You are a project coordinator for the International Visitor Leadership Program. Can you tell us more about it? How come you ended up doing this job? The area of Northern Virginia is pretty wealthy because a lot of people work for the government.
But the high school I went to was actually very diverse. We spoke about my Indonesian ancestry, which let me be more curious about the world. The thing that sparked my interest in international development was my teaching English to speakers of other languages. I volunteered in college and I really liked the experience.
So that was the main reason I joined it after college and went to Kyrgyzstan to teach English. I got a lot of skills from there, mainly the experience of living in a different and unfamiliar country and having to work with people who have different customs and values than the ones you grew up with.
What do you find most fascinating about your area of work? When at the Peace Corps, I really enjoyed teaching students. But I was also training teachers to be better at their job. I really liked the idea of doing something meaningful. Because the exchange goes both ways β we also learn much from the people that visit the US. I really find the people that we met so fascinating. When they join the project or come to Washington DC first, and we have a meeting with them in our office, getting to talk to them is always the best part!
I think the most challenging thing is definitely the difference in cross-culture communication. And the most rewarding? It is when you find some sort of common values that you would never expect. In the Peace Corps β I went to Kyrgyzstan for 18 months β you do the 3 months training where you live with a host family in the village, and you learn how to be a teacher. You also learn how to speak their language. I remember that when I got to the village where I was supposed to teach, I was suddenly alone with the counterpart that I was teaching with and with my new host family.
