A HOPEful Volunteer in Korea

By: Christie for TheYeogiyo.com | May 26, 2009

I arrived in Seoul, Korea in August 2008. After spending one week training in Gangnam, I was transferred to a small neighborhood north on Line 7 where I would be residing for the rest of my time in Seoul.

I proceeded to settle in and found my local grocery store, kimbap restaurant, and jimjilbong. My days began to become quite familiar; work at my hagwon, galbi afterwards with coworkers and bootleg movies on my computer from surfthechannel.com.

My weekends also became a blur of familiar activities that included shopping in Dongdaemoon, late nights in Itaewon and even later nights in Hongdae. One day I woke up and two months had passed. When I realized that all I had to talk about with friends and family back home were the late night taxicab confessions that I shared with my fellow English teachers, I knew that it was time to make a change.

Since having a college degree is required to teach here, most of the English teachers are on the same page, but is that what we really came here to do? Have mindless conversations with people over a pint of Cass, while bobbing our heads to Bon Jovi at Gecko’s? Didn’t we get enough of that at Homecoming?

As a foreign person in a strange land it is very much in our animal nature to be drawn to familiarity. With that in mind; a foreign person should also try to take every opportunity available to them here if for no other reason than to have something to write home to Mom about.

I stumbled upon an article in Groove magazine while having one of those pints in Gecko’s. It was about volunteering as an English teacher for disadvantaged kids in Seoul through the HOPE (Helping Others Prosper through English) organization.

As we all know the “English race” in this country is highly competitive. Children spend morning, noon, and night Monday through Saturday shuttling from school to hagwon after hagwon. What not all of us might be aware of is that these hagwons are expensive, and a lot of Korean families cannot afford the fees. What sort of disadvantage do you imagine this puts these children at? Not just at doing poorly in the “race” but at never being given the opportunity to enter it?

I emailed HOPE’s director, Phillip Lozano, who put me in touch with a Korean coordinator, another volunteer who helped me to find a location close to my neighborhood. It took less than a week to organize the entire project, and I had my first class on November 1st.

The children are from a mixture of backgrounds; some from single mother families, some from low-income families and a few North Korean refugees. We meet once a week for two hours and only 15 minutes by subway from my apartment. We spend the first hour working on speaking and the second on writing. Then we all sit down for a snack and play a quick game of hangman.

The best part about the experience is the look on their faces when I walk through the door. They can’t express it in English but I know that they appreciate me being there. They all show up eager to learn, with folders in hand, fighting for first in line to show me their completed homework. Even if the children are not able to fully study English throughout their lives they will have had some exposure because of me. It is also a great feeling to show them and their families that some of the western English teachers really do care about the children and are not just here to make money and party. While I may only be able to donate three months to them, I know that my impression will last a life-time.

If anyone of you has at least one hour per week to donate (HOPE will provide a learning centre) then you qualify to volunteer. It can add to your experiences here in Korea, or lack thereof; and your Mom will be proud of you.

To volunteer with HOPE, contact them via their web site: HOPE Korea. http://www.alwayshope.or.kr/