South Sudanese Prisoners Enter a Profession with the Help of TİKA

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) provided welding materials and equipment to prisoners in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

TİKA provided welding materials and equipment to prisoners in order to enable them to acquire professional competence while they are in prison, find jobs more easily when their sentences are over, and integrate into the outside world with less difficulty.

As part of the project, materials such as welding generators; angle grinders; drills; bench vises; grinding goggles; hammers, saws, wrenches, and screwdrivers of various sizes; metalworking tools; gauge tubes; disc cutters; welding rods; gloves; and overalls were supplied by TİKA and delivered to the prison.

The delivery ceremony for these materials and equipment was attended by Mustafa Kemal Akbulut, Deputy Head of Mission for Political and Economic Affairs at the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Juba; Michael Malou, the general manager of the prison in South Sudan; Josep Benjamin, Director-General of Prisons of South Sudan; Turgut GAZİGİL, TİKA’s Assistant Program Coordinator of South Sudan; and representatives of NGOs.

In his speech at the ceremony, Akbulut said he was happy that this project would help South Sudanese prisoners, who have been convicted of various crimes, to contribute more to the society and find jobs more easily when their sentences are over, thanks to the welding materials, equipment, and training provided to them. Akbulut said, “We will always stand in solidarity with the people of South Sudan, with whom we have close relations. We will be happy to contribute to the future happiness of prisoners as productive individuals.”

In his speech, Josep Benjamin, Director-General of Prisons, said that they were very pleased with the support provided by TİKA. Mentioning the importance of the support provided for prisoners for their vocational training, Benjamin added that Turkey is always there for them.