미지센터의 청소년 국제교류이야기

Goal5: Improve Maternal Health

The ratio of baby getting born under proper professional medical care was only 48% in year 2008. If the mothers’ health is deteriorating, the child mortality will rise. If the mother has AIDS, the number of new AIDS infectants will rise. If the mother receives low quality education, or no education, the child is less likely to have proper education, and so on. This
generation’s females’ problems are literally “inherited” by the next generation if they are not solved.  

 

Goal6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and other Diseases

Because of the high illiteracy, instead documents with definition and descriptions of AIDS, he and the team plastered a
large poster with the word “AIDS” on it, color print. The next day, the poster was found stuck in a home’s wall as
decoration. Due to lack of education and knowledge, the could not understand his explanations on why AIDS is
dangerous, what happens to kids born with AIDS, and where they can get the pills.

 

Goal7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability

Mr. Kim realized the seriousness of the water issues not only when he saw people using drinking water for washing, but also the vice versa. To help these Sudanese, an industry kindly sent high-technology generators that could pump out
water from the underground that ran on electricity. Unsurprisingly, the generators ended up in the children’s hands
because they did not have enough energy to operate such machines and did not know how such technology worked.
Similarly, he found out that the land is actually fertile enough to operate an agricultural system, but because they lacked
agricultural technology and knowledge, they fall into idleness.

From all these experiences, he realized that what he and other people working in international bodies and partnerships
that support the developing nations need to do is ‘research.’ To gather correct information and database so that they
actually “know” the realities of each nation, rather than planning on surmises and speculations. The UN might seem as if they are doing nothing, but it is they who do the research with which the NGOs and other international organizations
raise funds.

Sudan is an impoverished nation, but at the same time, the most supported by the UN. But why are they showing second to no progression when countries like India and China, which were once in the same line receiving same or less help
than them, are prospering? Mr. Kim says that he has never heard a ‘thank you’ in Sudan. Their history filled with betrayal and embezzlement, the Sudanese neglects to depend on other nations for development, making the effects of the UN and other international organizations’ help temporal. However, Mr. Kim explains that this is not their fault, but our ignorance of their unique culture and history. “Like humans have different characteristics, so does the nations. We need to understand these characteristics: the history, culture, the environment, the weather, and so on. You think that you know, but when
you look at the real scenes, you’ll realize that reality is very different.” To promote sustainable development, the main goal of MDGs, we need to firstly research and understand them.

※ Tip for those who are interested in joining Mr. Kim:

Mr. Kim says that many students ask him what major they should choose and how high their TOEFL, TOEIC, and other
English scores have to be to work in the UN or NGOs. He says that his answers are always the same: follow your bliss and dream. In the book Succeed as the citizen of the world, not of Korea(한국인이 아닌 세계인으로 성공하라), he recalls when he and his team members of the OCHA, Office of Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs, gathered after a long day of work. All eight members were from different countries and all had different majors, ranging from social welfare to computer programmers. He quotes “Don’t accommodate yourself to the international organizations but apply your own merits to their needs.” Doing what you can do best and with joy is the quickest way to helping others be happy.