With No Aerospace Schools in South Sudan Youth Builds His Own Plane

Despite the conflict in South Sudan a 23-year-old is teaching himself aeronautics and building an airplane with local parts he finds and brings home to his makeshift workshop.

The soft-spoken young man, George John Male, calls his operations Aero Tech Research. He teaches himself the skills needed using the internet because there are no schools in his country that offer the coursework.

His family thinks he’s crazy and wasting money. The country’s Air Force said they wanted to recruit John, but nothing was done about it.

Despite the lack of funding, he is optimistic that with the right support he can become one of Africa’s greatest aerospace innovators.

[Editor’s Note: Maybe we should raise some funds for this young man. Any thoughts?]

WATCH the inspiring video below from CCTV Africa’s Susan Mwongeli…

Photo of Engineering Students above by TJ Coffey (CC license)