Final Reflection - Translation Volunteer (ISU Project)

Frankly, I wanted to join this activity, because I was merely interested in the process of translation. However, this experience was an eye opening experience about a voluntary project.

For just several hours, I have experienced so many different things. When I had to participate, the organiser of the program suddenly changed the venue, because the heating system of the original venue failed. Therefore, they asked me to go to the apartment building, which was kind of scary. I originally had so many bad thought, which kept me worrying, because the location was changed to a ordinary house. I was so worried, if such location was used for bad purposes. However, when I got to the location, my anxiety soon turned into an excitement.

The project was only at a beginning stage, which meant that many of the programs were not fully set. Therefore, much of the lecture content were delivered impromptu, and students were not very satisfied. Also there were only 3 Cambodian participants, who joined the ISU project. So students were more willing to question and ask more questions to the instructor. Throughout the process, I used much of my knowledge from both Biology and Physics to help the Korean instructor, who could not efficiently converse with the Cambodian student.

Also from this experience, I have eye witnessed the unseen discrimination of the Koreans. From this experience, I realised that the Koreans in the organisation frequently derided the Cambodian students in Korean, and spoke Korean in front of the Cambodians. From such experience, I became more aware of the racial discrimination present in Korea. Korean organisers did not value of the Cambodian's nationality, and often revealed superiority he felt over Cambodians.

From this experience, I was surprised that the voluntary work actually became a learning experience for me. Through this experience, I have learned more about the Opthalmology and about the eyeglasses. However, I was not quite sure if I had done my best in translating the lecture to English. Regardless of the result, I am very satisfied about the fact that I have learned more about organising a voluntary project like my ICT for Disadvantaged Youth Project. From this experience, I became more willing to work in such organisations, and I am glad that I have participated in such activity.