Six Months in North Korea - Reflections and Relationships

During the North Korean famine in the late 90’s, the presenter worked with a team of six non-profit organizations’ colleagues carrying out project assessments and monitoring of the distribution of US Government-contributed food commodities through 152 food-for-work projects throughout North Korea. This job entailed repeated contact with as many as 300 North Korean senior counterpart officials. Did the food commodities reach the affected populations? How controlled were the team’s movements in the field and in Pyongyang? And what types of relationships were built with her North Korean “minders” and other officials encountered in the field?

The presenter will show 60 photos among the 2,700 shots she took during her time in North Korea including people she met during her travels, propaganda signs, mass games, museums, Panmunjom, mountain landscapes, and many other photos.

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Presenter:

Christy Gavitt began her overseas career as a Peace Corps volunteer in South Korea from 1974-76. She then worked overseas in international relief and development programs for 32 years: with emergency programs in Pakistan, Somalia, Chad, Mozambique, Somaliland, North Korea and Rwanda, as well as public health programs Mali, Togo, Namibia and Tanzania.

After returning to the US, she worked for over five years as the Senior Health Coordinator with the American Red Cross in Washington DC. She is currently a global health consultant.

Photo: North Korea food for work project. Credit: Christy Gavitt