Jobickson Modi
Jobickson Modi spent much of his childhood fleeing civil war in his home country of Sudan and in the neighboring countries where he tried to take refuge. Then when Jobickson was 11, his mother died. Unbelievably, Jobickson’s father died two years later, leaving him to be raised by various relatives throughout East Africa.
Jobickson’s hopes for an education had all but vanished when a man in his community gave him a job at at his small restaurant. With his wages and other money he earned from sewing clothes, Jobickson was able to return to school and pay for his books and school clothes.
Jobickson moved back to Sudan in 1979 to escape the perils of war-torn Uganda. There he got married and had his first child. He also finally finished high school. But it wasn’t long before Jobickson and his new family were on the run again as civil war erupted in Sudan in 1983. They fled to Uganda and then to Kenya in 1989, where they met up with Jobickson’s brother. At that time, Jobickson and his family filed for refugee and resettlement status in the United States. They arrived in 1992 and settled in Dallas.
Tragedy wasn’t far behind, though. Jobickson’s first-born son died of pnemonia in 2000. Jobickson and his family grieved as they made a new life in America.
Determined to further his education, Jobickson enrolled at Richland College and earned an associate’s degree in Business Administration. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2005. Of his 15 brothers and sisters, Jobickson is the only one who went to college.
Jobickson is the father of five children who range in age from 14 to 22, two of whom are now college students. One attends the University of Oklahoma, and the other attends University of North Texas.
In addition to his full-time job as an accountant at RLC, Jobickson voluntarily serves as treasurer of RLC’s Professional Support Staff Association, treasurer of Help the Needy People of the Sudan in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area, deputy treasurer of Equatorian Sudan Community Association in the United States of America, and the interim president of Equatorian Sudanese Mutual Assistance Association in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
When Jobickson looks back on his life, he says “I see that all that has happened can befall any human. As long as I live, my eyes will never forsake what the Lord has in store for me”