TL;DR
My first classrooms were not built with bricks. They were cattle camps, kitchens, and long dangerous paths during war. Elders, mothers, hunger, and fear all took turns teaching me. Only later did I sit in rooms with desks and chalkboards, and even later in online classrooms with people from other continents.
Local wisdom shaped who I am. Global education showed me who I could still become. Books, online courses, and friendships across borders widened my world. For countries like South Sudan, learning from the world is not a luxury. It is a survival skill. The academy of life is bigger than village, tribe, or nation. We ignore global education at our own cost.
Life As My First School
As a boy, my most honest teachers did not carry degrees.
One classroom was the cattle camp. At night, men sat around the fire and told stories about raids, droughts, and courage. They did not call it “history.” They called it “remembering.” Another classroom was our small kitchen space. My mother could correct me with one look and a cooking stick held in silence. That stick taught me self-control faster than any printed rule.
Then there was the hardest classroom of all: war.
Running under gunfire. Hiding in swamps. Watching my brother go to fight in 1989 and never return. That education did not give certificates, but it wrote lessons on my bones.
Looking back, I see that the academy of life started long before I met a textbook. Education is learning how to live, not just how to pass exams.
When The World Was Only A Radio Voice
In my early years, the “global” part of education came through a small radio. We would listen to voices from far away. BBC, other stations, languages I did not understand. News about countries I could not imagine.
The world felt distant. I knew the Sobat River. I knew the names of nearby villages. Europe, Asia, America were just sounds floating in the night.
Still, that radio planted a small question in me: “What is out there beyond our floodplain, beyond our war?” That question became one of my first global teachers. Curiosity is often the first subject in the academy of life.
Education Is Bigger Than Classrooms
We often shrink education into chairs, desks, and exams. That is too small.
Education is learning to think, to ask “why,” to solve problems, and to walk wisely. It is your mother saying, “Eat last so your younger siblings eat first.” It is your father telling you, “Sweep the compound well, because this is training for leadership.” It is a pastor warning you that truth has a cost. It is a friend teaching you how to use a new tool.
Global education simply stretches this learning beyond your village border. It is like changing from a bicycle to an airplane. You still move on the same earth, but you see it from higher up.
What Global Education Really Does
Global education is not only about traveling abroad. It is about opening your mind to knowledge and people from other lands.
It can:
- Expand perspectives
A textbook from your country tells one side of the story. A book from Japan or Brazil shows that other people saw the same world differently. You realize your view is real but not the only one. - Build empathy
When you study other cultures, you begin to understand their fears and hopes. It becomes harder to insult what you now understand. - Spark new ideas
A farming method used in Israel can help a farmer in South Sudan. A health approach from Kenya can save lives in another continent. Ideas travel faster than airplanes if we let them. - Strengthen identity
Global learning does not erase who you are. Instead, it tests and refines it. You return to your culture with more respect for it and more respect for others.
My Own Road Into The Global Classroom
My personal journey with global education did not begin with a plane ticket. It began with paper and, later, with a weak computer.
When I studied theology through distance learning with the South African Theological Seminary, my lecturers were in South Africa while I was in Sudan and later South Sudan. Yet they marked my assignments, sent feedback, and challenged my thinking. My classroom stretched across countries.
Later, I discovered free online courses. Platforms like Alison opened subjects like Business Management and Human Psychology to a boy who once walked long distances just to find a physical school. I sat in Juba and listened to teachers who had never heard of my village.
When I began to publish books, I imagined only people near me would read them. Then emails started coming from readers in America, Europe, and Asia. One day someone from Finland wrote to say a book of mine had given them hope. A child of the Sobat River speaking to a reader near the Arctic. I sat quietly and smiled.
Global education came alive. It was not only theory. It was relationship.
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Humor Break: South Sudanese Wi Fi In A Global Zoom
I once joined an online class with people from several countries. Introductions began.
“I am from Germany.”
“I am from Canada.”
“I am from Kenya.”
When it was my turn to say, “I am from South Sudan,” the internet cut off. Silence. Black screen.
By the time I reconnected, the teacher thought I was too shy to speak. I told him later, “Sir, it was not shyness. It was South Sudanese Wi Fi making a statement.”
Even that moment taught me something. Global learning needs not only an open mind, but also patience, humor, and better infrastructure. You learn to laugh while the signal drops and reconnect again.
Why Nations Need Global Education
Countries that refuse to learn from others do not stand still. They fall behind.
Look at nations that lead in technology, health, and sustainable development. They send students abroad, invite foreign experts, translate global research, and cooperate across borders. They ask, “Who has solved a similar problem before, and what can we adapt here?”
For a young country like South Sudan, global education is not a luxury. It is a survival strategy.
We need:
Doctors who have seen working health systems and can return to rebuild ours.
Engineers who understand how roads, power, and water networks function in other places.
Teachers who have studied good schooling models and can plant them here.
Leaders who know how other societies healed from conflict and can guide us through ours.
The goal is not to copy other countries blindly. It is to learn wisely and apply locally.
The Enemies Of Global Learning
Several quiet enemies block global education from taking root.
- Pride
The belief that “our way is the only way” closes the door to helpful ideas. True strength can listen and still remain itself. - Fear
Some people think learning from others will destroy their identity. In reality, strong identities can meet other cultures without disappearing. - Poverty
Many cannot afford to travel, pay fees, or even buy enough data for online courses. This is a real barrier. It must be faced with creative solutions and scholarships. - Distraction
The internet can bring the best teachers in the world into your room. It can also eat your time with endless entertainment. Hours can vanish online without a single seed of learning planted in the mind.
Simple Ways To Embrace Global Education
You do not need a visa to start learning globally.
You can:
Read broadly
Do not limit yourself to local authors. Read stories, essays, and textbooks from other continents. See how others think and feel.
Use online learning
Many high quality courses are free. With a basic phone or computer and some data, you can attend classes that would once have required travel and high fees.
Join exchange and mentorship programs
Even if you never leave your country, you can connect with mentors abroad or host visitors who bring different experiences.
Learn languages
Each new language is a new window. English, Arabic, French, Swahili, Chinese, or others can open access to new ideas and friendships.
Bring it home
Global education is wasted if it remains in your head only. The real test is how you use what you learned to improve your community.
Seeds From Abroad, Roots At Home
Some of my proudest moments have been watching young people I mentored travel abroad, then return and plant what they learned.
One young woman went out, studied, and came back with a burning desire to improve literacy. She started a simple reading program for children. Another young man trained in computer skills and came back to teach others how to use basic software and the internet.
They did not return as strangers. They returned as bridges. Seeds of knowledge from far away were planted in local soil. Those seeds are already growing into small trees of change.
This is what I mean when I say the academy of life has no walls. You can attend classes taught by your grandmother, your local teacher, an online professor in another country, and a book written decades before you were born. You do not graduate from this academy. You simply keep moving from one lesson to the next.
If you would like to know more about my path as a writer, including the struggles, lessons, and small signs of progress along the way, you can read the full story on my Wealthy Affiliate blog here: https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/johnmaluth/blog
Reflection Questions
- How has global education, through books, travel, or the internet, changed the way you see your own life and country?
- What fears or barriers in your family or community make people suspicious of learning from other cultures?
- Can you remember a specific moment when you learned something important from another country or culture?
- How could South Sudanese youth use global learning to rebuild health, education, and peace at home?
- If life is one big academy, what “course” are you currently enrolled in, and who are your main teachers right now?
FAQS
- What is “global education” in simple terms?
Global education is learning that connects you with knowledge, people, and experiences from other countries. It can happen through travel, books, online courses, or friendships with people from different cultures. It widens your thinking beyond your local area. - Do I need to travel abroad to benefit from global education?
No. Travel helps, but it is not the only way. You can read international books, take online courses, follow reliable global news, and build friendships with people abroad. Many people receive a strong global education without ever boarding a plane. - Will global education make me lose my culture?
Not if you are grounded. In fact, learning from others can deepen your respect for your own roots. You see what is unique and valuable in your culture and what you can improve by learning from others. The danger is not learning, but forgetting who you are. - How can young people in poor or remote areas access global learning?
They can use community internet centers, shared devices, radios, and printed materials from international sources. Churches, schools, NGOs, and local leaders can help by creating study groups, providing devices, and sharing downloaded resources where connection is weak. - Why should a country like South Sudan invest in global education?
Because we face serious challenges that others have faced before us. By learning how other nations improved health, reduced conflict, built schools, and grew their economies, we can avoid costly mistakes. Global education gives us tested ideas to adapt, instead of forcing us to start from zero.
