SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ – Eight Korean volunteers, all of them university students, taught for one month internet and information technology and Korean language and culture to students of the Central Luzon State University (CLSU) here.
Called Korea Internet Volunteers (KIV), they were organized, financed, and sent by the Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion (KADO), a subsidiary of the Ministry of Public Services and Security of Korea.
Min-Young (Ruby) Kwak, one of the volunteers, said the four female members of the group comprised the WAV (we are volunteers) Team while male members the Itching Team taught advanced Microsoft office, basic/advanced photoshop, the Korean language and culture.
The other team concentrated in networking, flash maker, and also the Korean language and culture. Both held classes from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday. During Saturdays they conducted cultural events which included cooking Korean foods and showing Korean arts and crafts, origami, and Korean traditional fans, and Korean movies.
Ruby said that in 2001, KADO initiated Korea Internet Volunteers under three missions: to reduce the information gap between Korea and the rest of the world, and among countries; to share the knowledge of IT and know-how on building IT infrastructure that Korea has accumulated over the years; and to promote the level development of the world by introducing developing countries the same IT opportunities as the rest of the world.
So far, over 3,000 KIV’s have been sent over 50 countries in the world to teach IT, she added.
Ruby said each year, approximately 300 short-term KIV’s are sent to over 50 different countries that are at the beginning stage of IT. These are countries in Asia, CIS, East Europe, Middle East, South America, and Africa. Kazakhstan, Nepal, Thailand, Russia, Nigeria, Romania, and the Philippines. They are being sent to various government agencies, public Organizations, universities and high schools, non-profit organizations, and more.
There are long-term volunteers also, who serves for one-year. Approximately 100 long-term volunteers are sent abroad each year, she said.
KADO sponsors KIV on every aspect. It recruits new volunteers every year; recruit foreign organizations where KIV’s can be sent to; instruct the selected volunteers on the rules and regulations of the KIV project, oversees the health and safety of the volunteers while they are on service; serves as a liaison between foreign organizations and volunteers, and finances the volunteering expenses.
The expenses are for the plane tickets, softwares, latest laptop computers and digital cameras which are donated to the institutions upon leaving, uniforms, a budget for room and board and activity of the volunteers during their stay in the foreign institution. focus on their mission to spread the IT, build good relations with the partnering institution, and promote KADO’s KIV project.
The KIV’s curriculum includes three main categories: IT Lessons, IT-Korea Promotion, and Cultural exchange.
This summer, seven groups were assigned to the different entities in the country. In CLSU, the volunteers were placed under Dr. Theody Sayco, director of the CLSU Information System Institute.
The WAV team members, aside from Ruby who recently graduated from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, U.S.A. with degrees in Economics and Pre-medicine and an incoming freshman in a medical school, Mi-Sol Kim of Soongsil University in Seoul, Jun-Hee Cho of ChungAng University, and So-Young Kim of ChungAng University.
The other members of the team are Sung-Won Lee, Jae-Ho Chang, Won-Jo Lee, and Seoung-Eun Lee.
Called Korea Internet Volunteers (KIV), they were organized, financed, and sent by the Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion (KADO), a subsidiary of the Ministry of Public Services and Security of Korea.
Min-Young (Ruby) Kwak, one of the volunteers, said the four female members of the group comprised the WAV (we are volunteers) Team while male members the Itching Team taught advanced Microsoft office, basic/advanced photoshop, the Korean language and culture.
The other team concentrated in networking, flash maker, and also the Korean language and culture. Both held classes from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday. During Saturdays they conducted cultural events which included cooking Korean foods and showing Korean arts and crafts, origami, and Korean traditional fans, and Korean movies.
Ruby said that in 2001, KADO initiated Korea Internet Volunteers under three missions: to reduce the information gap between Korea and the rest of the world, and among countries; to share the knowledge of IT and know-how on building IT infrastructure that Korea has accumulated over the years; and to promote the level development of the world by introducing developing countries the same IT opportunities as the rest of the world.
So far, over 3,000 KIV’s have been sent over 50 countries in the world to teach IT, she added.
Ruby said each year, approximately 300 short-term KIV’s are sent to over 50 different countries that are at the beginning stage of IT. These are countries in Asia, CIS, East Europe, Middle East, South America, and Africa. Kazakhstan, Nepal, Thailand, Russia, Nigeria, Romania, and the Philippines. They are being sent to various government agencies, public Organizations, universities and high schools, non-profit organizations, and more.
There are long-term volunteers also, who serves for one-year. Approximately 100 long-term volunteers are sent abroad each year, she said.
KADO sponsors KIV on every aspect. It recruits new volunteers every year; recruit foreign organizations where KIV’s can be sent to; instruct the selected volunteers on the rules and regulations of the KIV project, oversees the health and safety of the volunteers while they are on service; serves as a liaison between foreign organizations and volunteers, and finances the volunteering expenses.
The expenses are for the plane tickets, softwares, latest laptop computers and digital cameras which are donated to the institutions upon leaving, uniforms, a budget for room and board and activity of the volunteers during their stay in the foreign institution. focus on their mission to spread the IT, build good relations with the partnering institution, and promote KADO’s KIV project.
The KIV’s curriculum includes three main categories: IT Lessons, IT-Korea Promotion, and Cultural exchange.
This summer, seven groups were assigned to the different entities in the country. In CLSU, the volunteers were placed under Dr. Theody Sayco, director of the CLSU Information System Institute.
The WAV team members, aside from Ruby who recently graduated from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, U.S.A. with degrees in Economics and Pre-medicine and an incoming freshman in a medical school, Mi-Sol Kim of Soongsil University in Seoul, Jun-Hee Cho of ChungAng University, and So-Young Kim of ChungAng University.
The other members of the team are Sung-Won Lee, Jae-Ho Chang, Won-Jo Lee, and Seoung-Eun Lee.
