Debt Crisis In Egypt

Debt Crisis In Egypt
By Sally Hahn

NOTE: This article was originally intended for publication in September 2012.
Recently, the debt of developing countries received international attention after the shocks of Syria and Egypt shook off. With the millennium goal of reducing poverty and economic gap in the industrialized world, much focus was shifted into developing nations that are struggling to catch up.

Developing countries face a debt crisis with liabilities beyond what countries are capable of paying. The figures have been multiplied with several years of accumulated interest rates, some of which have unfairly been imposed on developing countries despite its having been used in military oppression of the citizens by the government. The world now faces an ironic situation in which poorer countries are paying back almost double the original debt, yet still are not free from financial debt burdens.

During colonization, unjust transfers were commonly made from the colonizing states to the colonized states. The more powerful countries had spent big sums of money on "modernizing" the countries, and all the financial burden was imposed on the colonized. In fact, $59 billion of debt was forced in total to all nations which attained independence in the 1960's. The interest rate at that time was 14%. Compare that to when the LEDCs started borrowing, in which the interest rate was less than the inflation rate.

Mismanagement of lending also contributes greatly into the severe problem. In the 1960's, the United States had lent more than it had. The Federal Reserve ended up printing more dollars, depreciating the dollar value. The problem was that oil was priced in US dollar values. The major oil companies and countries found that they earned less purchasing power than they had before. Therefore, they raised the oil prices to regain their profits. Then, they started investing most of that money into Western banks. At that time the inflation rate was overwhelming. It was more disadvantageous for them to keep it; at least the bank gives interests.

The Western banks were then engulfed with money, and desperate to loan, they turned their eyes on developing countries. These countries had just become independent and craved for money to finance their newly built systems. The banks lent money carelessly and recklessly, with no consideration of whether the countries will be able to pay it back. (Back then, the interest rate was lower than the inflation rate now.)

As time goes on, the calamity is only getting worse. Most of the countries are still in debt, merely providing financial assets for developed countries each year, while the poor are subsidizing the rich. Today, the UN and other international bodies are continuing to solve this detrimental phenomenon. International attention is to be needed to solve the matter at hand.

Korean Archery And The Heroes

Korean Archery And The Heroes
By Lorens Lee

NOTE: This article was originally intended for publication in August 2012.

“Every moment is a match. You are the genuine professional, so you should live with professionalism. At least if you are a leader of one group, you should be in time when you are needed for others.”

This is what an executive director of Korea Archery Association strongly said to Korean archery athletes. And this advice shows the reason archery athletes have dominated the Olympics. Then why do people in the world say Korea archery is a superpower that nobody can stop the landslide victory of? According to the statistics of the Korea Archery Association, female teams of Korean athletes have succeeded to consecutively obtain seven gold medals in the Olympics, including a medal won in this year’s London Olympic Games. Moreover, in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the word “perfect gold” was created because of Kim Kyung Wook’s successful shooting of an arrow. And finally, male teams of national Korean athletes broke a world record and they scored 699 points.

All of these accomplishments demonstrate the status of Korea archery. Then at this moment, most people are curious of the secrets of Korea archery. We can see two main secrets: fairness and purity.

Fairness
There have been some cases of corruption and lobbying to be a national Korean athlete in other sports, but archery, it has had none of those kinds of unjust actions. For instance, the committee and associated organization open all breakdown of budget execution to the public in every selection process. There is no recommendation or wild card policy for outstanding athletes, so every national athlete is selected solely by consideration of their grades during training and matches. Furthermore, there is no extra point for athletes who have won medals in the previous Olympics. Hence, since the steps for becoming national athletes of Korea archery are greatly fair, archery players in Korea are inspired to practice hard. Sometimes, a decomposed athletic environment during selection process makes comparatively poor players realize a harsh and cold-hearted reality, demotivating them. However, as the policy and association both are highly innocent and transparent, there is no excuse of failure or controversy in the archery field. Fairness in selection and treatment is the best way to distinguish the best athletes for satisfactory results in the Olympics.

Purity
Have you ever anticipated how many arrows are used at each practice of archery athletes? According to one news report, about three hundred to four hundred arrows are used during their training, which means the athletes shoot that much quantity of arrows during each training period. When extreme foreign reporters ask Korean archery athletes the question about secrets of their wonderful ability, they always answer “We don’t have any secrets or keys related to our talents. All we can say is that we have practiced harder than any others.” Some reporters are exhausted by their most simple and exemplary answer, but it is right and there are no other rather special keys of it – according to Korean archery athletes. However, after the reporters listen about their real daily discipline, nobody would have objections. Firstly, Korean athletes shoot nearly infinite arrows every day as already recognized above. Second of all, the coaches make numerous situations to prepare for abrupt changes in the Olympics, such as the changes in weather they face in various matches. Actually, it may sound humorous, but in this year, Korean women athletes have visited baseball stadiums and practiced shooting to adapt to unfamiliar atmosphere and a large number of spectators’ voice interruption. Moreover, they even went to an army recruit training center for the same reasons: to adapt abnormal situations and backgrounds. Korean archery teams anticipate all the matters that could occur in the Olympic Games and undergo strenuous preparation for them. Then, in light of the athletes’ efforts and strong will, they won the gold medals!

Here is the answer of the question – who deserves to be praised of successful archery in the Olympics? We can say either it is athletes’ couches who have prepared strategy for them, or the fans who wait and sincerely cheer for the athletes. However, overall, athletes themselves deserve to be praised of their victory. They would have had agony from harsh training and pressure that they should win medals, and they eventually overcome those hardships. They are the best heroes of the Olympics in Koreans’ hearts.

Backstage

Backstage
By Ju Hyun Song and Henry Siwoo Song

NOTE: This article was originally intended for publication in August 2012.

For Daewon students, FOLA is a stage where they can release their talents and receive acclamation. Meanwhile, there are those behind the scene that work their best to make such students shine, DFBC. Today, DFBC is to step in front of the scene and explain procedures they go through to present a memorable stage for both the performers and audience.

Arrangements for FOLA slowly started off in July. On a website for FOLA where every leader of Daewon clubs can read, DFBC posted instructions of methods to burn CDs that fit the audio systems equipped in the broadcasting room.Meanwhile, production for our festival was going through preparation. The club members were divided into four groups: Drama, CF, News, and Music Video. Each group was scheduled to come to school day by day for filming the clips needed. Second graders stood behind the camera while the first graders acted in front of it, despite their embarrassment (especially for the boys who had to dress up as a girl group). Announcer sunbaes also had to teach the newbie announcers how to read news script and perform it in front of a crowd. As time went by, freshmen began to adapt, not feeling afraid of the camera or the crowd anymore, and became fluent at reading the scripts.

From August 20th to 22nd, along with many other clubs, DFBC was wrapping up its preparations for the festival. During the preparation, we had to go to Daeyang Hall in Sejong University to learn how to operate the equipment in the hall. We were extra busy as we had to manage the performances of not only ours but of every other clubs. Before the rehearsal, which took a day before the FOLA, we took great care to receive any necessary CDs or USBs needed for a club’s performance. For any clubs that had special requirements regarding PPTs, music, or lightings, we received written out instructions by the leaders for us to follow. Like always, a great number of clubs forgot to bring appropriate CDs or written out instructions (please don’t say you expected us to memorize those instructions you blurt out; we have a whole lot of other clubs to take care of). As the rehearsal started at 9:00 a.m. sharp, we went to the gym at 7:30 to set the microphones and microphone poles of ten different kinds, and get other machines ready. During the rehearsals, the freshmen were able to take over the stage managing juniors had done for an year, and actually learn how to take control of the various machines in the broadcasting room. Rehearsals allowed us to learn what to prepare for each and every show, and allowed other clubs to get rid of possible communication failures that may have existed.

While the rehearsal was busily going through in the gym, juniors were crammed in the school broadcasting room, editing video clips we have filmed during summer break. All the necessary video clips were already taken, but it took a long time for us to finish editing each of them (thanks to those cicadas who just HAD to cry out loud at THAT important moment). Some of the members left in the school broadcasting room overnight, editing.Through consequent days of editing, we were able to finish off with a forty-minute video that we were really proud of.

On the very day of FOLA, all of us were very nervous, just like the performing clubs. As we had responsibility for every performance, we were stressed by the fact that we may ruin other’s performances. We arrived an hour and a half early to the school gym before FOLA to check on every equipment once again.

Thankfully, during FOLA, the freshmen who were in charge did a great job in managing the stage fluently. Unfortunately there were some abrupt microphone problems that dumfounded us, but we overcame them. Yes, we had to bear with some club leaders yelling and blaming at us for our mismanagement and had to deal with those who just couldn’t acknowledge the fact that we were human beings that needed to eat dinner. But we were able to learn how to deal with various types of people.

The second day of FOLA was held in Daeyang Hall in Sejong University. The broadcasting equipments were very different from those in Daewon broadcasting studio, especially that the room with sound facilities was separated from a room with lighting facilities. We panicked as we knew how this will inevitably lead to communication failures that can easily lead to broadcasting accidents. To make things worse, the room with lighting facilities was placed in the corner behind the stage, where the operator couldn’t see how the stage lighting is being done. Although FOLA was to be started at 9:30 a.m., we arrived at the hall once again earlier, at 7:30 a.m. Short rehearsalsfor traditional folk dances took place, but due to unaccustomed equipment, we made mistakes during the rehearsal. A woman in charge of traditional folk dances scolded us harshly for being irresponsible, which, honestly, was very offensive.Although we knew that stage managing deals with a lot of people that would simply blame us with their short knowledge, such accusations did startle us. After the tough two hours, second part of FOLA began, and fortunately, there weren’t any broadcasting accidents. After FOLA, we left behind others to organize used equipment, and that’s how FOLA went for us.

This year’s FOLA was certainly a very stressful but memorable event. We were able to enjoy soulful performances of each and every club at least two times, thanks to the rehearsals! Although the claps weren’t for us, our hearts swelled with greatest pride that we were also a part of the performance. Throughout this FOLA all of us were able to grow once again.