When he was given the opportunity in April 2009 to lead an ICT training mission, through the intermediary of the IOM, he did not need to give it much thought before accepting.
Fernando gave a three-week training to fifteen engineers of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Telecommunications and an Institute for Civil Engineering. He taught the participants to use programmes, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint, efficiently. Fernando: “As I speak both Portuguese, the official language, and the Creole spoken on the islands, they soon trusted me”. Because when you speak their language, you are one of them and then people tend to be more open towards you. It took me some time to get used to the heat again and the slow pace of work. Very different to the efficiency in the Netherlands. For instance, a workday in Cape Verde started at two o’clock in the afternoon, that’s quite a change.”
Even so Fernando got a taste for more of the DIASpora project. He hopes to make a structural contribution to the development of Cape Verde. Fernando: “Although from an economic point of view the country is doing reasonably well, the drugs problem is also increasing. Poverty often incites crime. Prison security for instance is badly organized. In cooperation with the police and the judiciary, our company hopes to add a contribution towards the development. Even it is only 10 percent, you are doing your bit for the country. IOM encouraged me to do something about my ideals for the benefit of Cape Verde.”
