Volunteers of Korea

John M. Glionna of the Los Angeles Times reports on "one way this bustling Asian nation is marking its emergence as one of the world's most industrialized nations" — South Korea volunteers aim to help world's poor. "Founded in 2009, the World Friends Korea program... now has 3,000 volunteers working in 40 countries, a number second only to the 8,000 enrolled in America's Peace Corps."

"South Korea's development as a nation is due in part to the generous contribution of the international community," said program coordinator Lee Chan-buom. "We can empathize with the nations we assist because 50 years ago, there was widespread famine in Korea. For many volunteers, that starvation is a childhood memory."

I see little wrong with the fact that some "see the program as a way to sell themselves in a downsizing job market." Enlightened self-interest and all. I do have some doubts about the long-term efficacy of teaching Nepali kids to brush their teeth and wash their hands or teaching Zimbabwean government workers to use computers, to name two projects students of mine have told me they participated in recently.

Volunteering overseas was unheard of when I arrived in country a third of my life ago, in 1997. Now, I have had several students who've come back from such programs.