Topic

"PORTRAITS of Trainee OB"

"Cultivate the Future" is OISCA's catch phrase. And the main actors are the OISCA graduates all over the world. In this article, we featured five graduates who are furthering their possibilities!

◆ Miradolindo Aparicio Guterres (Timor-Leste)

The Regional Development Center is situated in Rikishiya Village, an hour from the capital Dili, where the aftermath of the civil war can be seen. The Training Center started in the year of Timor-Leste's independence, 2002.

After graduating from the Agriculture Technology Vocational College and managing a farm, he knocked on the doors of the Bogor Training Center in Java, Indonesia.

"He was very good at English which is quite rare for an Indonesian. He also had wide capacity to understand and also had the ability to take initiative. He became the first trainee to train in Japan from Timor Leste" says the instructor of Mirandlind Gretes Ono (The Current Shikoku Training Center Director). He trained in 1994 for one year in Shikoku Japan Training Center. However, at the time he said, "I want to receive training somewhere else." After the graduation ceremony in Tokyo, he went to see a friend in Nagoya unannounced and also managed to do some rambunctious things.

After his stay in Japan, he returned to Timor-Leste and borrowed a small piece of land to build a Training Center. He also experimented with organic agriculture and his Training Center looked as though it was on its way to success when the Civil War for Independence erupted.

As the civil war between the independence faction and the pro-Indonesian group increased in intensity, Miradolindo house roof was shot and knocked off and an armed solider came inside. The gun was aimed at him and he thought it was the end but for some reason the solider did not pull the trigger but hit Miradolindo's head with the gun and left. He thanked God as he cradled his bleeding head. For a while afterwards, he lived in an open top house under the stars.

As the city was smashed into pieces, one building miraculously survived. This building, the Human Resource Development Center, was built in 1995 by a Christian University. An offer was made to Miradolindo to use the Center who was trying to restart his agriculture training center. He took up this offer and Hitoshi Arayashiki was dispatched from OISCA Headquarters and together they set up the Training Center. So far, there have been 80 graduates and Midland succeeded Hitoshi Arayashiki as a director in August. "The major challenge for the current Timor Leste is economic independence. To achieve this, agriculture needs to be endorsed. Eating is the first priority and second priority should be education…were the convincing words of the rebel.

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