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A Once-in-a-lifetime Experience in Djibouti

2018-09-15

須之衡

SUI Chi Hang

招商局集團

China Merchants Group

吉布提

Djibouti

 

We worked in IDIPO, or International Djibouti Industrial Parks Operation F.Z.C.O., in which China Merchants Port has a share of. I am so grateful that we were given the chance to work in this Company at the opening of the Djibouti International Free Trade Zone. A lot of preparatory work had to be undertaken in advance to ensure a smooth opening ceremony, alongside with an exhibition and economic forum.

As a rookie in this Company, what I did was mostly translation. It might seem like a boring job, but it turned out to be the exact opposite. We translated all sorts of documents, from meeting minutes of Board meetings, rules and regulations, to invitation letters and speeches. Through translation, not only did we learn more about the operation of the Company and IDIPO, we had also improved our English skills tremendously.

The most memorable part of this whole internship experience was to be a consecutive interpreter. My job as a consecutive interpreter was to translate the speech of guest speakers from Chinese into English. At the welcome banquet for a series of events celebrating the opening of Djibouti’s new free trade zone, I was honored to be an interpreter for one of the guest speakers and had to translate what he said in Chinese into English in front of over 200 people, among them were government officials and leaders from multinational corporations. I was so nervous that my hands were sweating. I tried my very best to stay calm and to stabilize my voice so that I did not sound too trembling. It was a challenging but rewarding experience in my life. I was proud of myself and I was thrilled that my efforts were recognized by the staff in the company.

More importantly, I was able to learn more about China’s ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative. During the opening of Djibouti International Free Trade Zone, I was contributing my efforts, albeit small, to the construction of the Belt and Road. Only by getting involved personally in this project I witness what this initiative could bring about to local development, and how the port and the free trade zone could generate a positive impact to this small country at the Horn of Africa.