Three young university students headed abroad recently for an experience of a lifetime. Destination – Rockhampton, Australia.

Two Indonesians and a Mexican have recently arrived at CQU Rockhampton under the 2005-2006 Peace Scholarship Program. They are staying at CQU’s residential college, Capricornia College.

Peace Scholarships is a program by IDP Education Australia.

All three students have expressed praise for the city’s hospitality and have been impressed by CQU’s educational programs and on-campus living.

“They offer so much food,” was a common comment by these ambassadors.

The CQU-hosted students include Chitra Lestari, an International Law student from the University of Indonesia (sponsored by Queensland Education and Training International).

Chitra was initially concerned about coming to Australia due to the Corby case, but since arriving has only had good experiences.

“Australian people have been very friendly, particularly here in Rockhampton.”.

Chitra visited Sydney before arriving at Rockhampton, and is pleased to stay in a small, friendly community.

“It’s more like home.” Chitra comes from a small community outside of Jakarta.

In 1999, Chitra was one of two Indonesian representatives at the Millennium Young People’s Congress in Hawaii held by Peace Child International and attended by over 600 delegates from 102 countries. She also received a scholarship from the American Field Service (AFS) to study in Switzerland in 2000-2001.

Chitra is a member of the Student Government Body at the University of Indonesia where her role as Community Development Officer has enabled her to be involved in programs aimed at improving the education levels of children in local villages.

Chitra has a goal to be able to speak and write at least five different languages and to open a multilingual library in her home town in Indonesia.

“I hope to learn more about Australian law while I am in Australia, and also hope to use my experiences to become a better person.”.

Another Indonesian hosted by CQU is electrical engineering student Marfan Trihartiko Chatab from the Bandung Institute of Technology (sponsored by AusAID).

As a student majoring in power electrical engineering, Marfan Trihartiko hopes that someday he will be able to arrange balanced electricity distribution for every area of Indonesia, including the many remote areas of the country which have never been connected by electricity.

He also aspires to work with an institution that is actively dealing with environmental issues (like Greenpeace).

Committed to global peace and understanding, he has been actively involved in many social and environmental activities since high school, most recently helping to organise donations of money, food, clothes and medicine from students at his university and the community for the tsunami refugees in Aceh.

Marfan has enjoyed his time in Rockhampton so far and is thankful for the opportunity to meet lots of people and learn about Australia’s electrical engineering principles.

“Electrical engineering in Australia is very different, firstly because Australia runs on 240 volts (50 Hz), unlike Indonesia which runs on 220 volts (60 Hz).”.

Marfan is also keen to brush up on his English language skills during his stay.

“I hope to bring home a better understanding of the English language.”.

Our third scholarship holder is Mexican student, Alma Lucia Garcia Hernandez, who is an environmental chemical engineering student from the Universidad Autsnoma de Queritaro. Alma lives two hours from Mexico.

As a third-year student studying environmental chemistry engineering at the University of Queritaro, Alma Garcia believes that encouraging human respect for natural resources is the best path towards sustainable global development.

She is highly dedicated to the environment and her goal is to produce alternative technologies for the reparation and prevention of environmental damage.

Alma volunteers at a centre that studies the genetic mutations in plants caused by agricultural pesticides.

She also researches soil decontamination, which she believes is overlooked in Mexico even though is it extremely important to agriculture and the health of people using products from infected soil.

Alma hopes to take back home some Australian methods of dealing with pesticides and soil contamination. She hopes to inspire others to protect the environment, contributing to sustainable global development worldwide.

Our Indonesian visitors will head home in five months, while Alma has an extended stay of one year.

Photo: Marfan Trihartiko Chatab, Chitra Lestari and Alma Lucia Garcia Hernandez.