Introducing our Kakuma Programme Coordinator, Mayen Ajak Jok

As we prepare for the launch of the Amala High School Diploma Programme in Kakuma, Kenya, we are delighted to welcome Ajak Mayen Jok to the Amala team as our new Kakuma Programme Coordinator! 

Mayen comes to us with a wealth of knowledge and experience from working with education organisations within Kakuma Camp for the last six years, including Jesuit WorldWide Learning (JWL), a major tertiary education provider in the camp, and the UNHCR. Originally from South Sudan, Mayen has been living in Kenya for the last 20 years, and graduated from Southern New Hampshire University, in Kakuma Camp. Through their Global Education Movement initiative, Southern New Hampshire University is able to offer online university degrees at high quality and low-cost to meet the needs of displaced learners around the world. 

Mayen was drawn to Amala by its mission and what our programmes mean to young people in the camp. “I cannot stand to see so many young people who have left their home countries without finishing secondary education stranded in the camp. I believe Amala Education is the answer to this problem and I would love to be a part of this answer.” 

As well as coordinating the successful roll out of the Amala High School Diploma, Mayen will also help with the UWC-Amala Changemaker Foundation Programme and will support the organisations Amala is currently working with in Kakuma Camp and nearby Kalobeyei settlement to run Amala courses. “I am truly looking forward to recruiting students for both the Diploma Programme and the UWC-Amala Foundation Programme.”

Mayen shares Amala’s commitment to ensuring all youth can access transformational learning and finish their high school education no matter their background or refugee status. He explains, “Amala programmes mean a lot to the hundreds of youth who have been out of school, not out of their will but simply because the system does not recognise them. These programmes will open a new window for them to be just like their fellow Kenyan students in secondary schools.”

Learn more about the Amala High School Diploma launching in Kakuma, Kenya and apply today here.