Miami Dade College

The Republic of South Africa is located at the southern end of the African continent and although Johannesburg is the largest city, South Africa actually has three capital cities--Pretoria, Cape Town and Bloemfontein. Pretoria is home to the country's executive branch of government, the parliament resides in Cape Town and the Supreme Court is located in Bloemfontein.South Africa is the most diverse and enhancing country in the world. It is made up of a population of over 49 to 50 million of people and has a wide variety of cultures, languages, and religious beliefs. We call it the “rainbow nation” because it symbolizes peace, unity and diversity. It is the manifestation of the pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow, so to speak. Its population is made up of four broad groupings namely African, White, Coloreds and Indian/Asian but there a lot of other groups of cultures living in South Africa. It is a multilingual country which comprises of 11 official languages but besides the official languages, scores of others-African, European, Asian and more are spoken in South Africa, as the country lies at the cross roads of Southern Africa. It is made up of nine attractive provinces, each with its own legislature, premier, and executive council and distinctive landscape, population, economy and climate. We as South Africans pride ourselves with our diversity and it is the Cradle of Humankind.

Shiela Ntina Mpete

My name is Shiela Ntina Mpete, and I was born in Pretoria, South Africa. My native language is Tswana. I am the last born child of the late Maria and Joseph Baloyi, and I was raised and cared for by my three older brothers. I started schooling at the age of five at Resebone Primary School (North West Province) and completed high school at Utsane High School (Limpopo Province) at the age of 17 . Then at the age of 18, I studied at Tshwane North College in Pretoria, where I obtained my National Qualification Certificate in Business Administration. I was a worker at Transfarm Pharmacy in Pretoria and then left the job to come and pursue my studies in the United States of America, studying at Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus and majoring in Business.

Lifa Marvin Kokong

I am Lifa Marvin Kokong and I am from South Africa. I am originally from Volksrust, a small city in the Mpumalanga Province but am residing in Johannesburg because of my studies that are 223.7 kilometres from Volksrust. I am a first born in my family and I have two siblings. I lived with my grandparent while attending primary school in Newcastle and attending Qhubimfundo primary school. I, then, moved to Volksrust where I lived with my parents and finished my high school diploma at Qhubulwazi Combined School. In high school, I was part of a school choir where I grew up and fell in love with opera music, and I was part of a basketball and volleyball team. I was also part of the school leadership SCR as a sports and event coordinator assistance.

I finished my high school in the year of 2006 and moved to Johannesburg, where I studied at CIDA City Campus. This is also where I was introduced to many things in life and had many life changing experiences. I became part of a student organization called S.I.F.E (Student In Free Enterprise) CIDA City Campus. This organization is an international student club where I was introduced to the concepts of building communities by helping the needy and by competing with other teams from other 26 universities. We all presented the results of our projects that we did for SIFE in South Africa. I won fourth position and six awards in various topic pillars for the team.

I was passionate about helping and building the community of South Africa. I was granted a chance to lead and be the President of the Team of SIFE CIDA City Campus for a year 2009/2010. And I was a representative of the organization at CIDA City Campus in the Student Broad Forum (SBF) which is a student parliament. As one of my passion from high school, I was also a player on the volleyball team of CIDA City Campus.

I have been volunteering at Operation Hope, a non-Profit organization where I taught financial literacy for three years. I was fortunately enough to grow my love for business while helping my community at the same time. I got my first job as a cashier at King Pie at Newcastle and this is where I gained more knowledge about business.

Today I am in Miami exploring my life as I learn more about the USA and its culture, while at the same time getting more experience in my field of study. I had a great opportunity to apply and be part of such an amazing program, as I meet new people from my own country from different provinces and worldwide, sharing experiences and laughter every day.

I regard myself as a goal driven and passionate about bringing change to others by making the world a better place for all. My main mission is to teach people about business and how they can help themselves sustain their lives by creating economic and providing for others who are needy.