DukeEngage | Duke Center for Civic Engagement

photo by Eric Van Danen

Karna Mital is one of six students volunteering with community partner Acción Emprendedora in Santiago, Chile, working on microenterprise projects with residents.  He describes what captivated him about the DukeEngage in Chile program and how he hopes to put what he learns into action back at Duke.

1.  What drew you to this particular program or project?

I felt working with entrepreneurs would be a great way to learn about the developmental issues confronting a nation while simultaneously making an impact.  I have studied Spanish for years, but have not had the opportunity to experience "living in Spanish" for an extended period of time, and this project was a great opportunity to do so. Finally, I found Chile to be particularly interesting because of the juxtaposition of economic success with a wide income gap between the wealthy and the impoverished.

2.  What excited you about working with your community partner?

Acción Emprendedora (AE) has had interns for a few years now and knows how to use and support its interns effectively. Thus, I feel like I have a good opportunity not only to learn, but also to make a major contribution. More importantly, AE dreams to change Chile by empowering the impoverished to start sustainable businesses, and to me this is quite an inspiring mission.

3.  What benefit do you hope your service will have for your community partner and your host community?

Generally, I hope to find some sort of information or abilities within the entrepreneurs that is being left untapped, and enable the entrepreneurs to use this to strengthen their businesses. 

4.  How do you hope to put into action what you learned through your DukeEngage experience once back at Duke?

I am currently involved in a few student organizations that are looking to provide more benefit to more students, and to assist with this, I will be able to use the skills of assessing needs and empowering others that I will develop during my DukeEngage experience.  I may consider getting involved in a service organization if I feel passionate enough about its mission and it helps train others to better themselves.  Finally, I may try to use my experience in tandem with coursework to try to draw broader conclusions on certain issues.  For example, I could create a curriculum through the Latin American Studies capstone course that frames my experiences in the context of a social/political/economic issue, or write an economics thesis that extends a microeconomic observation made in Chile into a more general framework.

Learn about the experiences of other DukeEngage students in Chile by visiting their blog at http://dukeengagechile.blogspot.com.

DukeEngage is featuring 18 students over the course of the summer participating in both group programs and independent projects.  Check back weekly to view the latest student profile.

Yesterday was the most rewarding day of my service work. The day began with a rocky start. I arrived to work right on time at 9 am. The door was still locked. I immediately noticed a phrase spray painted on the clean white wall next to the entrance. As I waited for the office to open, I watched strangers walk by and glance at the graffiti. I felt almost embarrassed as I stood outside. I still don’t know why I felt embarrassed, but that was how I felt.

When Ximena finally arrived, fashionably on time in Chile, at 9:25, she took one brief look at the graffiti and continued about her normal routine of unlocking the four locks that protect the center. I asked her what the words meant, since I had never heard most of them before. Apparently they don’t have much significance. They are simply names with “A la [C]alle” at the end.

The day was long. Jordan and I planned to stay for a class that didn’t begin until 6:30 pm and concluded around 9. I’m glad I finally attended a class.

During the day, most micro-entrepreneurs are working other jobs. We mainly interact with each other, the other Chilean interns that come several days a week, and the office directors during lunch. For the first week, it was difficult to see how our work could be useful.

At 6, the micro-entrepreneurs began to roll in. It was the first accounting course of program for these people. We met the volunteer teacher, Sergio, and took a seat at the small desks. The classroom was split fairly even between men and women, the old and the young. Most of the micro-entrepreneurs were energetic as they asked Sergio questions and clarifications. The Chilean Spanish was quite difficult to understand. The teacher and students interacted rapidly full of Chilean slang. This was quite a contrast to my class in the fall at a Madrid University. For the most part, I was able to keep up with the class without difficulties.

Halfway through, we took a 30 to 45 minute break (quite long!), where Jordan and I had the opportunity to interact with the micro-entrepreneurs for the first time. We talked to a nice older man, Fernando, for the whole time. In his spare time, he’s trying to start a business that makes alpaca sweaters, which, according to him are up to five times warmer than cotton sweaters. He told us about his sons and daughters, his expected grandchildren, and his niece in Chicago. He even asked me for my cell phone number because one of his sons loves speaking English and meeting foreigners. It was refreshing to see someone so excited to share his story with us gringos. The other micro-entrepreneurs chimed in about the usefulness of the courses and how diverse the businesses are. I was glad to see that my work this summer in improving the courses will help make a positive difference in these peoples lives and for many micro-entrepreneurs to come. These courses are practical. Even if the micro-entrepreneurs never really start their businesses, they learn skills that are useful in life, such as accounting, computation, and the production process. Ultimately, these micro-entrepreneurs are the reason why I am here, even if some days are long, cold, and solitary.

Afterward: I came to work today to discover the graffiti somewhat painted over. You can still see it, but it doesn't immediately draw attention. 

View many more entries at http://dukeengagechile.blogspot.com/

Today, during our orientation, I found out my summer project. I, along with Jordan, will work at the Santiago Norponiente office on creating a course guide for a chapter of the Acción Emprendora program. Fortunately, the office is near my house, unlike Puente Alto, which is at least an hour away.

Jordan and I will begin our project by studying a chapter from the current student manual. After becoming “experts” about our chapter (most likely regarding production), we will learn the vocabulary for our chapter. Then, we will conduct interviews and research with former and current teachers and students of the course to find out how to best design the courses. We’ll also attend several classes to get a better idea of how the courses are generally run.

After conducting research and familiarizing ourselves with the AE model, we’ll compile our course manual. It’ll include PowerPoint presentations, practice problems, case studies, and a well-outlined guide that will help enable consistency throughout the AE centers and between course instructors.

In addition to designing the manual, all interns are aiming to raise awareness about AE in Chile, South America, and the U.S. We are especially looking for grants to help AE grow or form partnerships that could aid AE.

I’m excited and nervous for my project. I was originally looking at another project, but after learning more about this project, I think I’ll be a great fit. It will certainly be a challenge. The Norponiente office is nearly entirely Spanish speaking. I hope to build upon my skills and background as a Teaching Assistant in Public Policy. I am sure this will help my abilities when I return to Duke.

I have so many other subjects to talk about after just three days here, but they will have to wait. I’ve never lived in a city that is as large and chaotic as Santiago. My host family is extremely well educated and interesting. Already, we’ve discussed issues ranging from public versus private jails in Chile, to the recent divorce law (divorce became legal in Chile just three years ago), to the judicial system, to the levels of poverty in Chile.

I encourage you to check out my full blog at http://dukeengagechile.blogspot.com/

¡Hola todos!

In less than a week, six of us will depart for Santiago, Chile until August. While in Chile, the six of us will live with host families, volunteer at Acción Emprendedora, and learn more about Chilean culture, history, and politics through tertulias (tutorials) with famous artists, writers, and political figures. Acción Emprendedora seeks to alleviate poverty through entrepreneurship. 

We have an exciting and challenging summer ahead of us! Our official blog has already begun with more information about the trip and the preparation we've gone through over at:

http://dukeengagechile.blogspot.com/

¡Hasta luego!