CHANGE
After over five hours of riding on bumpy roads, Thu, the Vietnamese girl, finally set foot on the main street of Duyen Hai and was welcomed with a gust of dust. The road was totally worn out.
At that time, the whole town had only one market and three or four shabby restaurants, and no places for entertainment.
At first, Thu couldn't fully understand her Chinese colleagues' words, and found the job quite challenging for a novice. But she always remembered her interviewer's words: "Poor working skills can be improved through hard work and persistent learning. Attitude is the most important."
Day after day, changes occurred through her hard work. Gradually Thu could communicate with her colleagues in Chinese fairly well, and was able to do her job with high proficiency.
Soon she became a "spokeswoman" for DEC in the Duyen Hai area and a local "celebrity," something she had never dreamed of.
The small town of Duyen Hai has experienced an even more dramatic change as the construction of the Duyen Hai 1 project has brought many opportunities to town. Wide, clean streets and modern markets as well as entertainment facilities all emerged in town.
Nowadays, a modern power plant stands at the once sandy and deserted beach, generating electricity for the whole nation of Vietnam. Many locals are recruited by DEC and earn decent salaries; others open karaoke bars, restaurants and hotels to make a living.
GROWTH
In April 2013, Wen Di followed Yin to the GDHA 500KV substation construction project department in Holeta town in Ethiopia's Oromia region.
As he got to know Yin better, Wen Di started to admire his Chinese employer.
"My master is very kind. Even when I do something wrong, he seldom blames me. He does not give me 'special treatment' because I have a different skin color, and we always feel at ease, just like a family," Wen Di said.
"My master's English is not very good. Normally when we encounter technical terms, we mostly communicate using gestures. As time went by, I got to understand what my master was trying to say even if he only uttered one word. I just need to look into his eyes to know my mistake if I do something wrong," said Wen Di.
Under Yin's meticulous training, Wen Di's hoisting skills improved rapidly. During the project's roughly two-year construction period, Wen Di learned the skills needed to handle 15-ton to 30-ton cranes pretty well, achieving the goal of "zero error, zero accident."
"Wen Di has excellently fulfilled the tasks the project department assigns to him. Among the more than 7,000 Ethiopian workers, he is an outstanding employee, and plays an exemplary role in this project," the head of the project department told Xinhua.
In December 2015, the "super project" constructed by the China Power Equipment Corp., a subsidiary of the SGCC, was completed. The project boasts the highest voltage level, the longest transmission distance and the largest construction scale in East Africa, and has become the most important transmission grid in Ethiopia.
"Chinese enterprises come from afar to help us build projects, help us enhance living standards, improve our living quality. Our Chinese friends have done more hard work than us. I will put the skills that I have learned to good use and work hard in order to live up to my master's expectations," Wen Di said, with determination in his eyes.
