Recollecting what I had done as a Korea Overseas Volunteer (KOV) in Ethiopia, I still wonder what the true volunteerism is. I redefined my volunteerism into "technical cooperation" in the article from KOV category of this blog because spiritual understanding in grass root level was missing. Specifically speaking, I was always busy in preparation of network with cutting edge technology, training materials, reports to the Ministry and KOICA regional office, and any other tangible matters only. At the end of stay in Ethiopia, only thing that I could do was just to keep unforgettable memory with Ethiopian around my residence. If I revisit Ethiopia as a volunteer, I will be able to behave in different way by devoting myself to understanding existing Ethiopian cultures as they are now. However, will my revisit happen? Of course, not! Whenever I read articles from "One Love Theater/Blog", I can imagine what and how the volunteers there are doing in Awassa with the spirits that I should have shared with colleagues from the Ministry of Education in Ethiopia. Look up article from this link!

The word "volunteer" from Korea Overseas Volunteer, itself, implies sacrifice innately. When it comes to engineering, my volunteering should be considered as technical cooperation, I think. Enumerating what I did at that time, I repeated introducing new technology, persuading its implementation, making MOE staffs understood from training, following up progress, and discussing issues to escape from stalemate that most of KOVs were prone to encounter in the middle of cooperation. That's it! Interacting with local staffs was the very virtue of volunteerism.

I returned back to Korea, November 2001. My juniors took over duties and are still managing their KOV operations very well. Refer to this link for more details. Photos below are snapshots taken while staying there (years of 1999 ~ 2001)

Photo set here