Global Interviews
This page will include the interviews I had this semester with two very global individuals, Emma George, and Jorge Benavides. Enjoy!
Emma George
Corporate and Foundation Partnerships Associate at AAUW
I met Emma George at my internship with AAUW. In fact, she is actually the person who found me and asked me to come in for an interview for the internship. Emma is an Associate in the Corporate Foundation and Partnerships department at AAUW and has been a spectacular role model and teacher for me through this internship.
I had heard from my supervisors little bits of stories about the many global trips Emma took when she was young and my boss, Nicole, boasted about all the knowledge that Emma has from those experiences. When I heard about this portion of our project, I could not help but ask to interview her as one of the first things I completed for the GPR.
I will break down our interview into the questions and themes we spoke about during the interview.
Education:
Emma studied Political Science with a concentration in Middle Eastern Politics at American University, School of Public Affairs. She originally did not want to go to college. She started out at a different school as a history major and was not very happy. She took a comparative politics class and had an amazing professor so she switched her major to be political science with a concentration in European Politics, and then she transferred to AU and found the middle eastern politics and wanted to do that one.
What she wanted to do with it, she wasn’t sure. She knew she wanted to work in a non-profit, but not exactly sure what. She obviously figured that out with her work at AAUW and has really enjoyed learning the fundraising ins and outs through her time here.
Global Experience:
“I've been a lot of places in the world in a lot of unique circumstances”
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As the above quote mentions, Emma’s global experiences have been anything but “normal”. She has been to six of the seven continents and began traveling when she was only six months old. The only continent she has not been to is Antarctica. But she plans on making it there before she turns 30. Many of the countries she has visited have been mistakenly or spur-of-the-moment. There were periods of time when she was homeschooled, and that is when her parents and her siblings would just jump in a car and drive somewhere with very few plans. Because of that type of travel, she never really stayed in a resort. This type of travel allowed her to have a very unconventional experience while abroad. Most people go to a different country for a florida-style vacation, but Emma would maybe spend one day at the beach, and the rest - learning and experiencing the culture of wherever she ends up with her parents. When they traveled by car, her dad would drive, and mom would read travel guides and novels aloud that had to deal with the places they were headed to.
My favorite story she shared was when her and her father went to see the Whale Migration in Baha. She has just gotten back from a trip to Spain and her mom and siblings were gone for the weekend. Her father told her he had been reading about the whale migration and asked if she wanted to go. So, of course, they packed up some camping supplies and food and headed out on a 10 hour drive to Baha. They had not done much research into places to stay, but they happened upon a sign that said “Whale Watching and Camping”, so they went there. Although a tad sketchy, they found a spot to set up camp about 20 feet off the shore line. Later in the night, they were lying in their tent and heard a weird noise coming from the shoreline. They realized it was a whale “snoring” a little ways off shore. The best part was that there wasn’t anybody else out there but her, her dad, and that whale. They just stood and listened to the whale sleep for about 30 minutes, before he sunk below the surface and went on his way. The next morning, they hopped in a boat and went out to sea to watch the whales migrate. While, admittedly, they were definitely way too close to the whales, Emma said it was the most magical experience and she will never forget that trip and those moments with the snoring whale.
Out of all of the trips, what has been you favorite one?
Emma’s grandparents emigrated from Denmark during the Scandinavian revolution. When Emma was very young, her grandparents decided they wanted to visit their homeland and teach their grandkids and children (Emma’s parents) about where they came from. Because Emma was so young, she did not have perfect memories of this trip, but she does remember playing red light, green light with her cousins next to castles and poppy fields. She admitted that “all of these things were so common” to her, it was not until later that she realized how privileged and lucky she was to have had this childhood.
Her mother, grandmother, and her visited Denmark again when Emma was much older and she said the best part about this trip and why Denmark is her favorite place is because she was able to listen to hundreds of stories her Grandmother had from the war and the revolution. She never realized how incredible her grandmother’s journey was and being able to listen to these stories really resonated with Emma and will remain as some of her favorite memories.
What trip was the most impactful?
She went to Jordan during the Arab Spring and she was still trying to figure out what to study in college. She ended up in a couple political protests while there. It was really impactful for her to see people and just talk to them. She went to Jordan because her parents saw a PBS movie about how great the King was. But when they got there, they saw that the citizens of Jordan didn’t really like the King, but the West did. The men protested on one side and the women protested on the other.
The impact that these protests and looking at these people and what she is told and sees at home, really affected how she went forward in her adult life.
What advice do you have to someone who has not traveled abroad?
Don’t be afraid to be a tourist and unplug! Look up and just see what is beyond your horizon.
If you stay in one city, take day trips. They take you to a different place!
Don’t shun museums and spend at least one night out.
Be open minded and listen to other people’s perspectives.
We ended our interview with a discussion about globalization and what that means for the world we know today. My favorite thing she said was “we are so globalized, for better or for worse, that everybody’s problems are everybody’s problems”. This reminded me of Friedman’s talk on the power of one - that we are at a crucial point in our advancement that one person can destroy us all or we could all save everyone.
It is important to remember that no matter where you go, there are problems and perspectives for thousands of things, and to ignore them would be juvenile and not productive. We must face the world, be ready to get up and experience a whale migration and listen to the stories of everyone around us, near and far.
Jorge Benavides
PHD Student at George Washington University
I met Jorge in a Starbucks on the GW Campus in early March. I had just finished attending a workshop for Women in Government run by AAUW and I had some time to kill before I was getting picked up to go back home. As I was sitting and reading my Thomas Friedman book, Jorge asked me a question about the book and basic globalization and we began a short conversation about Friedman and his interest in cultural and social differences. Before leaving I grabbed his card and LinkedIn information and decided I wanted to interview him for this project.
So about a month later, on April 1st, 2017, Jorge and I met once again at the GW Campus to conduct my GPR interview. I asked a few basic questions to get the conversation going and to make sure we covered the main topics I wanted to talk about with Jorge: Educational Background, Future Plans, and his Favorite Place to Travel. I will break down the interview in this way.
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Education:
Jorge began his global education through attendance of a bilingual school in Costa Rica, where he was born and raised. After high school, he had to make a decision between Physics and Medicine for his future studies. He decided to attend The University of Costa Rica to receive his Bachelor’s and MD in Medical Sciences. The education system in Costa Rica is similar to the one you will find in Europe. Unlike the United States, students are enrolled in Medical School from the first day of their “bachelor’s” degree. The program is 7 years total and the final year is spent in an internship program. This final year is different from the US as well, as US Medical Students will wait until the finish medical school to begin their internships and during that time they will spend the entire year in their one particular “focus” or subject. Through the Costa Rican system, medical students spend their final year in 5 rotations, covering each medical focus. This way they are already trained to be physicians upon graduation and they can be ready for anything they may run into.
Jorge spent his internship year at Harvard Medical School and found he seemed to be much more prepared than the US medical students. My favorite story he shared was during a visit with the Oncologist. Him and the oncologist were waiting to see a cervical cancer patient and Jorge wondered why they were waiting. The doctor informed him that they needed the OBGYN to come to insert the cervical tool as he did not know how to do this. Jorge was astonished by this lack of knowledge because he had to do over 200 pap smears just to finish that rotation! He also found himself much more comfortable with his bedside manner because he had so much practice during his schooling years, so he was ready to take on those challenges.
After finishing his time at Harvard, The Costa Rican medical program required graduates to spend a year in social work. During this year, he traveled to indigenous areas of Costa Rica and assisted with primary care needs of areas all up and down the Amazon (he even delivered a baby in the jungle!). He and a friend would pack up a backpack of medicine, hope on the ONE horse in the village and travel to remote locations everyday to administer the needed medicine throughout Costa Rica. AMAZING! His time here really planted the seeds for his future education at George Washington… but we will get to that soon.
Finally, his education for his MD was over, so he headed off to his next journey in Stockholm, Sweden to research clinical genetics. The time here was only a few months and while Jorge found genetics to be an interesting topic, he could not see himself happy in a laboratory for the rest of his life. So, instead of taking a further opportunity with the lab, he packed up and headed home to Costa Rica. He spent some time working for larger corporations doing research and purchases for essential medicines in hospitals and working with large pharmaceutical companies to schedule and administer clinical studies for new medicines coming to the market.
He was also offered the opportunity to design a Global Health program for Duke University study abroad program to take place in Costa Rica. He built an entire 16 credit program from the ground up and he loved the program so much, he applied to become the director of the program and well, of course, he got it! Jorge spent about 5 years here and actually earned adjunct status at Duke University with his time teaching. His office was always in the jungle and because he was teaching, he had the summers off (and paid too).
But he wanted more… so he began work with the Ngobe Group which allowed him to receive more knowledge and plant another seed into the social aspects of health care. At this time, he was dating his current girlfriend (who is from the US) and they both decided they wanted to go back to school. Jorge really loved academia and he knew he could not work up through the ranks in the US with just an MD, so he began his back-to-school journey in his early 30s.
They both settled on George Washington University and Jorge began with a dual degree in Anthropology and MPH. For a little while, he felt regret for not going on to study genetics (his original love), but now that he is four years into anthropology, he never wants to go back.
Quick Side Note on Jorge’s Study:
Jorge began at GW seeking his Master’s with a concentration in Medical Anthropology, but then applied for further funding to receive his Phd from GW. Overall, he is studying the social impact on the health of a migrant worker, through three broad focus points:
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Latin America
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Medical Anthropology
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Science and Technology Studies
Future Plans for Jorge:
I asked Jorge, “what will you do next?”, he jokingly replied “astrophysicist”...
Although he was joking, there was some serious truth behind his statement. Jorge has such a strong passion for learning, that if he could win the lottery, he would study forever. He then went on to explain that he really feels like he won a mini lottery with GW. His entire five years at GW are paid for with tuition and a living stipend. There were only three people chosen for this opportunity, and Jorge got it (no doubt he deserved it). “It’s not a huge lottery, but it’s good enough”. Jorge’s utter gratefulness and zest to learn and explore culture really inspired me, especially through this discussion.
His real future will hopefully include academia. While he is still a licensed MD in Costa Rica and he may practice if he is home, while in the US, he wants to teach Anthropology - he wants to “teach and stay poor forever”, but the advantage is he will also be able to travel the world and most importantly, speak to new people and continue learning every single day.
Favorite Places to Travel To:
When asked this question, Jorge related the difficult nature of the question to asking someone what their favorite book is. Jorge believes that if you have a favorite book, you really have not read enough. Travel has made Jorge who he is today and he really would not be able to study anthropology in the way he is able to do today. Each place he has traveled to has had different “favorites” and multiple lessons to bring to his current research and study. He hopes to make his way to Africa soon enough, once his Phd is completed, and he really wants to backpack across Asia and just travel to travel, rather than traveling to study.
Jorge has gotten so far in his life because he has always pushed himself to want more. It has never been unhealthy as his desire to learn has pushed him to move to new experiences. Whatever is next for Jorge, I hope he keeps it updated on his Linkedin because meeting him in Starbucks a few months ago was really amazing and inspiring.
“Travel far enough, you meet your new self” - this quote is the perfect summation of my time with Jorge and learning about his life.