Reflections from a Former World Vision Intern - Engage Korea
REFLECTIONS FROM A FORMER WORLD VISION INTERN
By yjnkng88 September 6, 2019 0 Comments
My first year in college I had the opportunity to be a culture buddy to international students. As a culture buddy, I spent time with the individuals I was paired with and helped them adjust to life in the United States. Yuna was the very first culture buddy I was paired with. I happened to learn her birthday would be taking place a couple of days after her arrival to the states. Since it fell on a weekend I reached out and took her on a birthday adventure which ended with birthday cake pops (which she had never tried). You could say spending her birthday with her allowed us to become friends much quicker than expected. There were several countries represented by the international students, so it was common to have buddies from various countries. However, in my case, the entire year I was only paired with individuals from the ROK. While we did a great job of staying in touch as culture buddies, when they returned to the ROK, we did not stay in touch.
At the end of my undergraduate studies one of my friends decided she wanted to venture out of what she was used to eating and try something new. I recommended a Korean restaurant owned and run by a Korean ajumma. We became regulars and knew all the waiters’ names (and vice versa). In fact, we preferred going to the restaurant to study for exams because our restaurant friends would seat us in the back at one of the largest tables. We ate amazing food during our study breaks. Eventually, one of the employees told us he was moving back to the ROK. He said that if we ever wanted to visited Korea we make sure to look for him so he could show us around. At that point, I figured it was time to truly learn more about the country, not just on a surface level.
I requested as many non-fiction books on Korea as I could find at my public library. I figured it would be what I would focus on for the summer. As a result, I read Korean cookbooks, language books, Korean history, fun facts about the ROK, fun facts about the DPRK, and tourist books on their experience visiting one or both Koreas. As I read each book and took notes on what caught my attention, I would have more books that were mentioned and would then request. By the end of the summer, I realized just how fascinating the history of the Korean Peninsula was. Despite people wanting to visit the ROK for its highly advanced technology lifestyle and the DPRK for its mystery, I was more interested in the DPRK because, as an advocate of public health (global health), I realized if I had to pick one place to work with public health (child and maternal health with a focus on nutrition), the DPRK was where I would want to focus my work. Part of the interest was birthed from the stories I read. Other aspects were from reading about how there were very few non-profit organizations in the country and wanting to get to work in a country with so much mystery surrounding it.
As I began working on my Master in Public Health (MPH), I quickly realized what made the DPRK different than other countries one decided to focus on in their studies. Little to no information existed when it came to public health in action in the country. A key element of public health being successful is the importance of being a part of the community you work with as knowing the community allows one to build trust and to bring about implementation that is specific to the needs of the people one is working with. Not being a part of the community limits the effectiveness of what one may hope to improve, especially when plans do not take into consideration what one has readily available in country. In the case of the DPRK, this includes what policies are in place that limit what one can and cannot provide the country.
During the second year of my MPH, one of the courses I was enrolled in required selecting a country from a list the professor had pre-approved and looking at the country’s health system and the influence the government had on the health system. Because the professor would only allow one student per country, I figured it was best to quickly scan the list. I was hoping that the DPRK would be on the list but wouldn’t be surprised if it had not made the list because as I scanned the first half, most of the countries were in Africa. To my surprise, the DPRK was on the list. I was thrilled and quickly requested the country for the assignment. Thankfully, it had not caught the attention of any other classmate, so my professor said, “The DPRK is yours, have fun!” I still remember I made a video for friends and family letting them know I was looking forward to a research project and to let me know if they wanted to read it when completed. I was so excited about getting to learn more about the DPRK’s health system and figured someone else might be as well. In this research project, I found out about various organizations that had been in the country and left for one reason or another. While not impossible to find, resources were limited.
Prior to the final semester of my MPH, I had the opportunity to travel to Republic of Korea. I was in the country for three months. During that time, I was glad to be on the Korean Peninsula, but frustrated over how close I was to the DPRK without being able to step foot into the country and see it for myself. Since I happened to be in Republic of Korea during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics 2018, there was more talk about the DPRK because of the unified Korean team. As much as I enjoyed my time in Republic of Korea, I was a little upset when I returned to the U.S. I had figured that, while in Republic of Korea, I might have been able to connect with individuals who were part of the public health work in the DPRK or network with individuals who knew how to become a part of the work taking place in the DPRK. That was not the case. I returned to the United States, finished my MPH and figured that getting to be a part of public health work for the DPRK would require learning the language and waiting for the day when I came across a humanitarian opportunity focused on the DPRK.
Enter World Vision (WV). When I joined the organization as an intern, I did not know they had projects in the DPRK. In fact, I only found out because I came across an internal resource at World Vision called The WV-US Atlas. The Atlas shows where WV is working. When I looked at the specific countries under East Asia, there was the DPRK. I noted who the individual who oversaw the work there was and figured I would have to conduct an informational interview to learn more about what World Vision was doing. Prior to scheduling an interview with Randall Spadoni, the Senior Regional Advisor for East Asia and the DPRK Program Director at World Vision, he spoke at an intern lunch and learn. Mr. Spadoni shared with us some data and then mentioned he would be heading to the DPRK in just a couple of days, so if anyone was interested in learning more, they should reach out before he left. I stuck around after and shared I was interested in the DPRK and that if he ever needed any help with a project I would be more than willing to help as best as I could. We scheduled an informational interview during which I shared more about my health background and Mr. Spadoni shared more about how he ended up working with the DPRK. By the end of the interview, I had an opportunity to assist with a project. While Mr. Spadoni was in the DPRK, I was in the U.S. reviewing and editing a two-page brief on past successful global multi-stakeholder collaborations and humanitarian support in the DPRK. I also created several options for presenting data using visuals (i.e. graphs, charts, tables). Upon Mr. Spadoni’s return from the DPRK, I was tasked with compiling information on nutrition and WASH for the DPRK. By the time I had finished my projects, I had read through numerous documents, including the following:
2017 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey
2014 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Socio-Economic, Demographic and Health Survey
2009 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey
National Nutrition Strategy for Women and Children (2018-2021), published by the Ministry of Public Health, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
As a result of assisting Mr. Spadoni, I was able to connect with Engage Korea and have the opportunity to write this forum post. It has allowed me to reflect on how public health in the DPRK is not the same as working in other areas. It requires a lot more thinking outside the box and seeing that progress is made, even if it takes a bit longer than expected For instance, Mr. Spadoni shared how drilling a well in the DPRK required relying on machinery that could be fixed domestically without needing foreign replacement parts. I know that if one day I want to travel with an organization to the DPRK, I would like to speak Korean because I would want to communicate directly rather than have to rely on an interpreter. While public health focuses on working within the community, in the case of the DPRK, public health requires building trust quickly and being a part of the community every so often with a visit or two each year.
I joined World Vision as the international health groups health team intern knowing I would get to work with various countries and healthcare sectors. I managed to work alongside several health team program managers and technical advisors. By the time I had completed my internship, I had worked with projects focused on HIV, menstrual health, neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), adolescent health (marriage, food insecurity, education, HIV, policy), maternal and child health, and global health advocacy. The projects I would consider most unique to my internship experience at World Vision were linked to health, but not necessarily in the sector I was interning for. Take for instance the collaboration with Mr. Spadoni and his team. While I was not familiar with everything his department took part in, our common ground was health and our interest in the DPRK. As it turned out, WV’s work in the DPRK was focused on nutrition and child and maternal health, areas I had experience working with.
With the WASH sector, I took part in learning what exactly the various national offices were doing when it came to utilizing market-based approaches to WASH in their country. I was provided with several WASH documents to read through to familiarize myself with market-based sanitation. Once I completed that task, I went through the process of creating probing questions. Interviews were scheduled with program managers and national directors after I got the green light from my supervisors for the WASH project. I used the data provided in interviews to create one-page summaries for each country’s market-based WASH work. Working with the WASH project, one of the supervisors presented me with another project I couldn’t refuse: taking part in the round-table discussions for Women in WASH at World Vision as the organization sought to address gender inequality in staffing. My role in this project included assisting with interpreting for the Spanish speaking women who shared what they saw as barriers for women to be a part of WASH work and reviewing some of the transcriptions that would be used to present solutions to leadership within the organization.
An individual in the Emergency Response sector reached out and asked if I would be willing to conduct Spanish interviews for a case study. Having developed my interviewer skills through the various interviews I conducted for the WASH project, I accepted the project. As it turned out, the opportunity truly was one that is rare to come by. After all, it was the opportunity to help in the work taking place in Colombia to respond to the Venezuelan crisis. The organization has a context analysis tool, Good Enough Context Analysis for Rapid Response (GECARR), which generates actionable and practical recommendations for all involved in the country to respond to the current situation drawn by the views of internal and external stakeholders, including local community members. Several GECARR’s were conducted in Colombia as a result of the organization’s response to the Venezuelan crisis. The task at hand was to interview individuals who were given the results of the GECARR in order to determine the GECARR’s true impact and benefit in how World Vision-Colombia goes about their humanitarian response now. Upon the completion of each interview, I translated it to English for the individuals conducting the case study.
I am thankful for the time I was a part of the organization that allowed me to be a part of projects that positively impact the lives of thousands of individuals around the world. The internship allowed me to see that I truly enjoy being a part of the public health/global health community. Each project I was a part of, I wanted to pack my bags and fly to the country and be a part of the work on the field. In the case of the DPRK, even before I joined World Vision, the nation had a special place in my heart. I was able to further develop my interest while helping to gather research articles on the DPRK’s nutrition and on WASH pertaining to maternal and child health for potential future program designs. Last but not least, I now know like-minded people who are also dedicated and passionate about the DPRK.
Photo Credit :CCIH
Photo Credit: World Vision
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