Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Volunteer work is life-changing experience to Oh
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Members of the World Taekwondo Peace Corps pose on a beach in Mahe, the Seychelles. From left are Kim Eun-hyo, Im Sun-young, Park Hyo-ruel and Oh Ju-young. / Courtesy of Oh Ju-young
By Nam Hyun-woo
By Nam Hyun-woo
Volunteer work in overseas countries serves to not just help the needy but also provides a life-changing experience for volunteers.
That was certainly the case for Oh Ju-young, a 23-year-old international trade major at Hyupsung University who was dispatched to the Seychelles, an archipelago comprised of 115 islands, as a member of the World Taekwondo Peace Corps' (TPC) program. The TPC dispatches members to developing countries to help popularize the sport and provide the countries with services it can offer.
“I didn't have any interest in my major and that made me depressed, so I had to take a break from school for a year without having any plans,” Oh said during an interview with The Korea Times, Monday.
Similar to Oh, many young people have a hard time figuring out what they want to do for living. Oh confessed that she also had a vague dream of something related to international trade, but what she learned at school was far from her fantasy. During that period “without anything special,” a friend introduced her to the TPC program where she could participate in as a translator.
“I thought I should give it a shot rather than wasting my time. And I was lucky enough to get a chance,” she said.
The TPC program is run by the World Taekwondo Federation, the world governing body of the sport. It aims to help young people like Oh gain greater understanding of different cultures and learn to live a healthier lifestyle. The program is one of the key initiatives of federation President Choue Chung-won.
After Oh participated in a nine day training session before departing Korea in December last year, she learned that she would be dispatched to the Seychelles. Though the country lies some 1,500 kilometers east to the Ebola-stricken mainland of Africa, Oh's parents were concerned about sending their daughter to the region.
“I couldn't tell my parents about where I was going. They were so concerned,” she said. “I persuaded them to trust me and my father granted me permission saying that I should use the volunteer work as an opportunity to think about what I really wanted to do.
“I thought about that every day during my volunteer work and I realized that this was what I wanted to do.”
During her one-month stay from Jan. 4 to Feb. 3, she helped fellow volunteers teach taekwondo to about 30 to 40 practitioners at a local center. Also, she focused on teaching them taekwondo's culture of respect.
“The Seychelles is not a country in poverty. However, for taekwondo, the environment was poor,” she said. “Taekwondo should be practiced on floors with rubber mats, but the country's only taekwondo center was floored with tiles, which is dangerous when someone falls. Also they are not equipped with proper gear or targets.”
Oh said she felt proud of Korea's martial art as it is practiced even in a small country, but at the same time she learned that the environment there does not match the practitioners' passion for the sport. She also regretted that her stay was too short to teach as much as she could.
Now her school semester has started. But rather than being stuck at school, she said she wants to apply for TPC's six-month program, hoping for a longer stay in the country and a chance to give greater help to the taekwondo practitioners of the Seychelles. She now learns taekwondo at an academy in Korea to qualify as a taekwondo instructor and hopes for a job related with the sport.
“That was the first time I truly wanted to do something. Some friends say, 'Isn't it too late to start something?' But I say 'Better late than never,'” she said.
She also called for the World Taekwondo Federation to pay more attention and offer assistance to small countries where taekwondo is budding.
“After I returned home, the vice president of the Seychelles Taekwondo Federation contacted me asking for help, saying practitioners in the Seychelles wanted to compete in a championship in March so they needed financial assistance. They asked for aid from their government, but were rejected.
“I contacted the World Taekwondo Federation for help but they did not reply. I was so sorry to tell them the federation was not interested. It will be much better for the federation to pay more attention to helping individuals or small groups desiring to learn taekwondo.”