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Meet South Sudan's second female pilot who studied in Kenya

At just 20, she's become a trailblazer

Amel Ajongo Mawut is riding high after completing her aviation course and being labeled as South Sudans second female pilot.

Currently, South Sudan has just one renown female pilot, Captain Aluel James Bol, who made history in 2011 after graduating as the country's first female pilot. The 34-year old worked at Ethiopian Airlines and Fly Dubai before joining Delta Airline where she currently works as pilot.

Evidently, Aluel has set a precedent for other young women from Sudan such as Amel to follow in the same footsteps and become trailblazers in male dominated careers. Speaking to Hot in Juba, Amel revealed that she studied at the Kenya School of Flying, a professional flight training school based at Kenya's Wilson Airport. The course took two and half years and even though she has no job at the moment, she disclosed that she's working on something and in a few months, she will be ready for piloting.

The soon-to-be 21 year old, when asked what are some of the challenges she underwent during her training said that generally, female pilots face a lot of sex discrimination, but was glad that increasingly, women are taking on the career.

She advised fellow young women not to limit themselves, to dream of success and work for it, without forgetting that discipline is key.

Back at home, Captain Irene Koki made headlines by becoming the first African female to become certified as a Captain of the Boeing 787 “Dreamliner” aircraft. Currently, she's a Captain of the B787 withKenya Airways.

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