ORT SA Intern, Malwande Masinga, is the first in her family to attend college and is celebrating her accomplishment. “When I was in high school, I envisioned myself going to college, so I studied hard and received good grades on my NSC to ensure that I could get NSFAS funding. My family could not afford college, so I had already applied for it.”

She knew almost nothing about the college application process in the beginning and didn’t know where to begin. She was assisted by one of her friends, Bonginkosi Ngwenya, who was her senior in high school. He assisted her greatly, and she was accepted to study at the University of Johannesburg. “He aided me as well and guided me so I could get all the help I needed. He was doing an honours degree in the same field that I was accepted for. He was so helpful that I received all the help I needed from him.”

She knew that she wanted to learn a skill and gain a profession that suited her talents. Thus, she settled on Public Management and Governance, where she studied modules about Politics, Human Resource Management, Information Management and English. Between balancing her work and study life, she finally obtained her degree. She attributes her success to hard work and determination. “University gives you a wider experience in life and it can be quite overwhelming at times but I am glad for the decision that I made for myself to pursue higher education. None of this could have been possible without God, today I have a degree and it’s all because of the love that God has for me. Life has no manual, but if you know what you want and put your mind to it then you can achieve everything you want regardless of your background