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Rearing Pigs and Growing Plant, while Fighting Stifling Hot Weather and Jungle

Rearing Pigs and Growing Plant, while Fighting Stifling Hot Weather and Jungle

Posted December. 08, 2002 22:26,   

한국어

● First Time to Fire Guns

Take a plane in Metro Manila, the capital of Philippine. It takes about one hour to fly over to Panay Island lush with palm trees. From there, drive one hour to New Lucena in the state of Iloilo. That is the place where Suh Sung-hee (25) has been making efforts, along with the natives of that island, to develop the region and business items for the past year. She was majoring in regional development at a graduate school of Chunbook University. One day, she felt the urge to apply what she had learned to the reality. Thus, she applied for a volunteer job offered by the KOIKA.

"When I first arrived here in last November, what I learned first was how to handle firearms and shoot," said Suh. It is legal to purchase and keep guns in Philippine. Thus, people have to protect themselves. In Manila, one Korean diplomat was killed in June, and, again in November, a chauffeur of a Korean diplomat was shot to death.

"I fired a gun for the first in my life. Some guy high on drugs make scenes from time to time. Still in my room, I have a pistol and 3 machetes. Fortunately, I have never used them so far to protect myself."

In Philippine, you can`t find the middle class. It`s either of the two: the rich or the poor. 30% of the 70 million Filipinos do not earn even one dollar a day, while 15 families possess more than half of the total national wealth. For example, the richest city of the 8 composing Metro Manila is owned by a single family.

Suh said, "This region is poverty-stricken. So, I have started several businesses with the local residents, such as culturing decoration plants, and producing rice cake and peanut butter."

Lately, she loaned money to eight households, and had them buy a pig per household. On Dec. 3rd, she completed construction of the village center. For its completion, she had to carry bricks for the past two months with other local residents.

A local official working with Suh said, "Suh is really diligent and kind to people. Everyone loves her." Proving his remarks, scores of residents greeted Suh and me, when we visited a local town.

In order to quickly get along with the local natives, she has made vigorously efforts to follow their customs and learn their local language, thereby now being able to communicate basic expressions in local words. Local residents who love Suh have given her a new name "Shan Shan." Shan is from the most common name Soo Shan. Suh believes that they have accepted her as part of them by giving the common name.

● Farm Field Full of Green Papaya`s Fragrance

From the region Suh now works, it takes about three hours along the road running through the jungle to reach Calibo. A college of agriculture is located in this board forest, and Moon Mi-chung (25) now works on the farm field owned by the college there.

Upon graduating from a college in Cheonan, Chungnam Province, she helped the children with disabilities for some time. Then, in last November, she got to come here as a volunteer. "First my father thought of the KOIKA as a kind of an organized gang, selling women. It was really hard to persuade him."

The region where Moon stays now is safe to hang around. But nature sometimes gets her scared.

During the night, you hear lizards cry like owls. Mosquitoes would bite her more than 20 times overnight. One day, one local resident told her to drink the coconut water frequently. "I followed the tip, and now mosquitoes seldom bite," said Moon. In spring, a snake got into her room. Fortunately, she was not hurt.

She has brought 100 kinds of seeds, and sowed them. "Philippine has strong sunshine and lots of storms. Weed grows fast and lots of hazardous insects are found. Local residents, exhausted from the hot weather, do not like taking care of the crops. What I do is to recommend them crops suitable for this region. I have failed with tomatoes and eggheads. But I have succeeded in growing cucumber, red pepper, lettuce and melon. Especially, leek grows well on its own, just for the local natives."

She has introduced various herbs to the local residents. That is what she feels proud of herself about. Seeing these herbs, the residents have sowed their seeds and cultivated them commercially.

Moon says she finds happiness from smelling the papaya fragrance filling the whole farm. "When I saw the movie Fragrance of Green Papaya, I wondered how it would smell. When the sun sets, the papaya fills the farm with a sweat smell. It feels like the innocent Filipinos."

● "Volunteers are high-paying jobs." When you arrive at Myanmar, unique bills are found. They are the bills denominated in 45 kyats and 90. Former solder-turned president, who just died on Dec. 5th, ordered some bills be denominated in multiples of 9, the number he favored most. It`s a legacy of a military regime.

The GNP of this country is just around $300. Doctors, who are employed by the government, are paid only $10 per month (approximately 10,000 kyats). These doctors do a moonlighting at private hospitals to make extra cash.

Another Korean works at a research institute located on the edge of Yangon, the capital of Myanmar. "The KOIKA sends us $330 a month. It`s a high-paying job here. We have come here to serve this poor country. Against our will, however, we have become wealthy people."

Kang said, “That is why we want to work harder here.” Her day starts by hopping on a bus packed like sardines at 8 a.m. Then, she works more than 8 hours a day, devoting herself to raising orchids and paving the way for future researchers. The KOIKA supports $3,500 every month. Kang spends the money to build up an educational institute in the region. She has constructed sprinklers and water tanks at a nearby farmhouse.

Kang was originally a reporter with a magazine. She said, "Myanmar is a Buddhist country. Men are considered one step closer to Buddha than women. Therefore, women could not have access to sanctuaries." In Myanmar, men wear a skirt named Longy. If Longies are hung on a rope, women are not allowed to hang their skirts on the same rope. Another characteristic of Myanmar, said Kang, is, "People use only first names." Thus, many people marry their direct family members. In addition, a person`s name contains the day of the week on which (s)he is born. For example, it can be known that Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Prize winner, was born on Wednesday, since "Suu" in her name means Wednesday in the local language. Kang also said, "In Myanmar, you can find everything from 19th century to 21st. Now one of the poorest in the world, Myanmar wishes to develop its economy based on the Korean model."



Ki-Tae Kwon kkt@donga.com