657Z Fall 2026 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 colleagues from six non-profit organizations. The work was to carry out project assessments and to monitor the distribution of U.S. government-provided food commodities through 152 food-for-work projects throughout North Korea. This job entailed repeated contact with as many as 300 North Korean senior 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 the instructor’s North Korean “minders” and other officials encountered in the field? The presenter will show photos that she took during her time in North Korea including photos of people she met during her travels, propaganda signs, mass games, museums, Panmunjom, mountain landscapes, and many others!

Christy Gavitt was a Peace Corps volunteer in South Korea from 1974-76. She then worked overseas in international relief and development programs for 32 years, mostly in East Africa. From 2008, she worked for over five years as the senior health coordinator at the American Red Cross.