Josemir Gabriel Pink Blank
@josemir___oficial
“On the eve of my graduation day, after the completion of the course on Entrepreneurship and Rural Management, my parents and I received the visit of the colleagues in my group. It was an exciting day, it marked a milestone for our family. Before the arrival of the group, I was rather nervous and thought deeply about what could happen, what would every apprentice have on their mind. My parents were on my side all the time, supporting and encouraging me. Then, when my colleagues arrived, we welcomed all of them in the best manner possible. While entertainment was going on, it came to my mind that it was really the last day, I looked at everybody and it was like a film in my mind recalling the best moments. We did some entertaining and merrymaking activities until the end of the visit. It was a day of smiles, I saw everybody happy because we had completed one more life cycle. It was really an exciting experience to have the opportunity to offer our farm, along with my family, for the occasion they had to know my reality!
Our farm is diversified, where tobacco is the main crop. My final project of the entrepreneurship course was about the creation of an orchid greenhouse, which will make our place even more attractive. I and my mother, who loves orchids, and has much experience in plants, are planning to grow a great quantity of orchid species and start multiplying seedlings, which will initially be used to make the place more beautiful, with chances to start selling them later. We are cherishing ideas such as further diversifying the farm, which could become a recreation area. It would be very gratifying if our orchid plan happened to become effective, as something as simple as this could turn into an extra source of income.
The idea of the orchid came to my mind when I was an apprentice at the Growing-Up, a course that made me see that rural areas offer countless opportunities and one of the most complex possibility is to offer young people incredible lifestyles. In the countryside, there are several accesses to information and there are chances for taking advantage of several studies, courses, intellectual improvement. Everything comes down to a question of focus and determination and chances appear when someone seeks what they enjoy doing. Recently, several institutions have been keeping a close watch on the countryside, with the aim to transform the future of the young in the rural area. The Growing-Up Right Institute is an excellent example and, without overlooking the credit to president Iro Schünke, ‘Yes, we can!’.
In my case, the course enriched my knowledge, I used to be rather shy and very anxious, but the good welcome of the educator and the friendships with my colleagues pushed me forward. Every day I used to feel better in the company of all members of the group and educators in the educational tasks and activities. I am grateful to the Institute for holding in high esteem the rural area, family farming and everything that has connections with education in the rural setting. We had pedagogical visits and we were visited by several authorities. In short, it was an incredible experience. Everybody has the potential to improve in themselves, it is only necessary to take advantage of what we have on hand and value our assets. It was a cycle in my life, a walk of intensive learning and life experiences. Joining the course was indeed a good decision. At the end we realize that living in the company of other youth has a positive influence on several aspects”.
Josemir Gabriel Pink Blank, 15 was a young apprentice in 2023 at the Rural Professional Learning Program given by the Growing-Up Right Institute, in São Lourenço do Sul (RS).