Gwangju International Center

1. Could you briefly introduce yourself?

M : Hello, my name is Mamadou, I’m from Senegal, I came to Korea in August 2015 and I have been living here for a year and two months. I’m a KOICA student and I will be graduating in December. 

B : My full name is Bekithemba Ngwenya. I’m from Zimbabwe and came here at the same time as with Mamadou, doing the same KOICA program.

2. Why did you come to gwangju, korea?

M : We were selected from KOICA, we are both civil servants in our countries. And KOICA program is one Korean government scholarship for civil servant in developing countries. That’s why we applied.

B : This is a scholarship program, specifically targeted to governments that acquire co-helping countries and take part in developmental issues back at home. I also applied Chonnam National University, because what I want to do only kind of job that I am doing back home.

3. How do you know about GIC?

M · B : It’s our Korea agent coordinator CNU, office of International affairs. We have been told the GIC is a cultural center and a brief explanation on the general programs that they are involved in. Then, we told that if we are free, we want to be going to schools and to do center program. And it’s part of knowing Korea better, we saw it is an opportunity for meeting different people outside campus. That’s why we agree to volunteer.

4. Are you enjoying your life in korea?

M: Actually some frustration I think that if we have to stay in korea for 500days and some, I have been writing my dairy and there are more than 200 worries. Because the korean life is not that easy anyway. There are very positive aspect that we appreciate but sometimes because of the cultural differences, the biggest difference is actually that we are black, not white western. And since I am Muslim the big hindrance for me to enjoy my life is I can not enjoy really social life. Because Korea is a heavy drinking country I can’t have very close friends because they are drinking and I’m not comfortable with it. The food also is mainly made with pork so it’s like to even enjoy the food sometimes we have problem. But anyway, I have some specific Korean food that I like. 

B : I have had a chance to visit many places in Korea. So generally Korea is some fun interesting places to visit but the major challenge maybe like any foreigner in Korea, is always language first of all. So that could take some time to get used to. But eventually you get to understand Korean people and get to meet them in different, interesting places.

5. Is there anything good about living in Korea?

M : Actually most of it are good things. For instance, you can go wherever you want without any difficulty and the teaching conditions here are better. Although the teaching system is difficult for us because it is based on memorization, and in our countries we have a different system based on understanding and building up one’s own knowledge. As for Korean people, a majority of them are very nice but some of them don’t like foreigners in their country. So you have to be aware of this kind of things which is like anywhere else in the world.

B : Maybe for me, since I can’t repeat some of those things is the working ethic of Korean people which is different. Generally Korean people are hard-working, at times too much. According to my opinion, they don’t have much free time. So they might think they are not enjoying the fruits of their working but the good time management will help them to find free time.

6. We heard that you are participating TWIS(The World Inside School) program at GIC, how did you feel about it?

M : TWIS program is hard to know about if you are not introduced by your administration. But the GIC told us about this program and we said if we have time, we are willing to participate in all cultural programs in Gwangju. Because it was just a kind of partnership, so Korea is going to learn about us, and we are going to learn about Korea. What I am saying is that you are in a country but they don’t know who you are, your culture and they don’t know even about your country location. So if you have a chance to visit the schools, meet young Koreans who are the future generation and express yourself, it might be positive in some way. Maybe coming foreigners from Africa, they may not have this kind of difficulties that we have, thanks to TWIS program. 

B : Development is a process, is not an event. So this cultural exchange is part of that developmental process. We all know that before this, Korea was generally close society and it is starting now to open to other nationalities. And at times, it will need people to volunteer their time and energies to explain some of the similarities and differences. For us, we teach and learn from Koreans and we teach them what we know about Africa and that’s the exposing tool. Cause even all challenges and issues we just like to meet each other, even all complication, even from misunderstandings. So we try to communicate effectively. We need more discussion, more communication, and friendly common comes. From this, people can understand even with differences.

7. What was your first impression of GIC?

M : I just saw GIC for the first time last year but it wasn’t that much. But this Tuesday October 4th, I saw the working atmosphere, and the head of GIC. So this is what I wanted even in my own organization, this warmth atmosphere that the family of GIC has. For me, as a principal of a junior high school, when I go to another institution, what I look at is how people are in that institution, and who is leading the organization. What kind of leadership style does he or she display? And for the first time, I saw a very humble leader in here, Dr.Shin. When I discussed with him, I saw that for him, it is like for me, to be a servant leader, because I think the best leadership in many organizations is a servant leadership. Actually, my first day at GIC was my best day in Korea. When I came to GIC, I feel like at home and even my working hour is over, I don’t want to go back to my university dormitory.

B : GIC is the multi-cultural place. And of course, there is no communication challenges. So GIC is welcoming and interactive. I feel there is mutual respect among staff, so that kind of exchange on equality is very important for one to stay in a place. And I like this openness of this place. This environment is open and friendly so you can see that the flow in here is different than outside. So that’s because me and Mamadou say that we feel warm at the GIC. I think partially that’s why is the reason that I want to do this even though I’m a volunteer.

8. What is your plan, when you go back to your country?

M : We are both government officials in our countries. This is an investment to the development of our country. So when we go back home in December, we are trying to adapt what we have learned in korea. In my field, I’m interested in education Leadership. Because education makes your people better and contributes to the country human capital. That is the key to development. I know there are a lot of things done in Senegal towards education, but still there is a lot more to do. I’ve learned things in Korea that I can implement in my country and some policies to improve leadership in our education. I want to advice to my ministry policies how to improve leadership in our education in Senegal. That’s my real purpose to be here in Korea. 

B : Like Mamadou said, for me community development that is brought to me into many aspects. My duty is to figure out how to improve the life quality of the people back home. And so for me, how to make those small changes for the better is the purpose. So improve management, better uses of resources, and if possible, learn some production system in Korea that are the most efficient is the goal. Cause most of the people in Zimbabwe, focus on farming and mining activities. So how can we have the best farm? There is a lot of land, and is not very productive like it is in Korea. My goal is to say I improve the productivity of the land that my people are using. New management techniques on their farm, that they can use. We have to develop our own infrastructure in villages, and farms. So we access the services and facilities needed. How can we integrate those two farms in Zimbabwe and Korea to have better outcome?

-You can find the korean version of this article here-