2013-05-14
Ever since my early arrival home from Senegal in February, I made it a primary goal of mine to study religious texts. Religion had never been a priority in my academic or non-academic pursuits, perhaps because I had never had substantial exposure to any religion in my secular childhood to draw myself into the subject...
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2013-05-02
One day, I was searching for a Disney channel on Pandora, an internet radio that enables listeners to tailor their repertoire of music to personal taste. I plugged my iPod on to a speaker, and let Elton John and Peabo Bryson carry me into a pensive trance of childhood. Like most anyone, I love anything...
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2013-05-02
Today’s foreign aid in Africa seems to be predicated upon the unconscious belief that the African people are uncivilized and somehow lack common sense – for example, that they don’t know how to properly utilize mosquito nets even though they live in malaria hot spots of the world. Foreign aid workers in their edgy offices...
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2013-02-27
Senegalese girls are very strong—both physically and mentally. Every morning before school, my thirteen-year-old sister Saly does a good amount of chores—whether it be running errands for her mother to buy twenty cents’ worth of baguette and powdered milk from a boutique (shop) for my breakfast, or sweeping a dirt-covered cement porch to smoothness. She...
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2013-02-04
There is a proverb in South Korea: “The smallest pepper is the hottest.” Despite its small size, South Korea is one of the “hottest” nations in the world. Home of multinational companies like Samsung, LG, and Hyundai, it is a leading producer of semi-conductors, flat screen TVs, cars, and ships which drive the 13th largest economy...
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2013-01-09
On September 29th—after a month of language and cultural training in Dakar—I finally arrived in my rural placement site in Senegal’s southern coast called Palmarin, the home of beautiful mangroves. In my family, I have three sisters—Oumi, Saly, and Awa—and two brothers—Jean and Alou. I’m privileged to have multiple siblings from both genders as my interaction with them has allowed me...
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2012-07-17
Hi, my name is Jaeho Choi. I was born and raised in South Korea. What has driven me to take a Global Citizen Year? It’s a difficult question to answer in a simple way. I can easily come up with five decent reasons that are perhaps shared by every equally passionate Fellow: to learn a...
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