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#Change in emotional state; alleviation of anxiety about the future #Bonding with the children; exchanges with local university students #The children's innocence and touching moments; the passion of Vietnamese youth
I remember the children who, from our very first meeting, even though I was a foreigner they had never seen before, warmly approached me while saying my name. The people who pronounced my name most accurately were none other than the children.
-Volunteer work for disabled children in Vietnam that becomes hope for wounded children / Jang Ji-eun, gap year participant / 12-week gap year |
Currently, South Korea is,
each year 60,000 middle and high school students drop out of school, 346,000 people in their 20s are just idle with no dreams, and the one-year turnover rate after employment has entered the 40% range,75% of university students are not satisfied with college life, and more than 80% of office workers say they do not feel happy.Many people tell others to dream, but to solve this problem where there are no practical methods or support, we want to introduce the ''gap year'' to South Korea.
''Gap year''is a time to pause or to combine study and work and, through various activities such as volunteering, travel, internships, education, or startups,it is a period to set the direction for the future and is a culture encouraged in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and other countries.
Time to prepare for the future after leaving a job: gap year
Hello. My name is Jang Ji-eun. At the end of last November I quit the company I had worked at for over ten years because I wanted to give myself a break after working hard and have time to prepare for the future, so I took a gap year.
What I wanted to change was my state of mind: anxiety about the future, a life without leisure, the impatience of feeling I had to live each day to the fullest, and an ever-unquenched thirst...I wanted to give myself, who had worked hard for over ten years, the gift of rest and time to look for and prepare for what I want to do next.
After completing a three-month gap-year program in Hanoi, Vietnam, I am currently doing another gap-year program in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Vietnam was a city I had never been to before, and because the project seemed it could help the children and my previous childcare-training experience might be useful, I chose it without much hesitation.
Also, regarding living abroad, I had experience staying in France for 1 year and 4 months during university, and I had traveled alone many times for short periods since then, so I wasn''t worried. However, I felt a heavy burden about having to wrap up the company I was currently working at due to scheduling.
#Preparations before departure
With the mindset that I must bring as little luggage as possible, I reduced it to a minimum and packed clothes I could discard. Wanting to travel a lot, I bought a Lonely Planet guidebook and read it throughout the preparation period.I looked at art therapy materials that could help the children, and I also studied Korean-teaching books in case they requested Korean lessons.
I bought word flashcards, but they were too heavy so I ended up not bringing them. (Instead, thanks to having learned POP lettering, I solved it myself with drawings.) AI wanted to bring country-related souvenirs, so I bought hanbok stickers, a pencil set, Pororo stickers, etc., and also purchased a set of gonggi (a traditional Korean children''s game). I prepared my English by watching British and American TV shows, but it didn''t help much. I kept reading gap-year reviews to steady myself.
#Days in Vietnam
First project | Second project |
06:30 Wake up and prepare 07:30 Commute, changing buses twice 08:30 Arrive at the center. Morning classes begin 10:30 Lunch and break 14:00 Afternoon classes begin 16:00 Afternoon class ends. Finish work. 17:00 Arrive at accommodation. Rest. 18:00 Dinner. Free time. 23:00 Bedtime. | 07:30 Wake up and get ready. 08:45 Take the bus to work. 09:30 Arrive at the hospital school, morning classes begin. 11:00 Morning work ends. Return to accommodation. 12:00 Lunch at the accommodation, rest. 13:00 Go to afternoon class. 14:00 Afternoon class begins. 16:00 Afternoon class ends. 17:00 Go home. Rest, then dinner. The following is the same as the first project. |
In the first project, I served as an assistant teacher for a class that taught cooking and life skills.If the children wanted, I taught them English or math, and I helped the teacher make teaching aids, create materials, and decorate the classroom. The program was usually divided into morning and afternoon sessions; in the morning there was a cooking class where the children made local food themselves, shared it, and cleaned up afterward. There were usually cooking and cleaning duties, so the children not cooking spent their time drawing or studying English, etc.
During the afternoon classes, the children prepared and studied tasks suited to their individual intellectual abilities on their own. Since the teacher had set the lesson content, the children would take out materials, open their notebooks, and get ready by themselves. I stayed beside each child—those practicing spelling, practicing numbers, or wanting to study English—showing them what to do and practicing together.
From time to time I made textbooks or teaching aids requested by the teacher, and during January five local university social work students came for practicum; three of them acted as assistant teachers, and the other two and I decorated the classroom and made name tags for the children, among other beautification tasks. I enjoyed the time with the children and with the local students. Thanks to the students, I was also greatly helped in learning the local language.
For the second project, because the first project had to pause for about a month due to the organization''s circumstances and I was looking for a place to work instead, I was invited to participate in a newly started project at the organization and began.
The second project wasI worked at a hospital school run by the social welfare team of the National Children''s Hospital.The name is "Hope Class."
Every day we planned lesson content related to things to make and play with the children in advance, and prepared and carried it out accordingly. The class schedule was created at a meeting every Tuesday afternoon where local staff and volunteers studied the content and made the schedule together. I also participated and offered input. Often the schedule only listed the topic, so we had to research methods and materials ourselves, and since I was in charge of running the sessions as the teacher, my experiences from the first project were very helpful.
At the hospital school, activities were centered on long-term inpatients and children who were able to move around easily, and even in the short time the children recognized my face, greeted me first, and followed along well, which made me happy.
In both projects, local supporters—volunteers affiliated with the organization (mostly local university students)—joined the classes and helped me. I couldn''t speak the local language and the students in the class couldn''t speak English, so volunteers were essential as intermediaries, and I was able to get a lot of help by speaking English with these supporters.
Moving moments in Vietnam
I remember the children who, from our first meeting, warmly approached me while telling me their names even though I was a foreigner they had never met before. The people who pronounced my name most accurately were none other than our children.Even the teacher called my name "Yuneui" (they pronounced ''Eun'' that way), but only the children pronounced it correctly as "Ji-eun."
Even children who couldn''t speak at all treated me very kindly—hugging me when I arrived or taking my hand and asking me to sit next to them—and as the day I was leaving approached they told me they were sad and asked me not to forget them, which was deeply moving.Every moment I spent with the children was moving.
In the second project too, the child who had attended our class twice saw my face and waved at me first when I went to the ward to call the children. Another child saw me in the hallway, came over first, and took my hand. I was so, so grateful that the children approached me first.Although our words didn''t match, I was happy spending time with the children.
Meeting the local university students and other young people was also an unforgettable memory.
Among the local supporters, a friend named LinH was not only kind to foreign volunteers but also did her volunteer duties well, making her popular with the children at the organization. Some supporters come as if their goal is to “make foreign friends” and just chat throughout the class and leave, but this friend volunteered and helped us, so the teacher’s evaluation of her was good.
Beyond the classes, they helped me a lot—giving me a ride to my accommodation when I had trouble with the bus, or rushing over when I got off at the wrong place and called. A wonderful young person who is always concerned about his country’s development and says he hopes foreign volunteers only take good memories from his country. Thanks to the local supporters, we were able to carry out the project without much difficulty.
Talking with these friends made me wonder whether people in my country have ever worried and thought about their country to such an extent.Thanks to these passionate young people who reflect, study, and work hard, I felt that Vietnam’s future is bright.
This gap year allowed me to form such great multinational connections and, by volunteering in the country’s areas of need, to feel both the pain and the hope through its young people.It was a time I wouldn’t have experienced if not for the gap year. CAM ON!! (Kham on!! — Vietnamese for “thank you”~!)
#People who were with me during the gap year
The teachers and students at the first institution, the local supporters, Vietnamese university students who practiced with me. The first Vietnamese person I met on my first trip, Lan. Many other connections from various travel destinations including the Thai friend Sin. The youth from the Korean church. Friends from our accommodation who did the gap year together, and the accommodation staff.
My Vietnamese friend Lan, whom I met on my first trip. She studied Korean for five years and later went to Thailand as a government-sponsored student, so she is a smart friend fluent in both Korean and Thai. She happened to sit next to me at the first destination and we became close; she invited me to her home for a Christmas party, letting me feel the warmth of a Vietnamese family. We said goodbye on the day I left and promised to meet next time in Korea—I definitely want to see her again.
Speaking of the kids at our accommodation,I was able to meet friends from various countries.Melissa, the Dutch friend who said she liked Korean barbecue and took everyone to a Korean restaurant on the last day before we left. Martin, the Slovak friend who said he had worked at a Kia factory in his city and had a good impression of Korean companies. Ida, the Danish friend who was like the big sister of our accommodation and set an example in everything.
Mighty, who heard I had learned French and from the first day we met insisted on speaking French with me and became my French teacher; another very kind French teacher, Melody; Maggie, a quirky French girl who seriously asked me why Koreans shouldn’t meet North Koreans; and Sara, a French friend who knew Korean drinking games even better than I did and taught them to the others.
Even though she stayed only three weeks, our roommate Samantha, an English girl, was always kind when asked and put on such funny jokes that she was popular with everyone, etc. Whether their stays were short or long, everyone had come with the purpose of “service,” so I remember them as kind, friendly, and wonderful people.
I also remember my British friend Lucy who joined me for the last project. After graduating high school and before entering university, she took a gap year and taught English in Cambodia for five weeks, and after moving to Vietnam she and I were in charge of the Hope Class. She said she worked five part-time jobs to save money for the gap year; when I asked if she was still young and could have received help from her parents, she confidently said she was no longer a child and wanted to prepare on her own.
When I asked if she missed her family, she said it was fine because she Skypes with them every day and that she is happy now. In this way there are European friends who take a gap year after high school, those who come for internships before graduating university, or who come before entering graduate school, etc.I met friends from many countries around the world—Europe, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and so on—who truly enjoy the “gap year.”
There were also people who, while traveling through various Asian countries, came to the institution saying they would volunteer for two weeks. For these people, volunteering wasn’t something they scheduled deliberately but rather something that naturally fit into their travel routine. Examples included two elementary school teachers from the United States, a graduate student named Angelina from Italy, and a woman in her fifties, Susan, from Australia.The very idea of volunteering while traveling was refreshing.
Although volunteering is a special experience for them, their view that it is not a special event but woven into everyday life made me also want to share my time where help is needed when I return to Korea. And on my next trip I want to spend even just a day or two at a place that needs help. Thanks to them, I also want to experience travel combined with volunteering.
#Me before and after the gap year
1.The world is vast, there is so much to do, and many different kinds of jobs exist.Therefore, whether in Vietnam or Cambodia, if there is a job I would feel tempted to stay longer and work.
2. I look younger than my age. When people hear my actual age they are surprised and treat me as if I were in my twenties—thanks to those kind friends the pressure about my age has lessened a lot. Therefore,Don’t be too disheartened about approaching forty.
3.You don''t need to have professional-level skills.. Like how even my unremarkable drawings were praised and used in many ways, don''t think you can''t do it — just say OK to everything and give it a try. The phrase I said most here was “Okay. I’ll try it.”
4.It''s okay if it''s not that path.That you can take a different route. There are other methods, so if one way doesn''t work, explore other ways. And give it a try.
5. Returning to the beginning, but the world is so, so vast.That I still have many things I want to do and many places I want to go.So I want to be someone who can share what I''ve learned.
#My personal travel routes I discovered during the gap year
If you have the chance to do a homestay while traveling in Sapa in northern Vietnam, definitely do it.
The day I went was one of Sapa''s rare snowy days; in cold weather with snow and rain all day, we slipped and fell on the 4-hour trekking course and barely arrived at the homestay.
There was hardly any electricity or light and it was dark; the traditional house had vents under the ceiling that let the outside cold into the home, but everyone gathered in the warm kitchen to dry wet clothes and sneakers by the stove, sit around a small brazier to eat dinner, and spend time together. There was nothing else to do and it was too cold outside the kitchen, so both the host family and the travelers naturally gathered in the kitchen.
HoThat evening — with my friend Hyojeong who accompanied me, myself, and my Australian friend Shamus, the four of us — we played card games, drew pictures, and played other games led by Bong, the host family''s 3-year-old daughter; the two dogs were with us too. It was an unforgettable “peaceful time.”That time when, with nothing else, we huddled together around a small hearth under the light bulb and played with the child.It was so cold that we couldn''t wash our faces; we bundled up in every piece of clothing and slept under more than three blankets, but we woke up safely without catching a cold, and the Vietnamese-style noodles served for breakfast tasted delicious. It was the only time I got away from the city''s glamor, TV, and social media.
#Tips for future participants in the gap year project.
It''s great if you enjoy playing with children, are open-minded about local food, and can smile through whatever hardships the bus may give you. If you can draw a little or like crafting, you''ll be very useful.Whatever situation arises, accept it with a positive attitude.. You can work happily.
Capturing the growth journeys
of our participants.
