We are delighted to share a blog written by Seungah Lee, a student at Seoul Foreign British School (SFBS) who is part of a team delivering a Global Goals project for the 2018-19 Global Goals Competition.
Their project is among over 800 social action projects currently running as part of the GSL movement and we are excited to be supporting them to design and lead positive social change in their community.
Through this project, we have took the first steps in making the world a good place to live in for ALL people.
Project Overview
I’ve always believed South Korea, my home country, was a country that was technologically advanced, developed, and clean. All my fantasies shattered when I first visited Seoul train station, and so many drunk and pained homeless people were sitting with depressed faces on the streets in front of the station. One of the older students from our school noticed this first, and our school came to provide opportunities to students to give out warm and nutritional food and share love and care with them. This would be done through a foundation named Nanumi.
Immediately, I felt that I had to take part in this amazing opportunity. It wasn’t much, it wouldn’t create a big change, but it would be something. We have not only made monthly visits to the foundation for 3 hours of feeding, but have also collected toothpastes and toothbrushes for the homeless’ dental health, and made lots and lots of danmuji (Korean sour radish dish, is good for inflammation and preventing infections because it has turmeric) to give out as a side dish. Seeing their happy faces made me even happier, and our group will continue to support Nanumi and raise awareness in our community.
Our Journey
I believe participating in this competition helped develop collaboration and communication skills. This was especially because our team members were all of different classes and year groups, and in result, it was so hard to meet up at a certain time to work on this project.
To overcome this challenge, we had to work together to the best we could (efficiently) at the few times that we could actually all meet up, and we had to use a common chatroom to discuss details about the project online. Thankfully, most members replied quickly and thoroughly, as well as showed dedication and actually carried out their parts, and that is why I believe these two skills were developed most in our group members throughout the project.
I’ve learnt that I will have to work on my time management, because as the deadline neared, I realized I haven’t distributed my work evenly enough so towards the end, I suffered from the workload that I loaded on to myself due to procrastination. From now on, I will try to “cut up” big projects like this one and do a little bit everyday.
The Next Chapter
I would most definitely recommend other teenagers like us to work on similar projects. One might think that due to our young age, we can’t do anything- but that is completely wrong. Perhaps we couldn’t make big, huge, Earth-changing changes. However, with passion and a strong will to make this world a better place, we can contribute positively to anything- even if it might just be “baby steps” for now.
Anything is okay- whether it is helping stray dogs, helping the homeless, helping the disabled. Whatever you feel passion for, whatever that will make the world a better place in any aspect, don’t hesitate; go for it!
The 2018-19 GSL Global Goals Competition is now open and runs until June 2019. If you belong to one of the 700+ teams of students currently delivering a social action project as part of the competition we would love to hear from you and feature your blog and project photos on our website to inspire others.
