The event I’m here for, Diamonds in Sky: Hong Kong is already off to an amazing start!

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The Diamonds in the Sky event is a benefit dinner and auction that is supporting The Diamond Empowerment Fund and The China Charity Federation. After the huge successes of DEF London last fall, we are excited to be apart of Diamonds in the Sky: Hong Kong and with the full support from the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) and Chow Tai Fook (CTF), DEF is honored to be a beneficiary.

We kicked it off with great press conference announcing the event. When Cheng Yu-Tung, Chairman of Chow Tai Fook, said “The more that I give, the more happiness I gain,” I immediately knew this was going to be a special event.

While in Hong Kong I am keeping up with my yoga and meditation regimen. On the way out of Pure, a yoga spot in Hong Kong, I got the news that Swizz Beatz was in the area as well. Immediately I contacted him to see if he was available join me at the benefit. Without hesitation, Swizz agreed not only to attend but to make a $50,000 donation to empower African youth. Hip-Hop unites to change lives.

The benefit dinner and auction was hugely successful! DEF Angel Rahma M. raised $115,000 for @DEF_Africa at Diamonds in the Sky: Hong Kong. Megaupload.com won Rahma M for $115,000 in a bidding war against Swizz Beatz who bid a just as incredible $100,000.

Check out all of the photos I took with my blackberry. More to come.

~Russell Simmons

Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., Nelson Mandela & Russell Simmons

We celebrate the birth and continuing leadership of one of the world’s greatest freedom fighters. Nelson Mandela is a father, grandfather and a serious family man. Even during his long unjust imprisonment for over 27 years, he never loss his sense of perspective about the importance of his family and the leadership of the ANC investing the spirit and ideology of the freedom struggle in the youth of South Africa. The youth of the ANC, who later would rise up in such an irrepressible unity and focus that caused even the rigid foundations of apartheid to collapse and fall. Mandela embodies what it means to be an African transformation visionary who not only fought hard and long to free South Africa from the ruthless apartheid regime, but also who became the first Black President of South Africa with a universal sense of global dignity, integrity and respect.

I believe today that the first Black President of the United States of America, President Barack H. Obama can also learn from the legacy of Nelson Mandela. When Mandela became President of South Africa, it was not an easy task. It was difficult and trying on every issue because of the history of racial oppression and economic exploitation. But Mandela rose to the occasion with a masterful astuteness that even brought his political opponents to see and value his inclusive vision for a “new” South Africa. Yes, there are vast differences between the United States and South Africa. My point, however, is that President Obama has a similar trial and tribulation that Mandela had: how to unite a divided nation in order to summon a common, inclusive, transformative and participatory agenda that takes the nation forward in the face of fierce “reactionary” head winds that are determined to take the nation backwards.

The current divisive debate in the United States on increasing the national debt limit to avoid economic default and catastrophe is yet another classic example of politicians putting their narrow political and economic views over the common good for the nation. But some would join me in saying that this was exactly why the majority of people who voted in the United States elected President Barack Obama to rise to every occasion to help the nation move forward and not backward. President Obama, like President Mandela in the past, will have to transcend the retrenchment boundaries of partisan politics toward a “new” America that cares more about all its people without the stagnate lethargy of the status quo elite who have little or no concern for the downtrodden and marginalized masses of people who are crying out for a better way of life in America. Neither South Africa nor the United States is perfect, but both nations are still evolving and it will take strong leadership to lead both nations in the broader context of the global community to achieve greater progress for all of humanity. The global economy needs global leadership that views and values diversity, but bonds and binds the global community together with the best of governmental, as well as grass roots, leadership and empowerment forall.

In my last face to face private visit with Nelson Mandela and Russell Simmons in southern Africa, we discussed how important it was for the diamond industry and other extractive industries to invest in the empowerment of Africa. Shortly thereafter and taking the wisdom of Mandela seriously, Russell, I and others from the industry established the Diamond Empowerment Fund (DEF) to provide financial support for the higher education of young African leaders from diamond producing nations in Africa. Business leaders and government leaders can and should do so much more. Africans can learn from us, but equally important, there is so much we can learn from Africans. We are working now in South Africa and Botswana. Soon we will be in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). We are advocating concern about all the minerals and other extractive industries. But like in every neighborhood in America and in Africa, the greatest resource is not the oil, diamonds, copper, gold, silver, platinum, uranium or other precious metals and minerals. The greatest resource is the human resource: that is the youth, families, communities, villages and neighborhoods where people want and deserve the best of life.

The elders in every society should always be consulted by the youth leaders in every community. God has blessed us with Nelson Mandela. Let’s learn from our elder statesman. We should learn from history, not repeat history. President Barack Obama can and should gain an invaluable insight from Nelson Mandela. The world is still changing and we should all desire to be change agents rather than change spectators.

Lastly, in 1993, I was honored to present Nelson Mandela to the National Convention of the NAACP in Indianapolis, Indiana. He spoke about the historic bond between the ANC and the NAACP as two “freedom fighting” organizations. We have to overcome our “weary years and our silent tears.” Nelson Mandela continues to show us the way.

Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. is Senior Advisor to the Diamond Empowerment Fund (DEF) and the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO), and President of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) and Education Online Services Corporation.

Nicola and me in Vegas with the Diamond Empowerment Fund! We're rockin' our stunning green bracelets to support the education of the children of Africa. Join in!! And remember - wear your true colors!

New to the organization and not knowing what to expect, I decided to use the event to observe and learn from DEF advisor Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. and our first Angel Ambassador Nicola Breytenbach-Steiner.

Upon departing I was informed that the Vegas event was an opportunity for DEF to support diamond and jewelry companies that we work with, in addition to raising awareness on how diamonds can be used to spur positive change, support educational initiatives, and empower people in African nations where diamonds are a natural resource.

Our mission was completed with a successful annual breakfast for all of the board members, an interview with JCK TV, and a cultural ceremony parade.

JCK turned out to provide me with much more insight into the passion and honest dedication that the Diamond Empowerment Fund’s family and supporters have towards improving the diamond industry. The responsibility we have as consumers is to be conscious and to make sustainable purchase decisions, which will benefit the people where the natural resources are extracted.

(Left to Right): Lita Asscher and Mike Asscher of Royal Asscher, Me (Rahma), Michael Kaplan of Rocket Redbox, Kafia Ahmed of Diamond Empowerment Fund, Phyllis Bergman of Mercury Ring Corporation, and DEF Angel Ambassador Nicola Breytenbach-Steiner

This weekend, surrounded by the most luxurious diamonds, I was reminded of the love I have for Africa, the continent where 80% of diamonds come from.

And being a child of Africa I have a responsibility to be grateful, to respect and to give back.

Thank you DEF.

Rahma M

Dr.Benjamin Chavis and Phyllis Bergman at JCK

I continue to be blessed with the opportunity to work directly with Russell Simmons, that extraordinarily successful global entrepreneur and philanthropist. Over the past 20 years or more, I have observed how Simmons continues to grow and evolve in terms of a caring consciousness and a commitment to good corporate social responsibility. Ten years ago we co-founded the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN). Then later we co-founded the Diamond Empowerment Fund (DEF) along with others from the jewelry and diamond industry. This mission of DEF as a global nonprofit organization is to raise money to support educational initiatives that develop and empower people in African nations where diamonds are a natural resource.

I am writing this column from Las Vegas, Nevada while attending the 2011 JCK Vegas Show, the premiere annual trade show of the jewelry and diamond industry. It is amazing to see thousands of business leaders from throughout the international supply and production chain of the industry to gather to display the best practices and products. While in Vegas, I was reminded, however, of what Russell Simmons said about diamonds after our fact-finding mission to Africa five years ago. Russell affirmed, “Diamonds equal love.”

James Baldwin, more than anyone, helped me to understand the power and responsibility to use the pen as an instrument of social change and consciousness-raising. That is exactly the reason why I have now decided to write about “Love Diamonds.”

What is a love diamond? A love diamond is a diamond that is not only “conflict-free,” but also it is a diamond that empowers the people from where the diamond was extracted. In other words, when a consumer purchases a diamond, that consumer should want to know with confidence and certification that the purchase of that specific diamond will in fact contribute something back to the economic uplift, education, and empowerment of the people where that diamond was originally mined.

The Kimberly Process (KP) was established as an inter-governmental joint industry process to ensure the sale of conflict-free diamonds. As we learned from participating in a recent World Diamond Council panel on the KP, it is not a perfect process, but it is a much needed process that is being strengthened to greater ensure the distribution and sale of conflict-free diamonds that in turn brings more economic sustainability to diamond producing nations.

A love diamond represents the love and affection of the giver to the receiver. A love diamond gives love. A love diamond represents the luxury of giving to others. A love diamond also represents the love and care for improving the quality of life of the people where diamonds come from. A love diamond helps to transform the wretched rough of the earth into precious jewels of humanity.

Wow! Some would say this writing sounds more like poetry than prose. It is poetry! A poet takes license to make love using words.

A love diamond represents the love of African people, and the love of all people throughout the world. Thus a love diamond transcends race and class whereby a common good and well being for all people is engendered. Nelson Mandela asked Russell and me to help better inform the world of the good that the diamond industry has done and needs to continue to do for the development and progress of Africa. We are keeping our commitment to Mandela through DEF by raising global awareness and financially supporting students at the CIDA City Campus (College) in Johannesburg, the African Leadership Academy from across Africa, and the Botswana Top Achievers Program.

Symbolically, a love diamond is displayed on the iconic “DEF Green Bracelet” that is being worn by some of the world’s top fashion models and numerous other high profile celebrities. The “DEF Green Bracelet” was first produced by the Simmons Jewelry Company to raise money to support DEF’s scholarships for African college students. To date the sale of the “DEF Green Bracelet” has raised nearly one million dollars for DEF beneficiaries.

I agree, wholeheartedly, with Russell Simmons’ inspired formula that “Diamonds equal Love.” Today Africa needs more economic development. Let’s work harder today to show Africa more love. Let’s help provide more higher education opportunities for African students. Beneficiation of “love diamonds” will continue to make a positive difference.

Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. is Senior Advisor to the Diamond Empowerment Fund (DEF) and President of Education Online Services Corporation (EOServe Corp) and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN)

They say you never know what life has in store for you, or even what the future holds! We now live in a world that is so volatile to change; which although you never really have the certainty of tomorrow, has in my eyes raised the cost price of life so high that it has become mandatory to most who have the freedom and choice, to live each and every single day as if it were their last, myself included.

The 8^th of August 2010 marked a historic and memorable day in my life where one of my lifelong dreams since I was a little girl was fulfilled as I represented my country, Botswana, in the world renowned and coveted Miss Universe pageant in Las Vegas, USA. This wasn’t a dream accomplishment of a young beautiful Motswana woman wearing a sash written Botswana on it for 16 days in a foreign country with ladies from 82 nations. This was an accomplishment of a dream that brought together Botswana and 82 nations in a country where freedom of speech, choice and possibility for an individual is not tolerated but celebrated and regarded as vital not only for personal development but as well as national development. I wasted no time in bringing Botswana to the world, literally; giving any and everyone that I came across and had the opportunity to interact with the true and real Botswana experience. This was the platform for my country to be known and shine through me like the national gift I had brought- a true Botswana Diamond; mined, cut and polished in Botswana by Batswana.

The reality of a Botswana Diamond is that for more than four decades, it has been the main facilitator in the development of Botswana and its people by enabling the government to provide free education and health services for Batswana. The revenues generated from the Botswana Diamond sales went on to develop the country’s infrastructure amongst many others. The Botswana Diamond managed to give life to the people of Botswana; and now extended that benefit across borders through my national gift. I called my gift “Botshelo,” which in Setswana means “Life.”

Coming into the Miss Universe 2010 experience, I had the expectations of learning and appreciating so much about different places and people other than myself and my country. I had an “extremely” good, reliable and up-to-date, if I may say knowledge base and sense of appreciation of who I was and Botswana! As the days went on, meeting and interacting with different faces  from different places certain questions, comments and remarks arose quite often if not all the time. People were surprised at the good, clean and well articulated English I spoke;  my ability to engage in discussions of topics that had totally nothing to do with my country, Africa or a popular international hip hop artist; but of topics such as Kosovo breaking away from Serbia. Some were surprised at the fact that each Motswana was raised and lived in a house with a front and/or backyard with me being even more shocked than surprised that there were people that had lived in an apartment all their lives. By the end of the week I still had the same conversation experience with various people I came across. At that point I had a re-evaluation of myself as a young Motswana woman as well as my country. Yes, I came from an African nation, yes I did speak “proper” English that was more than just at a conversational level and yes there are roads in Botswana; tarred ones in fact. I may not have been from the most developed nation in terms of infrastructure and technology, but I realized that I was from a country that was one of the most developed in terms of a transformed mindset. I came from a country where I had the opportunity to be educated at tertiary level where my government paid for my tuition fees.  I came from a country where it was normal for a total stranger to greet and smile at you without any reason. I came from a country where a beauty Queen had the opportunity to sit at a dinner hosted for her by the former president of her nation ; His Excellency Festus Mogae and thereafter watch President Obama address his nation on the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

This experience enabled me to learn more about different people, cultures and religions. I was able to see, tour and explore a country that is totally different from mine in its own unique way. I did things that I never would have gotten to do, such as jet -skiing and living on the 27^th floor of a hotel as all hotels in Botswana have seven or less floors. Most of all it instilled in me greater sense of appreciation as to who I am and where I come from. As much as I had the opportunity to do some spectacular things in Las Vegas that wouldn’t have been possible to do back home; there are certain things that I am able to experience at home that people who are not in Botswana don’t have the opportunity to experience. Come to Botswana!

The Miss Universe 2010 experience taught me that there is much work still ahead of us as a Global community in terms of personal development. Development sometimes unfortunately leaves behind the multitudes in certain areas that help us co-exist with a better understanding of who we are as unique brothers and sisters of an international family.

Miss Universe 2010! The journey it has been and still continues to be. At the end of it all a Universal crown awaits.

Miss Universe 2010 to this point has been awesomely overwhelming if grammar allows me to express my feelings.

About a month ago sixteen young beautiful young Batswana woman upon announcement of their names in a little conference room lined up in front of a panel of judges to constitute the finalists of the long gone and awaited Miss Universe Botswana.  A certain calmness had filled my heart with certainty that my name would be called and so rightfully “Tirelo” was called as the third lady to enqueue. As I took my first step from where I was standing to join the final sixteen line, the 2010 Miss Universe journey for me at that very moment became planted and rooted in me. On the 10^th July I was crowned the 2010 Miss Universe Botswana which was a commencement of the key events that would facilitate me in reaching my destination on the 23^rd of August, at Mandalay Bay Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Since my crowning I have been richly blessed and humbled by the gained greater knowledge of my country Botswana, it’s cultural heritage, flora and fauna and most of all its people. As I left Botswana on the 4^th of August, I left as a proud Motswana woman who had the support of her government and her people. I left as a victorious daughter of her nation with the mandate of delivering the milk to the universe white and fresh without any impurities, the way it was entrusted to me by the people of Botswana.

5 August 2010, 07:30hrs I arrived at the JFK Airport and after passing through immigrations and customs to find that my luggage had not arrived and would be arriving two days later; I knew at that very moment that this was going to be a one of a kind trip and something great was about to happen. Fast forward a few hours later I was at the 43^rd floor in the office of a powerhouse of imagination, creativity and purpose – Mr. Russell Simmons or “Russell “as his colleagues and not staff address him.

As I met “Russell”, I met a leader that was able to combine a dream with passion, vision, perseverance, humility and most of all discipline – I met a TRENDSETTER!

Tirelo Ramasedi with Russell Simmons

Amidst the introduction, a great revelation hit me that this was the meeting and exchange of two nations who share one great transforming commodity, the Botswana Diamond! Over and above that, this was the unity of all the nationalities that were represented in that office through this precious and valuable stone that has been the foundation and pillar to building my country Botswana, an engine to facilitating her great economic growth and empowering and uplifting the lives of Batswana since her independence in 1966.

We are all richly blessed with that we have inherited from or respective nations in different regards especially in our respective cultural heritages. Most importantly we find common ground and unite as nations of the world when we celebrate the diversity of each land and people.

Miss Universe is a platform that enables us to do so and with that said lets unite on the 23^rd August 2010 whether in Las Vegas or on our television sets!

See you in Vegas!!

Kealeboga (Thank you in Setswana),

Tirelo Ramasedi

Miss Universe Botswana 2010

As promised I wanted to run down what was accomplished on our trip which we came home from last month.  As mentioned in an earlier blog we had an incredible team with us, each member having diverse talents and skills.  Upon arriving at Village of Life, in addition to teaching the teenagers there who had been rescued some skills in jewelry making, each member of the team was utilized to put together an updated electronic file of each child in the home for the benefit of the Touch a Life Foundation.  Trish Trueblood, who is a nurse practitioner was able to do medical assessments of the children as well as treat some of the common ailments these children contracted when working on the lake such as skin problems and parasites.  It was at times very difficult for all of us to see first hand the scars on these children from beatings from their masters or witness even the emotional scars each one of them carried.  However, it was also encouraging to see them in a safe place and to see what a family they all had become to one another.

We were really pleasantly surprised with how much learning the teenagers had retained from the workshops I did last year in jewelry making.  It was relatively easy for them to pick up where they left off and their skills became even more finely tuned this time around.  Again, several of them were natural leaders, particularly some of the older kids like Jacob, Daniel, Happy and Janet.  As we continue establishing operations in Ghana we are starting some small scale operations at Village of Life with these teenagers.  We will soon be test-marketing pieces these teenagers are making.  The teenagers will receive a fair wage for each piece made during this testing period, which they will be saving up to jumpstart their vocational dreams in the future (whether that be used for their education, for training in an apprenticeship or to start their own small businesses).  We will continue testing out their skills for the next several months and will re-evaluate at the end of the summer whether this program will truly be beneficial to them and if we will continue with this group at the Village of Life.

After leaving Village of Life in Kete Krachi our team traveled back down to the capital city of Accra to interview additional possible partners for our future operations in Ghana.  We had a great meeting with Fred Asare at Village of Hope which is another partner of the Touch a Life Foundation.  Fred connected us with one of their programs that works with street kids in Accra.  In this program they have a fully functioning vocational training center for teenagers where they learn indigenous handicrafts as well as other holistic skills.  The staff of VOH were very interested in exploring the possibility of adding Freedom Stones jewelry to their mix able to really gel as a teamof training and product lines as it could be a great income for the teenagers while they train and it is a very easy skill for them to learn.

Much of our remaining time in Accra was spent meeting with other possible partners for future jewelry production and holistic training.  We were encouraged by the good work we see going on in Ghana and that there exists many excellent indigenous community based organizations that are interested in the Freedom Stones model.  We also spent time on the back end putting into motion other logistical and operational items that will ensure we are able to effectively export jewelry from Ghana to the US.

What was perhaps most important in this trip was the time FS staff got to spend together as a team.  We felt after this trip we really knew one another better and were .  It was at times a difficult trip in seeing the state of human trafficking in Ghana in addition to the heat and just general difficulty of being in a developing country, but it was an important trip and one in which we do feel we accomplished what we set out to do as well as things we hadn’t anticipated.

A slideshow introducing the problem of human trafficking and a strategy of prevention through Freedom Stones’ work around the world to provide livelihoods and holistic training to victims or those at risk. Slideshow created by Leah Knippel. Several pictures used by permission from World Concern. “Lost” music by Coldplay.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT FREEDOM STONES…CLICK HERE

Russell Simmons meditating with CIDA students

On July 2nd, CIDA City Campus, a beneficiary of support from the Diamond Empowerment Fund, celebrated its 10th anniversary and the 7th graduating class as Africa’s first virtually free college. These kids are very special, sweet, and focused on getting their business degrees and helping build their communities. I will never forget my first visit to CIDA nearly four years ago where I had a group meditation with the students ­ a thousand young Africans and me, all experiencing stillness and quiet time together. That helped me center myself as I was taking in so many new experiences on my first trip to South Africa, and I saw how it helped the students recharge and refocus to do well in academics and in service.

I’ve been a meditator for many years and I am dedicated to spreading this practice that brings many benefits when offered in a school environment. Where quiet time is a central part of the education experience at schools like Dr. George Rutherford’s Ideal Academy in one of the roughest areas of Washington, DC, health issues plummet, grades and graduation rates skyrocket, distraction in the classroom returns to focus, and violence in the schoolyard is replaced by play. The clinical research on the benefits of Transcendental Meditation (TM) when offered as quiet time at the beginning and the end of each school day shows this technique works. Where just about every other form of intervention, counseling or punishment fails to address the stress our kids are under, quiet time and connection to one’s inner voice is so simple and so effective. To be clear, TM is not a religion, philosophy or way of life. It’s a simple mental practice that any child can learn and benefit from. I’ve seen the impact meditation has on Ming Lee and Aoki Lee, and I wish the same stillness and peace for every child busy absorbing knowledge at warp speed.

Meditation is not currently part of the CIDA curriculum, but I hope that one day it will be reintroduced, maybe with the help of the David Lynch Foundation, who are true leaders in the field. They understand the science of quiet time, and they understand the basic need for love that we all have, especially children deserving of unconditional love and so often deprived of it on every level.

I wanted to share with you my remarks to the CIDA’s graduates, which were read at the graduation ceremony by activist and long-distance runner Suzanne “Africa” Engo, a strong advocate for the Diamond Empowerment Fund who spent a week with CIDA students in Johannesburg. The daily practice of meditation helped Suzanne in her commitment to a 1,500 mile run on three continents to raise awareness for the issues of AIDS prevention/treatment and empowerment through education for Africa. She spent time living on campus getting to know the students and ran from a student¹s home to the CIDA dorms to show the importance of campus housing for the students to succeed. DEF¹s support for CIDA has been specifically to fund a dorm that houses 300 students, a fundamental need to keep students in school.

While the world¹s watching the finals of FIFA World Cup in South Africa this weekend, let’s take a minute to think about this being a special time for CIDA where the graduating class has scored the winning goal.

CONGRATULATIONS MESSAGE TO CIDA CITY CAMPUS GRADUATES FROM RUSSELL SIMMONS

GREETINGS, CIDA GRADUATES 2010, FACULTY, SUPPORTERS FAMILY AND FRIENDS. I WISH I WAS WITH YOU AT THIS MOMENT MARKING YOUR ENDURANCE, YOUR FOCUS, YOUR SERVICE, AND YOUR SUCCESS. ONE OF MY MOST TREASURED MEMORIES WAS FIRST VISITING CIDA IN 2006 AND HAVING QUIET TIME MEDITATING WITH YOU.

YOU MADE IT! YOU ARE GRADUATING TODAY FROM COLLEGE AND NO MATTER WHERE YOU GO FROM HERE IT WILL ALWAYS BE AS A GRADUATE OF CIDA CITY CAMPUS. THAT MAKES YOU AMONG THE RICHEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD, AND A PRIDE OF SOUTH AFRICA. AS YOU KNOW, HIGHER EDUCATION IS NOT SOMETHING THAT EVERYONE ACHIEVES, IN FACT STATISTICALLY VERY FEW DO, SO NEVER FORGET YOU HAVE ALL THE OPPORTUNITIES BEFORE YOU THAT THE WORLD CAN OFFER. WITH THESE OPPORTUNITIES ARE RESPONSIBILITIES – TO YOURSELF, TO YOUR FAMILY, AND TO YOUR COMMUNITY. BE IN THE GAME EVERY DAY, ENJOY THE PROCESS OF HARD WORK, OF SERVICE, OF SHARING ALL THAT YOU HAVE. REMEMBER, THERE IS NOTHING IN THIS WORLD THAT YOU NEED THAT YOU DON’T HAVE RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT.

SO IN THIS TIME OF CELEBRATION AND ACHIEVEMENT, SMILE AND BE HAPPY. LOOK INSIDE AND HONOR ALL THAT YOU HAVE WORKED SO HARD FOR, BE GRATEFUL TO EVERY PERSON ALONG THE WAY WHO HAS BEEN PART OF YOUR PROCESS OF GETTING TO WHERE YOU ARE TODAY. BE GRATEFUL FOR YOUR TEACHERS, YOUR FRIENDS, YOUR FAMILY, AND FOR YOUR OWN UNIQUE AND POWERFUL INNER SELF, WHICH HAS GUIDED YOU TO THIS IMPORTANT DAY. LOOK FOR THE STILLNESS WITHIN AND LET IT GUIDE YOU TO GREATNESS WHEREVER YOU CHOOSE TO GO FROM HERE.

WITH GREAT LOVE ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE,
RUSSELL SIMMONS
AND
YOUR FRIENDS AT THE DIAMOND EMPOWERMENT FUND

CHECK OUT SOME NEW VIDEOS FROM SUZANNE “AFRICA” ENGO IN AFRICA DURING HER STAY!

CIDA Career Centre.

CIDA sets themselves apart as not only a university offering a Bachelor of Business Administration, but also enforces students are involved in community education on weekends and school holidays. This can be in their own community, or one closer to CIDA, where they teach or set up community events or activities, eg teaching financial literature, HIV education, or act as mentors to students in these areas.

In addition to specializing in Marketing, Finance and Investment, Human Resources, or Entrepreneurship, they have access to Schools of Excellence, in Information Technology and Investment, sponsored by businesses. They also spend 3 months in their Jobshop, where they actually work in a business, have resume-writing help, and interview practice.
The CIDA students are provided with accommodation, three meals a day, transport and textbooks. In return they are responsible for various aspects of running the campus, so they realize the importance of giving back and getting involved. Another highlight is their clothing library where people can donate clothes, and the students buy these for a minimal fee, which would alleviate costs to the students so they can solely focus on their education without worrying about financial aid.

Kate Allan in the middle with Jordan (left) and Molefi (right)

Currently there are 677 students, and their current capacity is 1500.  Last year they had about 4,000 applications for about 300 positions. The building they are currently occupying will not be available for much longer, so they are in desperate need of a new location. It would be devastating for such an exciting initiative to be stalled, as it is creating such great hope and success in so many students who would never have had any sort of opportunity for tertiary education. South Africa has an unemployment rate about 25 %, so it is so beneficial for these students to obtain their degree to uplift themselves and their communities.

Visiting the African Leadership Academy was just as inspiring, on a different level. This school has students from all over Africa, and it is just so incredible to see people from so many different and diverse cultures working together with a common goal.. They attend ALA for 2 years where they are thoroughly prepared for the top universities around the world, and are on track to be the next leaders and entrepreneurs of Africa, and the rest of the world.

I, along with 4 other guests, were invited to participate in their African Studies class, where we were divided into groups and discussed the issues, and in the next class one student in each group would present a speech on the outcomes. In our group, there were students from Senegal, Sierra Leone, Morocco and Kenya!

I was taken on a tour of the beautiful school grounds, including the huge library, dining hall, science labs and hostel rooms. During their lunch break on this day, they all sat together in groups with their mentors. The teachers are assigned about 5 students who they mentor, and are their ALA “family”.  The students have a great all-round education, including leadership classes and are taught excellent interpersonal skills.

African Leadership Academy

I was invited to have tea with Teboho Mabuka. She is an inspiration to all, as she comes from a historically disadvantaged background but is so mature and confident, eloquent and polite. She has incredible public speaking skills, and such determination and conviction that she will create change in her community, country and continent. She told us about the sports they can play competitively, or just socially, in the afternoons. She even enabled her netball team to play in the league against her previous school! They are also all involved in community development, as each student has some community project they dedicate time to every week.

They are all incredibly gifted students, and are all making a difference in some way. Its amazing to see the visions these teenagers have for their lives and the rest of the world. If these are the future leaders of Africa, it can only look promising!

Kate Allan and ALA student, Tebogo Mabuka

Thanks again for this opportunity!

I look forward to crossing paths with you again in the near future.

- Kate Allan