Gwangju International Center

INTERVIEW WITH MR.FREDERICO PEREIRA DE MATOS 

Interviewed by hyoeun Park, mina You

GIC Korean Classes are full of passionate students despite the extremely hot weather of Gwangju. Mr.Frederico is also one of our diligent students who will be working at the city hall of Gwangju for 5 months via K2H Fellowship Program. Shall we meet him?

Q. Could you briefly introduce yourself?

Hello, my name is Frederico and my full name is Frederico Pereira de Matos. I came from East Timor.

Q. Could you tell us about your country, East Timor?

The official name of East Timor is Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. We got our independence in May 2002. We had been colonized by Portuguese for 450 years and after they left, Indonesia invaded us militarily and we had to fight for 24 years again. Then in 1999, since the issue of our colonization spread throughout the world, the United Nation participated and decided to have a referendum in Timor-Leste to ask the citizens to decide whether they want to be a part of Indonesia or become an independent country. Everyone voted for independence. Finally, we officially declared independence in 2002. East Timor is located between Australia and Indonesia. Timor altogether is an island, but it is divided in to two part, east and west. West Timor still belongs to Indonesia. We have two official languages, the first one is my mother tongue, Tetum and the second one is Portuguese. But Indonesian and English are also part of the local language. So when we communicate, we usually use Indonesian language and English. Our currency, right now is American dollar. The most exported commodities of our country are coffee and oil. The total population of East Timor would be around 1.18 million.

Q. Why did you come to Gwangju, Korea?

I came to Korea through a program called K2H (Korea to Heart) Fellowship which was organized by the Governors Association of Korea (GAOK). K2H Fellowship has been making progress for several years in lots of countries, but it was the first time for us, East Timor to join. The K2H Fellowship program sent an application form to us. I applied for it, and finally I was selected to be part of this program! By the way, this program is only offered to the government officials. So in this case, because I was an official back in East Timor as well, I was selected and assigned to work in Gwangju. Before coming to GIC, I worked in the mayor’s office at Gwangju City Hall. Then they assigned me to work with international relations bureau. Later on they decided to send me here as an intern. So I am working here since last month. I also began to take Korean classes recently.

Q. What was your first impression of Gwangju International Center?

When I first came to GIC, I met the director and he explained what GIC was doing so far. Those activities really impressed me because they are very big events organized by GIC almost every year. GIC also organizes many other programs related to human rights issues in Korea and around the world. So the first impression of the center was that it is a very big organization and that I am really proud of its activities.

Q. We heard that you are taking Korean classes at GIC. Are you interested in any other GIC programs?

Korean class is really important to me. Even though I am only here for five months, I am forcing myself to learn Korea in order to communicate with people and make my life easy here during these months. It is especially for when I need to ask for things that I want to buy and asking for the direction These basic expressions are the most important thing I have to know to make my life easier in Gwangju. Other than that, I am interested in GIC Tour that are offered to the members and participants. It is really exciting to take people to do tours at cultural sites and tourism sites all over the South Jeolla province. It is really exciting to be aside from the formal workplace so at the same time it is also a relaxing time for the staffs in GIC. This month I am busy with the World Human Rights Cities Forum, so it is nearly impossible for me to join. but I definitely have been planning to join next month tour.

Q. Why did you decide to participate in the WHRCF?

It is just because human right is an issue that is never ending. This means that every country has this kind of problem. Our country in the past, also fought for the independence which is also one of the human rights issues. So that is why I am very interested in the World Human Rights City Forum (WHRCF).

We were amazed by Mr.Frederico’s passion and interest towards Korea and Korean culture. We hope that he could experience more of the beauty of Korea and spread the exotic culture of East Timor at the same time while he stays here! 

-You can find the korean version of this article here-