Wednesday, 19 June 2013
A learning journey
SINGAPORE — It was a “total culture shock” for 23-year-old Amanda Ong, when she spent six weeks teaching English at Tajikistan two years ago.
Recalling the cultural differences and language barrier, Ms Ong said: “Unfairness is common. They have a traditional mindset, in that guys are more important than girls, and girls tend to get married very early, usually by 19.”
Based in a private English school, she taught a wide range of students, from teenagers to adults in their 30s. It was a “huge challenge” as her students did not understand any English.
“You don’t really know what they want — some may just stand up and walk out of the classroom, others play on their phones,” she said, adding that she would devise games on the spot to get their attention.
And, beyond the classroom, communication continued to be a problem. “I stayed with a host family and they couldn’t speak any English. We communicated mostly through sign language!” said Ms Ong.
Yet, among the more than 15 countries she had travelled to in her five years with international youth-run organisation, AIESEC, her time in Tajikistan — under the organisation’s Global Community Development Programme — was the “highlight” of her experience.
“I chose this country because it is relatively unknown in Singapore and I wanted to experience something special — where I had to live and work with strangers who were from a vastly different background and work culture,” she explained.
Other countries she has travelled to include Japan, Vietnam and Hong Kong, where she engaged the communities through various activities or facilitated AIESEC conferences.
Most recently, she headed the organising committee for this year’s Asia Pacific Conference 2013, which sought to develop leadership qualities in youth and promote collaboration between youth leaders across the Asia Pacific.
Ms Ong said she learnt many skills while volunteering, and later working full time, for AIESEC. For instance, her first role in AIESEC was in a conference organising committee, handling sales and logistics; she then specialised in human resource for three years. It has also given her a greater appreciation for different cultures.
Ms Ong travelled to Mongolia in January last year to help facilitate an AIESEC conference. She laughed as she recounted how she could understand a little of what a taxi driver was saying, despite not speaking Mongolian, as the language was similar to Tajik: “I think he was trying to scold us … it’s amazing how different countries have similarities like this.”
Comparing the youth she worked with in Mongolia to those in Singapore, Ms Ong said that “youths there are ready to learn and enthusiastic”, and these were traits “Singaporean youths can learn from”.
After graduating from the National University of Singapore last May, Ms Ong worked full-time for AIESEC before leaving the organisation in March. She is now in the midst of starting a social enterprise, geared towards providing a platform for non-profit organisations to come together and experiment with innovative collaborations and business models.
With plans to visit the rest of Central Asia, she said her experiences in AIESEC “have developed me into a person who is not afraid of doing something new and venturing somewhere unconventional”. Louisa Tang
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