Jeandidier Mboungou left the Republic of the Congo after he lost his job at mining company. He moved thousands of kilometres to Cape Town, and is now rebuilding his life, with the assistance of Oxbridge Academy.
In July, Oxbridge Academy was proud to award 32-year-old Jeandidier with his Advanced Health and Safety for Management Skills Certificate. Jeandidier has been studying health and safety management Courses since 2017, and this was the third certificate he received since he started his studies.
Jeandidier is a perfect example of someone with an intense desire to better himself. Back in the Congo, he achieved a Masters Degree in Economics at university, and worked for a mining company, until the company was forced to close.
When he moved to South Africa in 2016 – leaving most of his family behind – Jeandidier’s English was poor.
“When I moved here after losing my job back home, my English was not good, so I first had to take English classes for a year. I also did a short course in marketing management, and then I decided that I wanted to study in the field of occupational health and safety,” Jeandidier says.
Jeandidier enrolled with Oxbridge Academy. He says that initially, he was not sure whether he could succeed in distance learning.
“In the Congo there aren’t any options to study through distance learning, everything was face-to-face. So I was unsure about whether I could succeed with this type of study.”
But he said that once he completed his first few assignments, he began to build confidence.
“I got good marks for my assignments and then I started to realise that I can do this! My confidence kept growing. It just started to become a new habit that I got used to quite quickly. Sometimes it was difficult to study because everyone around me was socialising so I had to wait for them to go to bed!”
Jeandidier says that he received good support from tutors and student advisors.
“Whenever you call or email they are ready to respond and help you. I was really struggling with one of the subjects, but when the tutor told me to take my time and read through everything carefully I was able to understand the study material and passed.”
Jeandidier says that friends back home in the Congo were curious about his studies, and he is now encouraging them to move to South Africa.
“They asked me what I am doing and how the studying is and I told them that Oxbridge Academy has been great. Hopefully two of them will be moving down here in December to start studying.”
Jeandidier was planning to move back to the Congo after completing his studies, but now he says that he is considering staying in South Africa.
“I feel like I am now well-qualified to find a good job here. I also hope that one day I can start my own business.”
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