Summer Internship at OpenHands Korea

 This summer, I got an opportunity to intern at OpenHands, a non-profit organization that the Ecosave Club has been partners with for over 4 years now. According to plan, this year's internship was supposed to be the planning for the annual visit to Inarawan. We obviously needed a change in plans, due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and the difficulty of traveling to other countries. 

So, for the 4 weeks I interned at OpenHands, we focused on reaching out to the Filipinos virtually. 

I accomplished 3 main tasks during my internship at OpenHands: 

1. Translation of the Water Kit manual from Korean to English

    Water Kit is mentioned multiple times throughout this blog, but to remind some of the readers, it is a simple filtering device that the OpenHand teams developed for those Filipinos living in underdeveloped areas such as Inarawan. The OpenHands team and Ecosave Club used to visit them annually to clean and exchange the filters. Because of the inability to do that this year, I took on the role of translating the already existing Water Kit manual into English, so that volunteers living in the Philippines can reference it while helping out with our original job.

2. Online Hygiene Education for Cherryl Learning Center

    This project was planned in the hopes that the students at Cherryl Learning Center will be able to access the videos we have created through the computer we installed the last time we visited. For more information on Cherryl Learning Center and our past connections with the students, please read about it in the previous posts! This time, because we could not visit them directly, we decided to film and edit a quick video on hygiene. The idea of washing hands is very unfamiliar in Inarawan, so we really wanted to make sure the students know proper washing techniques to prevent illness. This video is still in the editing process, so look out for an update!

3. Research on Philippine Organizations that could help with Financial Independence

    Lastly, I researched organizations in the Philippines that could help the people in Paopawan become financially independent. Paopawan is a small village located in the northeast of Manilla, Philippines, and it is a collective settlement built according to the government's urban plans. The young men in this village have started a mask business with the help of OpenHands. Their desire to attend school started this project. The main problem with the business at Paopawan is that the products are of varying quality and sizes, so it is almost impossible to sell them. My job here was to research organizations in the Philippines that could help the OpenHands team with educating these people about production. 

Read more about the project here: OpenHands newsletter , My research presentation

by Ji Won Cindy Kim

"Why Insects Should Be In Your Diet"

 An article published on TheScientist, "Why Insects Should Be in Your Diet" by Aaron T. Dossey, points out several reasons why insects are a promising food source for the global food crisis in the future. 

According to this article, the increase in population, and hence the increase in demand for food, will place an immense burden on the earth's environment due to "[c]limate change, reduced productivity of agricultural lands, overfishing, dwindling freshwater resources, pollution from fertilizers and pesticides, and a host of other factors" (Dossey). These are all problems that we are starting to experience right now. Then Dossey proposes a possible solution, which is insects.

Insects, as Dossey describes, have numerous benefits. To begin with, they are sources of numerous important nutrients, such as "the eight essential amino acids, vitamin B12, riboflavin, the biologically active form of vitamin A, and several minerals" (Dossey). Also, insects are particularly high in protein. Usually, we obtain protein from meat, such as cows or pigs. However, raising livestock costs the earth many environmental problems. This is where the environmentally positive aspect of insects comes in. First, insects are more "efficient at transforming a wide variety of organic matter into edible body mass" (Dossey). Meaning, less feed is required of the insects than of the cattle to produce the same amount of nutritious value. One of the reasons why is because insects are cold-blooded, so they do not need to use energy to control their temperature. Second, "[i]nsects are also easy to farm in large quantities using very little space" (Dossey). Insects have significantly larger fecundity and shorter life spans, so they can be grown rapidly, according to the article. Additionally, insects are capable of consuming agricultural waste and plants that humans and traditional livestock cannot. This means that insects don't have to compete for food supply with humans. 

As the article points out, there are numerous benefits to eating insects over traditional livestock. The only real problem with them is people's repulsion against their appearance. One way we can tackle this problem is to expose recipes of insects to many people, especially of a younger age, so they can get familiar with them. 

Ecosave Club has recently partnered with a local insect cafe and started uploading creative insect recipes on Youtube. We are aiming for many people to watch our videos and start shaking off the hostility towards insects! Come visit our channel, BugHouse365 :)

Link to the article: https://www.the-scientist.com/thought-experiment/why-insects-should-be-in-your-diet-39838

by Ji Won Cindy Kim

Fundraiser for Cherryl!

One hot summer day, the Ecosave Club members got together to set up a fundraiser for Cherryl's Learning Center! We went out on to the streets of Yongsan on this day. We sold some of our goods to promote our club and raise awareness. Our profit was not very big, but it was a meaningful time to raise money for Cherryl and explain to strangers about what we are doing as a club.

by Ji Won Cindy Kim

Self-designed board game: Bug House

Edible bugs is a recurring topic in our blog. The main reason for that is because it is a great replacement for livestock products, which have negative effects on our environment.

However, most people frown their faces at the thought of eating bugs, and that is because they are not familiar with it. For future generations, the younger minds have to start getting familiar with edible bugs. That is how we came to design a board game. 

With different types of edible bugs as markers, Bug House is a relatively simple game for children. 

A few days ago, we visited a cafe/restaurant in Seoul that cooks food with edible bugs as its ingredient. There, we donated the board game we created so that children who visit the cafe can have a fun time playing the game and learn more about edible bugs.

Edible bug cafe in Seoul

We donated the board games!

Ecosave Club members playing the game

by Ji Won Cindy Kim

2020 Earth Hour

Last Saturday was the annual Earth Hour event! The purpose of the event is to encourage individuals to turn off lights and support our planet. As a participant of this event for several years, I hope that more and more people become aware of this event and participate in the great cause!

by Ji Won Cindy Kim

World Water Day

March 22nd each year is marked as World Water Day. World Water Day is about focusing on the importance of water.

It is already a widely known fact that water is a key component in our lives. Water is not only important for our body, which is 70% made of water, but it is also essential for the environment to thrive. Most organisms need water to survive, and the food chain makes water a necessary component to all living organisms on Earth. However, even though many people know that water is essential, many people forget how we are polluting it.

https://bit.ly/3a2lo0x : OpenHands fundraising link for World Water Day

For several years now, Ecosave Club has been looking for ways to help out people around the world who do not have access to clean, consumable water.
OpenHands is a non-profit organization that we have been in contact with for some time now. Together, we have been working on distributing the 'Water Kit' that the OpenHands organization created. Water Kit is a tool that allows filtering dirty water into clean water easily and quickly. (More information here: https://openhands.or.kr/60) Ecosave Club members visited Phillippines a few times now, to help install Water Kits and change the filters.

A picture of me and my thoughts on volunteering, shared on OpenHands' annual report

To add some personal thoughts; as a long-time member, this act of volunteering to help those who are in need of key necessities, such as clean water, has become more than just sharing. Personally, I believe that helping someone in need must be done not because it makes you feel good, but because it must be done. Helping must be an action done purely because that is the right thing to do. The moment you do it because it makes you feel good, yourself becomes a receiver of that help. Therefore, I do not think that I am doing a good thing when I am helping these people; I am doing it only because that is what should be done.
It is certainly an area that I still need to work on, but I hope many people around the world realize the true meaning of helping.

On the same note, protecting our world and water must be something that everyone must play a role in, as it is something that should be done.

by Ji Won Cindy Kim

Insects in the Future

It is widely known that insects are an essential part in our world. Some insects play a role in aerating the soil, some serve as pollinators of plants, and some act as scavengers that fertilize the soil by feeding on dead organisms. However, little know that insects can be a replacement for food later in the future. When I first knew about this, I was extremely interested because replacing our food source with insects means that we can reduce the pollution caused from raising livestock.

Last week, I visited an insect farm. There, I was able to learn about different species of insects and also actually see some beetles and their pupae. Lastly, the guide there showed us mealworms, which are famous as edible insects. I had seen them in their edible form in the past, but it was my first time seeing them alive!

There are so many benefits in using insects as a replacement for livestock:
1. less food, water, and land needed to raise the animals
2. reduction of air pollution caused by the livestock
3. nutritious and full of protein

As the environment gets polluted, we may need to turn to these edible insects as our main source of food other than plants in order to save our planet.

by Ji Won Cindy Kim