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Many families today have a global take on the idea of helping out their neighbors. Many are fostering a child from an impoverished nation via an aid agency, while more and more adolescents spend their vacations as volunteers in developing countries. The process is bringing Asia and Africa closer together, bringing a fundamentally paradigm shift in the way we understand sharing.
Over the last one or two years, the number of people sponsoring children abroad through the evangelical aid organization World Vision has exploded. "Korea is no longer a nation on the receiving end of international aid but has grown into a country that gives aid itself," says Han Biya, an emergency relief team leader with World Vision Korea. "We are citizens of the world, so it¡¯s our proper duty and responsibility to help out our neighbors."
At Nagok Middle School in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, a class two of third-year students is voluntarily contributing W600 (US$1=W950) per month per student, altogether W20,000. These funds help children a world away in Ethiopia. "It's amazing that if we just cut down a little on our everyday spending we can save a child," says 16-year-old Ko Mal-gum "I feel like with that W600 per month we are buying happiness," Says another student, Lee Dong-geun said. The number of households where every member has ¡°adopted¡± a child abroad is also growing.
Kim Hyeong-joon, who runs a real estate office in Seoul's Jungrang-gu, and his family have become citizens of the global village. He and his wife, two sons, daughter-in-law, daughter and son-in-law, and one-year-old granddaughter, each sponsor a child. W20,000 per person per month is deducted from the bank account, a total of W160,000. Kim's wife, Yoo Deok-soon (60) says she once saw the faces of starving children in Africa, and that started their commitment. "Our granddaughter was born into this world,¡± she says. ¡°Shouldn't we try to do something good?"
Park Seung-jun (54) runs his own business in Gwangju and has been sponsoring five Vietnamese children and three Burmese children for over four years. He first thought of helping them when he saw an ad that said, ¡°Just W20,000 can save a child for a month.¡± Giving W20,000 per child every month, he found it was not easy to communicate with the children he was sponsoring. ¡°It was so awkward during the first year. I wrote only formal greetings and things like that. But now they call me grandfather, uncle or even father. I have daughters, nephews and nieces and even grandchildren in countries far away.¡± To make sure he remembers the name of every child he is supporting, Park takes a look at their pictures whenever he has a chance.
World Vision Korea says the number of people supporting others abroad rose almost five times from 12,821 in 2000 to 61,764 as of the end of June this year. ¡°A culture of sharing is spreading fast as fathers encourage their children to do so and children ask their parents to do so,¡± says the organization¡¯s Han Hye-won. ¡°Today¡¯s parents believe that rather than speaking English fluently, taking care of other children who suffer enables their children to truly communicate with others in the world.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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