文(Text)／Phil Barber
圖(Photos)／Calvin Chu

國合會於1998年創設「國際高等人力培訓外籍生獎學金計畫」，與國內大專院校合作設立全英語教學的大學、碩博士學程，提供全額獎學金及多元專業課程，鼓勵發展中國家優秀具潛力的學生來華求學。透過專訪在台就學的受獎生，我們希望瞭解他們的台灣經驗及與在地文化激盪出的火花，繼上一期Alieu Gibba的專訪，本期我們為您帶來來自吉里巴斯Binarake Tebamuri的故事。

“Binarake Tebamuri has spent enough time in Taiwan to have had a very Taiwanese nickname bestowed upon him—A-bin (阿彬)—and declares that Taiwan is his “second home.”
He first came here in 2004 and spent seven years in Taipei, initially learning some Chinese and then pursuing a degree in electrical engineering. Now, this genial, softly-spoken 31-year-old from the Pacific nation of Kiribati is back in Taiwan, studying on the International Master’s Program in Electric Power Engineering at National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU), Kaohsiung, thanks to a TaiwanICDF-sponsored scholarship.
Binarake may have spent a long time here and grown to think of Taiwan as a second home, but as we sit down to discuss his involvement in the TaiwanICDF’s International Higher Education Scholarship Program, it’s also evident that Kiribati is never too far from his mind. Ask him why he’s here and the answer is clear: “I want to transform my country to be a clean and green country, using green energy, renewable energy.”
Explaining that most of Kiribati’s 33 islands are atolls – small, narrow, low-lying stretches of land formed when coral grows around the rim of undersea volcanoes – Binarake says that the lack of space and poor quality soils can make farming difficult. But Kiribati also covers the largest ocean area of all Pacific nations, with territory stretching for thousands of kilometers across the northern and southern hemispheres, so it does have abundant marine resources.
Binarake is from the island of Tabiteuea, part of Kiribati’s group of Gilbert Islands. It’s quite close to Tawara, the capital city and island, a relatively quick one-hour flight across the equator to the north. Tawara is fairly crowded and Binarake thinks that life there can be quite hard, particularly because the price of imported goods is high.

Linking Development Issues and Power Generation

Focusing on his own subject, Binarake sees links between development issues and power generation. He explains that on Tawara, as well as on one other island, power comes from diesel-operated generators. Importing the fuel over great distances is an expensive burden on the state, and the supply can be unreliable: “Sometimes they just shut off the power, because there is so little fuel. When I went back home, there were many power outages. That’s not very good. Factories, they need power to run production and we need reliable [sources].”
All of the other outer islands, including Tabiteuea, rely on solar power, but most of these facilities have been installed informally to support household lighting and other low-level functions. There is no national grid providing “island-wide” power on outer islands, which constrains certain opportunities for development.
Despite – or perhaps because of – these limitations, Binarake says that life is steadier outside of the capital, and maybe a little easier in the sense that things are much more traditional. You can fish; you have your own land. Binarake’s parents on Tabiteuea, for example, “really like that life.” He says that if you don’t have money you can still get by, whereas if you move to the capital you have to find work, which brings with it certain pressures.
One of the other main reasons for moving to the capital would be education. Binarake explains that young I-Kiribati head to Tawara to go to school, and tend to stay on afterwards because they think life is more exciting there. But when moving on to higher education, local options are very limited, so many students look abroad; Binarake says that Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Taiwan are popular destinations.
After finishing his own degree in Taiwan, Binarake headed home in 2011, but the Ministry of Public Works and Utilities, which is responsible for power generation and all things electrical, was undergoing restructuring, so they had no positions available. He did a spell in the Public Service Office (PSO), which looks after government employees, but he’s always kept an eye on things at the ministry. The government has performed surveys of Kiribati’s development needs and energy and power generation are high on the list of investments the government wants to make, so he knows that positions will be opening up. To continue improving his prospects in the field, he ended up applying to return to Taiwan. 
He says the study environment in Taiwan is good: “When I went back, worked in the PSO, I found that my colleagues and my seniors, they say that my performance is very good. They say that students who have graduated from Taiwan, their ‘work ethic,’ they are more committed; they are very effective and efficient, proactive.”
▲Binarake and his peers at National Sun Yat-sen University

Improving Kiribati’s Economy and Standard of Living

Looking ahead to the content of his program at NSYSU and beyond, Binarake says he wants to research the integration of green energy systems into national grids and power networks. He sees a clear connection between power generation and promoting sustainable development for Kiribati: “For example, if we can use solar panels, windmills, if we can all use those in Kiribati, we are going to improve the economy and standard of living. People are going to pay less for their electricity; they can spend more money on food. Local factories, businesses, they can produce more products to meet local needs and demands. The government will pay less importing oil.”
So on Tawara, where things are already more developed, Binarake would hope to be involved in projects providing sustainable alternatives to costly, diesel-generated power. Meanwhile, projects on outer islands would likely involve extending existing sources of renewable power through more comprehensive solutions and projects, sufficient to really support sustained, meaningful industrial development and economic growth.
Reliable sources of power are also required on all of Kiribati’s inhabited islands to operate pumps drawing water from underground. These natural freshwater “lenses” are the nation’s only permanent sources of water, so they’re vitally important to life in Kiribati and must be managed sustainably and effectively. Binarake says that he can specialize in these kinds of skills at NSYSU, as well as cutting-edge research into generating power directly from seawater.
With sustainable development in mind, the conversation also briefly turns to climate change, which is a big issue in Kiribati and throughout the Pacific. If sea levels continue to rise, the worst-case scenario would involve migrating elsewhere, and Binarake says that this possibility explains, in part, why he and other young I-Kiribati are so motivated to build capacity and gain good qualifications from abroad. “You [would] have to contribute,” he explains. “You have to be skillful; you have to have a talent.”
But mainly, Binarake is optimistic about Kiribati’s prospects and wants to use the skills he gains here in Taiwan to make a difference back home. “My goal is to work in my country, to develop my country,” he says.
“If the electricity is very good, I think more foreign companies may come to Kiribati and do business, invest more,” he explains, summing up how reliable power can underpin sustainable development in Kiribati. “If we can do these things, improve electric power, people are going to feel more secure. I think that’s what I really want … that’s my dream.”

Related project

International Higher Education Scholarship Programs

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• 更新日期: 2014/01/15
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