Venezuelan youth leader Jorge Michael on visiting South Korea

Jorge Michael (seated third from right) is a 21 year-old university student of Economics in Caracas, Venezuela who never dreamed he’d find himself in South Korea with interfaith activists from around the world. But after assisting Enoé Texier, URI’s Regional Coordinator for Latin America & The Carribean, in her work for Circulo De Cooperación para el Diálogo CC, he was identified as a great youth leader ready for an international, interfaith youth leadership training. Jorge is also active in student politics at Andrés Bello Catholic University and works as a volunteer math tutor in poverty-stricken neighborhoods of Caracas.

According to Enoé, Jorge is “Thoughtful, intelligent, and generous. His personality attracts other young people, and he is a natural mediator always willing to help others.”

Here, he shares his experience in South Korea with the URI community.

Two days, two layovers, and an additional 19 hours in an airplane made up the longest trip of my life. I was on my way to visit South Korea, a country that I had only heard of because of its “famous” 38th Parallel North, Samsung, and its unstable neighboring country in The North.

I had never heard anything about its people, cities, lifestyle, or its culture. I didn’t know what to expect from my visit to this country that was, until then, completely unknown to me. 

I was immediately impressed upon arrival. The landscape, the buildings, and the cars — everything was so different from what I had imagined. The first day passed quickly and then the camp began. I had the opportunity to visit different cities, towns, temples, churches, mosques, and people. If I had to summarize everything in one word, it would be “harmony."

It’s strange coming from an environment where violence and intolerance are things that everyone experiences day to day, only to arrive in a completely different context, where compassion and dialogue prove to be the correct path to peaceful coexistence and the growth of a country—a country where more than five religions coexist, a country that has lived through political and military conflicts, yet remains an example of development and technological innovation in its region and around the world. 

During the ten days of my trip, I had to adapt to a new time schedule, new food, and new people. But it couldn’t have been better. I met the most kind and grounded people that I could have ever met, with hearts and values that speak for themselves. From Kenya to South Korea and from Bosnia to the United States, it remains clear to me that tolerant people with great ideas still exist. These are things that allow me to see hope in the future of our planet.

But I only had ten days to meet new people, traditions, cuisines and cities. Days that were too few to be able to fully understand such a fascinating culture. Yet at the same time, these few days were enough for me to understand that South Korea is a place of humble and hard working people with a brilliant future.

I can only thank all my new friends from around the world for this great experience, and hope to see all of them again soon. Most importantly, I’d like to thank those who made all this possible: Jinwol Lee (URI Asia Regional Coordinator) and URI Korea.