow the crops in South Sudan.”

The young lady called on other South Sudanese nationals abroad to go back home as there were many opportunities.

“Come back home and experience it yourself. Don’t focus on the portrayal of our country in the press. You need a plan and a passion and you will be successful.”

She also dismissed the notion that one has to get formal work to become rich.

“The idea of poverty is a mindset. You don’t have to go to school to become a doctor to become rich.

Dare to be different and not follow what everyone is doing.”

Graduate turns to farming

In Kakamega county, a graduate resorted to farming after unsuccessfully looking for a job.

Vincent Isambo graduated with a diploma in business management in 2014 but efforts to look for a job bore no fruits.

He returned to his home village of Ebuyonga, Khwisero sub-county and ventured into agribusiness and makes an average of KSh 20,000 monthly.