Congratulations to all my Classmates, Fulbrighters, and Friends

Taken in from of Marvin Hall

It was 7 am morning today here in East Timor, and about 5 pm in Lawrence, Kansas. I opened up my Facebook wall seeing it full of joyful photo poses. Everyone was happy to celebrate their graduation of college studies. Graduation is indeed one of the biggest life achievements one has. Everyone must be so proud of what they have completed in this phase of life.

Time flies. I just left Lawrence 5 months ago. I left friends as students, but they became graduates today and will become professionals in the future. They still look the same as I left them, friendly, welcoming, and inspiring. That I would like them to keep the characters because friendliness always brings rewards.

I graduated earlier than those who I congratulate here in this blog. However, the commencement part, the fun part, the last hours being together, was missed. I was not alone though. I have started seeing friends saying good bye to one another. Some of them will head South, North, West or East.

“Life must go on,” an old saying puts it. After this memorable event, everyone starts to leave. They leave the town, city, country, or even the continent. They leave to start a new journey in their life. School time will only become a story of their life. Everyone will miss everyone when they think about things and the place at which once they become students.

I did not think to blog today to congratulate them until a Facebook friend request pooped up today. It is the friend who made me to think to blog. The friend request tells me that the memory in school is about to fade as old friends leave and unknown folks reinstate our chairs. Thus, I should do something in order to preserve my memory.

It is sometime painful to leave friends and the place. However, the world is a small village now. We still can keep in touch and say hello anytime. Sharing stories about our impacts to people who really needs our contribution is one of the important things.  

Congratulations all the way from East Timor, crossing oceans and lands, to all of you who graduated from the University of Kansas.

Rock Chalk

**I hope this gives you an inspiration. 

Have You Ever Heard of Talk Fusion?

Source

To share the work, you search on google if you don’t know it yet. It might be new in your place, or you might have ever been invited to join by a sibling of you. I am referring to ‘sibling’ because one of the business’s potent strategies is to influence people from family first; if the inviter can’t start it in his own family, he will first from close friends. It does not care if you are interested in the products it offers you. If you know a friend participating the business, you are a target! Sooner or later you will get a call to participate in a workshop.

A pure business will let the market decides. I do totally respect friends who do the business; however, I have been so allergic to such a kind of business since the similar ones came into market, MLM, and Tien Sing. What animal is it? Again, we share the work. These sorts of businesses do not see us as free traders. I mean it does not let us to decide freely what we want to trade between two or more parties. It is, instead, like a sort of begging to find new members. They keep calling you, trying to convince that it is a good business. If you are close friends, it is very hard to refuse calls; and that makes you susceptible to join.

It was striking, at this time, to hear that Talk Fusion offers information technology business to illiterate users.” One question I was noting was what IT business it refers to? When I once attended its workshop, it presented products it offers such as applications of social media, videos, and emails to members to buy, and use. They argued that now we live in the 21^st century, digital world; yes it is true. However, the peculiar thing was that members were extremely illiterate of technology information. They looked like they do not even know how to sign up an email account.    

So, is that a real IT business or a mere of MLM’s sort which just uses products as a steppingstone to convince members that they trade real products? The business actually aims to do MLM’s sort of business. Top level members try to convince new members or beginners. Those new members joining add points to higher level members’, thus their bonuses inflate. On the other hand, the new members will, mostly, become losers at the end. I am mostly concerned to rural people who would potentially be scammed by this type of business. It is like selling an IPhone to a person who does not even have an internet connection in his village. Most members I saw in the workshop were people who do not know much about internet. Not to mention, the communication infrastructure in the country is still running even like a turtle.

Of course, there is a market for Talk Fusion. Government agencies, companies from service to oil and gas industries currently minding their businesses in East Timor are the potential users. They can use the products as it aims for, not people who do not even use internet as we do.  

**I hope this gives you an inspiration.   

The Wrongly Placed Two Bridges

Ponte Tono

Source

A few days ago a dude posted a picture on Facebook comparing a two bridge project costs information. One is from a newly-built Ponte Tono, in Oecusse and one is Ponte Comoro in Dili, the capital. Ponte Comoro’s cost is way way higher than Tono’s. When I looked at the photo closely, I saw a significant structural and look difference. Although Ponte Tono is less expensive, it looks very elegant; Ponte Comoro, on the other hand, was costly but looks dull. I apologize if I am, too, wrong regarding the cost since I could not find a reliable source to confirm it. However, my point is not about the cost.

Ponte Comoro

Source

I would swap the two bridges if I were witch. Ponte Tono should have been in Comoro instead. The rationale is because Ponte Comoro is dull; it is too dull for Dili, a place where the biggest money leaks here but does not get things it deserves. It is not only functions that matter; it should have also been a land mark for its locales and users from in and out; it should have also been a property that the community is proud of collectively as a progressive society as we aim to achieve.  

The reason that I am missing good looking bridge structures like Tono Bridge in Dili is because I am dreaming to have new more photogenic objects in Dili to blog about. Bridges are photogenic. They are not only hooking us up from a point A to point B, but it also provides a space for us to look out without buildings blocking us, ayes to reach out horizons towards greeny Dare and Fatu Ahi, and getting gust of wind blown from Atauro.

It is good to have a bridge that has co-benefits. However, the dream has gone because Comoro’s bridge had been designed as it is currently looking dull. It is no other than just to serve people to get around although there was sufficient resource to do more than that.  

It is fine though. I can shift my attention to Oecusse, to Ponte Tono, a good looking one that I can visit someday although it is far.

**I hope this gives you an inspiration