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Gwangju Abroad
Gwangju International Internship Program Life as a Foreign Intern in Singapore Written and photographed by Kang Boungju
GWANGJU ABROAD
L
ast year, the Gwangju International Center (GIC) provided global opportunities for Korean youth to participate in an international internship program. The organizations that took part in the program had their areas of interest in culture, business, social welfare, and human rights, among others. I was lucky enough to be selected, together with another two Koreans, and went for twelve weeks (August–November 2019) to Singapore. Singapore is an island country located between Indonesia and the Malaysian Peninsula. As everyone is aware, it is a place where both English and Chinese are spoken. I can also speak some Chinese, as I studied in China when I was a college student. My main goal in joining the GIC’s internship program was to gain experience in working abroad at a welfare center and to meet people from diverse cultures and backgrounds while developing my language skills. Though my English is poor, I thought my Chinese skills would be helpful enough, so I left for Singapore.
www.gwangjunewsgic.com
June 2020
At the Fei Yue Senior Activity Centre (Senja) where I worked, there were also people who would speak English, Malay, and Mandarin Chinese, as well as Cantonese and a Chinese Fujian dialect called Hokkien. The Fei Yue Senior Activity Centre is a daycare center for adults,
a not-for-profit established in 1991 with the mission “to affect life transformation through the provision of quality social services.” It promotes social development for all ages, seeking to bring the spirit of volunteerism to the community, and advocates for strong family ties in society. Its target audience is the needy in Singapore through diverse services and programs. The programs offered at the Senior Activity Centre aim to improve the physical, mental, and social wellbeing of senior citizens and to prevent social isolation. I worked together with the manager, student interns dispatched from schools, and several volunteers. The volunteers came every day, and I felt it was amazing to see them helping others in their free time. All my tasks were related to the seniors. Some of these tasks were on a daily basis, such as attendance checks, health checks, and bingo games, while others were individualized activities such as intergenerational interactions, medical classes, and body maintenance (haircuts). I used to play games of bingo with senior members every day. Whenever I played bingo, I said the numbers in English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil, and they really liked this. I also made my own activity by creating a Korean
