Two students gain valuable experience abroad
August 30, 2006
Two PLU students spent their summer vacation in unconventional ways: one working as a journalist at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, and the other bringing aid to the residents of a poor town in Afghanistan.
Senior Jenn Henrichsen’s summer in Geneva began in June with an international communication class, taught by PLU faculty member Joanne Lisosky, that included seven of her fellow Lutes. The group gained an outside perspective of how the UN worked by talking with UN agencies and non-governmental organizations, Henrichsen said.
At the end of the month, Henrichsen stayed on in Geneva to work as a freelance journalist at the UN, interning with an freelance journalist that Lisosky knew. She received accreditation from the Seattle Times, which allowed her to obtain a press pass and attend press conferences with the “big wigs,” she said.
“I was never asked if I was truly a journalist,” Henrichsen said. “You have to act like you belong there…you gotta make your claim.”
The majority of the other interns in Geneva were graduate and law students from Ivy League schools, Henrichsen said. She realized she had a unique opportunity, working as an undergraduate in the same capacity, to make contacts and return to Geneva in the future.
“I just wanted to take hold of every opportunity possible,” she said.
And take hold she did. Henrichsen often worked 12-hour days, attending press conferences, covering protests, meetings and the Human Rights Council, and listening to speeches by high-ranking officials, like Kofi Annan, the secretary-general of the UN. But she hardly noticed the long days because she was enjoying her work so much, she said.
Henrichsen said the experience exposed her to numerous different cultures and languages, as almost 40 percent of Geneva’s population hails from another country. She often played beach volleyball, and it wasn’t unusual to hear French, German, Italian and Portuguese spoken on the court, she said.
“It was a fabulous experience because I was learning French on the court, talking German on the bus home and critiquing their English,” Henrichsen explained.
The language difference could sometimes be a problem in interviewing situations. Proficient in German but not French, the official language of Geneva, Henrichsen was creative when trying to understand her interviewees. For example, Henrichsen conducted an interview with a protestor in German, the only language the two had in common. It was an odd place to use her German, but it allowed her to understand what the woman wanted to say, she said.
While working in Geneva, Henrichsen was published in the Human Rights Tribune, the Tacoma News Tribune and the Underrepresented Nation and Peoples Organization’s Monitor. She was also published on the Press Emblem Campaign Web site and kept a blog at the Seattle Times site. Read her blog at http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/abroadlondon/.
“This was a more professional, personal growth inducing type of experience,” Henrichsen said. “I will work hard to get there again...it was amazing.”
Further east, international student Annie Kim was ministering to residents of the Afghan town Bamiyan. Kim’s church, the Institute of Asian Culture and Development, sent 1500 Koreans and Korean-Americans to the region to bring aid and relief to poor families and to spread the gospel.
“We purposefully wanted to help them and let them know we care about them,” Kim said.
Kim described the actions of her church similar to missionary work because while they wanted to teach the Afghans about Christianity, they were in the country first and foremost to help make their lives better. Many of the families were poor and had little to eat, and the streets were filled with trash and the river water was unclean, she said.
The group helped to clean up the trash, and they brought medicine to help with minor ailments, she said. The Koreans also put on events about their culture and challenged the Afghans to a soccer game, Kim said. At the game, more than 500 people showed up to watch, and the Afghans won nine to zero.
At the prodding of the Afghan and South Korean governments, the group was forced to leave the region earlier than they planned. However, Kim said she enjoyed experience and the people, and she plans to return after she graduates to volunteer in the region for six months.
More pictures from the Henrichsen's trip are available at news.plu.edu/gallery/geneva. The pictures were taken by both Henrichsen and Lisosky.
At the end of the month, Henrichsen stayed on in Geneva to work as a freelance journalist at the UN, interning with an freelance journalist that Lisosky knew. She received accreditation from the Seattle Times, which allowed her to obtain a press pass and attend press conferences with the “big wigs,” she said.
“I was never asked if I was truly a journalist,” Henrichsen said. “You have to act like you belong there…you gotta make your claim.”
The majority of the other interns in Geneva were graduate and law students from Ivy League schools, Henrichsen said. She realized she had a unique opportunity, working as an undergraduate in the same capacity, to make contacts and return to Geneva in the future.
“I just wanted to take hold of every opportunity possible,” she said.
And take hold she did. Henrichsen often worked 12-hour days, attending press conferences, covering protests, meetings and the Human Rights Council, and listening to speeches by high-ranking officials, like Kofi Annan, the secretary-general of the UN. But she hardly noticed the long days because she was enjoying her work so much, she said.
Henrichsen said the experience exposed her to numerous different cultures and languages, as almost 40 percent of Geneva’s population hails from another country. She often played beach volleyball, and it wasn’t unusual to hear French, German, Italian and Portuguese spoken on the court, she said.
“It was a fabulous experience because I was learning French on the court, talking German on the bus home and critiquing their English,” Henrichsen explained.
The language difference could sometimes be a problem in interviewing situations. Proficient in German but not French, the official language of Geneva, Henrichsen was creative when trying to understand her interviewees. For example, Henrichsen conducted an interview with a protestor in German, the only language the two had in common. It was an odd place to use her German, but it allowed her to understand what the woman wanted to say, she said.
While working in Geneva, Henrichsen was published in the Human Rights Tribune, the Tacoma News Tribune and the Underrepresented Nation and Peoples Organization’s Monitor. She was also published on the Press Emblem Campaign Web site and kept a blog at the Seattle Times site. Read her blog at http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/abroadlondon/.
“This was a more professional, personal growth inducing type of experience,” Henrichsen said. “I will work hard to get there again...it was amazing.”
Further east, international student Annie Kim was ministering to residents of the Afghan town Bamiyan. Kim’s church, the Institute of Asian Culture and Development, sent 1500 Koreans and Korean-Americans to the region to bring aid and relief to poor families and to spread the gospel.
“We purposefully wanted to help them and let them know we care about them,” Kim said.
Kim described the actions of her church similar to missionary work because while they wanted to teach the Afghans about Christianity, they were in the country first and foremost to help make their lives better. Many of the families were poor and had little to eat, and the streets were filled with trash and the river water was unclean, she said.
The group helped to clean up the trash, and they brought medicine to help with minor ailments, she said. The Koreans also put on events about their culture and challenged the Afghans to a soccer game, Kim said. At the game, more than 500 people showed up to watch, and the Afghans won nine to zero.
At the prodding of the Afghan and South Korean governments, the group was forced to leave the region earlier than they planned. However, Kim said she enjoyed experience and the people, and she plans to return after she graduates to volunteer in the region for six months.
More pictures from the Henrichsen's trip are available at news.plu.edu/gallery/geneva. The pictures were taken by both Henrichsen and Lisosky.