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
