鈥淚鈥檓reallyluckytocomebackherewhereIworkedpreviouslyforalongtime.JustthinkingofbeingabletoseeS茫oTom茅鈥檚warmpeople,itsbeautifullandscapesandespeciallymyformercolleaguesfillsmewithjoy,鈥漵aidXie,whospeaksthenativelanguageofPortuguese.
Between1993and2001,the51-year-oldagronomistwasdispatchedtothecountrytwicebytheChineseGovernmentandtheUnitedNationstoworkasatranslatoraspartoftheagriculturalandeconomiccooperationprograms.Almost15yearslater,heonceagainsetfootonS茫oTom茅andPr铆ncipe,thistimeasamemberofthefirstChineseagriculturalmissiontoS茫oTom茅andPr铆ncipe,barelyamonthaftertheresumptionofdiplomaticrelationsbetweenthetwocountriesonDecember26,2016.
Whiletakingontheroleofatranslator,Xieaccumulatedrichpracticalexperiencerelatedtotransferringagriculturaltechnologiesandpracticestofarmers.Infact,bythetimehesawthemission鈥檚recruitmentannouncement,hehadjustcompletedanewagriculturalcensusinMianyang,hishometowninSichuanProvinceinsouthwestChina.Hismanytalentsmakehimavaluablememberoftheteam,especiallygiventhatPortuguese-speakingagronomistsarefewandfarbetweeninChina.
Alanguagebridge
Between1991and1993,XieattendedPortugueselanguagecoursesinChinabeforebeingsentonmissionstoseveralPortuguese-speakingcountries,suchasS茫oTom茅andPr铆ncipe,Angola,BrazilandCapeVerde.Thankstohisassiduousstudyofthelanguageabroad,hemanagedtoobtainthecertificationinPortugueseasaforeignlanguageissuedbytheUniversityofLisboninPortugal.Despitethis,theexpertstillfacedadauntingchallengeassoonashesetfootinS茫oTom茅andPr铆ncipeinearly2017,namelythechallengeoftranslatingtechnicalagriculturalvocabularies.AsnoChinese-Portuguesedictionaryspecializingintheagriculturallexiconwasavailable,heoftenhadtouseEnglishasanintermediarylanguage.Inaddition,thefactthatsomeagriculturalproductsimportedfromChinadidnothaveequivalentsinthecountry,andnolocalizednamesinPortugueseeither,addedtohisworkload.Hehadnochoicebuttoconstantlyrefertoagriculturalmaterialswhencommunicatingwithlocalexperts.
Inadditiontohisskillinlanguage,Xiemanagedtobeavaluableasset,assistinglocalagriculturalexpertsintheirdailywork,includinggivingagriculturaldemonstrationsandconductingfieldsurveys.Duringtrainingsessionsonvegetablefarming,livestockrearingandanaerobicdigestion,hewasinchargeoftranslatingalltrainingmaterialsfromChinesetoPortugueseandinterpretingasneeded.Forayear,heactedasakindof鈥渓inguisticbridge鈥漟ormorethan300localtechniciansandfarmerswhotookthecourses.
鈥淭ranslatorscanbecomparedtotheeyes,earsandmouthsofexperts.Myjobistoshowcasetheirtechnicalskills,鈥漍ietoldChinAfrica.
鈥淕oodcommunicationhascontributedtobuildingmutualtrustandfriendshipbetweenChineseexpertsandtheircounterpartsinS茫oTom茅andPr铆ncipe,鈥漵aidNiltonGarrido,DirectoroftheResearchandPlanningDepartmentoftheMinistryofAgricultureandRuralDevelopmentofS茫oTom茅andPr铆ncipe.COURTESYPHOTOXieHuidong(secondright)demonstratesplantbreedingtechnologyValuableskills
However,whatsetsXieapartfromhisfellowtranslatorsandwhatmakeshimaparticularlyusefulmemberwithinthemissionisthefactthathewearstwohats:ontopofbeingalinguisticexpert,Xiealsoholdsauniversitydegreeinagronomy.In1988,heworkedintheBureauofAgricultureofMianyangCity,responsiblefordisseminatingagriculturaltechniques.
DuringhisstayinS茫oTom茅andPr铆ncipe,Xiesoughttoleveragehisknow-howtoexpandthescopeofhiswork,suchasconductingfieldstudies.Throughhisdailyinteractionswithfarmersandagriculturaltechnicians,hekepthimselfabreastofthecocoayieldsandcoffeepricesandbecameknowledgeableofthemainpestsanddiseasesdestroyinglocalcrops.Healsolearnedthatoverthelast20years,theaverageannualrainfallontheislandnationfellsharply,whichsignificantlyincreasedcocoaproductioncosts,whoseyieldsaremuchlowerthanbefore.Hewascarefultorecordtheseandotherobservationsinhissurveyreportswiththeaimofgivingageneraloverviewoflocalagriculturalandlivestockdevelopment.
XiedidnothesitatetocontributehisowntechnicaladviceinspiredfromhisprofessionalexperiencebackinChina.S茫oTom茅ansarequitefondofpeanutswhichcancostasmuchas$4perkg.However,peanutfieldsareeasilyovergrownwithweeds,whichreducecropyield.ThissituationremindedXieofasolutionthathadbeensuccessfullyusedinhishometownofMianyang.Thetechniqueconsistsofcoveringcultivatedsoilswiththinpolyethylenefilms.Inadditiontoreducingandpreventingweeds,thetechniquealsohelpssoilnourishment,retainssoilmoisture,reduceswateringandpromotesthedevelopmentofmicrobes,whichhelpsincreaseyields.
Inmid-January,Xie鈥檚fellowteammembersallreturnedtoChina,havingcompletedtheirmissioninS茫oTom茅andPr铆ncipe.Xie,however,stayedinthecountrytotakecareoftheworkuntilFebruary.
InApril,lessthantwomonthsafterXiereturnedtoChina,hewentbacktotheAfricancountryagainforanewtwo-yearterm.Inhisluggageweresamplesofanewbreedofhighyieldingpeanutplantstopromoteonhissecondmissioninthecountry.Forhim,itseemsthefourthtime鈥檚thecharm.
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