For Anderson Pereira, soccer and studies were a perfect match.

Pereira — a native of Santa Vitória do Palmar, Brazil — graduated from Red River College’s Business Information Technology (BIT) program in 2017.

As an international student at RRC, he played soccer and futsal for the Red River Rebels, an experience he says sharpened his English language skills.

“It’s a little challenging when you first get to a new country. You have to interact with people in a second language, which is not easy at first. It can keep people from talking,” says Pereira, 29, who also studied at RRC’s Language Training Centre for four months.

“Having that relationship with all my friends from soccer, you see that people are open to help you and show you stuff, so it gives you a bit of confidence to put yourself out there. It made it easier when I needed to ask for some help in class or do a presentation to my classmates.”

Pereira captained RRC’s men’s futsal team to its first-ever Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference championship in 2017.

After graduation, he continued with the Rebels soccer program for a season as an assistant coach. Last summer, Pereira was named head coach of Canadian Mennonite University’s men’s soccer program, and in the fall, he led the CMU Blazers to their first MCAC championship since 2005.

Pereira also put together the Winnipeg Rovers Futsal Club, which won the inaugural Manitoba Soccer Association Futsal Cup and represented Manitoba at the 2018 Futsal Canadian Championships in Kingston, Ont.

“From there, I was scouted by the national coach for an ID camp with the national team,” says Pereira. “It’s exciting. Everything started as an athlete at Red River. It opened a lot of doors.” Read More →

Saying Chef Noel Cunningham has a lot on his plate is a colossal understatement.

The owner of catering company Cuisine by Noel seems to have a finger in every conceivable culinary pie — marketing his own Jamaican jerk marinade, writing food columns for multiple media outlets, appearing as a regular guest on CTV Morning Live and the Marc and Mandy Show, and demonstrating his talents at events like Montreal’s Jerk Food Festival and Savouring Jamaica at the prestigious James Beard House in New York City.

And that’s just for starters. The 28-year-old go-getter spent the past two years upping his business game as a full-time student in Red River College’s Hospitality and Tourism Management program, where he majored in Hotel and Restaurant Management — an undertaking that some of his colleagues found perplexing.

“They would see me on CTV and say, ‘Hey Noel, why are you going to school? You’re already established, why are you doing this?’” he recalls. “For me personally, I just believe in education and that you can’t limit yourself.”

Born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, where he trained at Runaway Bay Heart Hotel and Training Institute and earned his chops in high-end restaurant kitchens, Cunningham wanted to master skills that will serve him well over the long term, particularly since he aspires to be a restaurateur.

“As a chef, I believe it’s good to be able to cook well, but it’s also good to be able to manage an operation very well,” he says. “It’s the tiny details that separate the professionals from the amateur and the average cook from a truly great one.” Read More →

Veterinarian Dr. Meshack Kusa has devoted most of his career to keeping animals in good health, but recently he’s turned his focus to humans, as well.

Driven by his passion for nutrition, the Red River College alum partnered with three other local professionals on YOMM Beverages Inc. in 2011. Specializing in hibiscus teas, the company was among the first of its kind in North America — and put hibiscus beverages on the map long before Starbucks added the herbal brew to its lineup.

Kusa, who graduated in 2006 from RRC’s QA/QC in the Pharmaceutical Industry program (now called QA/QC in Pharmaceutical and Food), was raised on herbal beverages in his native Nigeria. His mom would bring him herbs to drink every morning, and he’s seen their benefits firsthand. YOMM is about sharing that goodness, he says.

“Hibiscus has a lot of health benefits. First of all, it’s caffeine free, which means it’s good for everybody — adults, kids, anyone. It’s a natural dietary antioxidant, and published reports have shown it helps prevent bladder infections, may help in weight loss, can strengthen the immune system, and is very good for those who have high blood pressure.”

Kusa describes hibiscus tea as a super-food, citing one study that shows drinking three cups a day can have the same effect as anti-hypertension drugs.

YOMM Beverages’ product lineup includes pure hibiscus tea bags, dried hibiscus loose flowers and four flavours of ready-to-drink hibiscus iced tea (original, lemon, strawberry and unsweetened). The hibiscus flowers YOMM uses are grown by Nigerian farmers in need of an economic boost.

“While you enjoy our products, you are helping the underprivileged in Africa,” Kusa says. Read More →

Since completing Red River College’s Applied Accounting program last spring, Wasim Alkabani has not slowed down.

The 33-year-old — one of the first students to be brought to RRC under sponsorship by the Student Refugee Program — graduated in May 2017, and has since been working full-time as a finance coordinator for Loblaw Companies Limited, Canada’s largest food distribution network, which includes Real Canadian Superstore, No Frills and Shoppers Drug Mart.

“Getting my first job here is something I’m proud of,” Alkabani says. “It’s a good experience. I used to work as a finance coordinator back home (in Syria and Lebanon). I’m learning new stuff every day.”

Alkabani also works part-time as a sales associate at Best Buy, a job that has helped him to connect with new friends while earning some extra pocket cash to explore the country. In recent months, he’s been exploring as much of Canada as he can, visiting Banff for a ski trip, as well as Calgary and Edmonton, and than back to Banff to experience the park’s summer beauty and attractions. Next on his list, he’s hoping to head to Toronto, and then even further West to visit Vancouver.

“I want to see as much of the country as I can,” he says. “I have a lot of fun exploring new places.” Read More →

To say Raymond Ngarboui has made the most of his time in Canada is an understatement.

Since moving to Winnipeg 12 years ago, the Chad, Africa, native has amassed a list of accomplishments longer than most people do in a lifetime. As a community development coordinator, he works to support fellow immigrants and other residents who struggle to make ends meet, all while sitting on various boards and volunteering for organizations like UNICEF and the United Way.

He’s won countless accolades for his work – including a recent Premier’s Volunteer Service Award – but Ngarboui insists that he’s the one who’s grateful, especially for the education he received from Red River College.

“For me, it’s not about being recognized, it’s about doing what I’ve been doing, and of freeing myself of moral debt that I’ve been carrying,” Ngarboui says.

Like many other newcomers, Ngarboui didn’t speak English when he arrived here on Sept. 27, 2005. The inability to communicate made those early days difficult for him.

“I was feeling loneliness, I was feeling homesickness,” he says.

Thankfully, Ngarboui is a fast learner. Shortly after enrolling at RRC’s Language Training Centre, he became fluent in English and his “life started getting better.”

One of his first priorities at the time was to give back to UNICEF, an organization that had helped him as a child. In civil war-torn Chad, when all the schools had closed, UNICEF was there to provide some education for Ngarboui and his fellow classmates, despite the circumstances. Once in Winnipeg, he located the office and began working there.

“I wouldn’t have been able to graduate to the level that I am today without the help of UNICEF,” he says.

After completing the Language Training Centre’s post-secondary prep course, Ngarboui considered studying agriculture at the University of Manitoba – an area he’d begun studying back home – but wanted to find a way to meld his passion for farming with his devotion to his new community. He discovered RRC’s Community Development/Community Economic Development program, and knew it was the perfect fit. Read More →

Thompson, Manitoba may not seem like an obvious destination for someone from Nigeria, but for Justice and Public Safety graduate Olufemi Ogungbemi, moving over 10,000 km to the icy Prairies was exactly what he needed to find his family — and discover his dream career.

“To graduate and get a good job [in Nigeria] is really hard,” says Ogungbemi, a 28-year-old native of Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city. “I love my country, and I am a proud Nigerian, but the economy was suffering because of poor leadership in government. I felt Canada was a better opportunity for me.”

The chance to start a new life in Canada came in 2005, when Ogungbemi’s uncles — James Ogungbemi Jackson, a probation officer, and David Ogungbemi, an RCMP officer — asked him to move to Winnipeg, their home for over 40 years. In 2011, following years of paperwork, Olufemi arrived in Manitoba, where his uncles, both graduates of Red River College, wasted no time in introducing him to their alma mater.

“I can still remember the first day [Uncle James] took me to see the Notre Dame Campus,” says Ogunbemi, who also holds a degree in accounting from Lagos State Polytechnic. “I liked everything about the school, and the same day I registered to take a course in Justice and Public Safety.”

While Ogungbemi’s uncles inspired him to follow in their line of work, the idea to work in a justice position was one he’d had since witnessing corruption throughout Nigeria’s legal system.

“There is so much injustice back home [in Nigeria]. I really felt this is what I wanted to do: to protect life and properties, to keep the public peace, and keep people safe. Back home, if you join the police force, they are really corrupt; there is corruption everywhere. When I came to Canada, I felt I had a great platform to continue to my goal.” Read More →