Q1. Please introduce yourself briefly.
Hello, I am Kim Ye-gyeol, and I am in charge of the Dear Mommy and Good Samaritan’s House support projects on the Child Protection team of Migration to Asia Peace (MAP). I take part in supporting the operation of the project that provides child-rearing, childcare, and medical expense support that refugee children need.
Q2. Please share your motivation for applying to MAP.
I have been interested in refugee issues since I read Jean Ziegler’s “L’Île des hommes” (인간 섬) in high school. I was also curious about how NGOs are run, so I became a volunteer at MAP!
Q3. What has changed in you before and after the activity?
I cannot forget the experience of taking a train for three hours to Pyeongtaek and doing a home-visit monitoring of a refugee family by myself. Even though continuous support was not possible, they welcomed me so warmly that I felt both sorry and grateful. I could see up close how hard the mother was working for her own life and her child’s life, more than when I conducted interviews remotely. The baby was also very cute, and I think I have become able to look more broadly at the elements needed to build a family safely ㅎㅎ.
Q4. What was the most memorable activity?
I remember taking part in the interviews to select the families to be supported by Good Samaritan’s House. Even remotely, I could feel that each person desperately needed help, and because we could not support everyone, which made me very sorry and sad, I selected the beneficiaries while going through a lot of inner conflict. I could directly sense in which areas they were having the most difficulty. I learned a great deal because I was able to take part in the process of selecting beneficiaries, which I had been curious about for a long time.
Q5. What do you think our society needs most in order to live together with refugees?
An attitude of wanting to help seems to be the most pressing need. Of course, it is hard to understand one another 100 percent. But I am sure that if we see the difficult situations refugees are in, do not ignore them, and think about ways to help, great change will come!!
Q6. Finally, is there an activity you would recommend to people interested in refugee issues?
I recommend working on MAP’s CP team… Honestly, I think it is the hardest team among MAP’s departments, but I am proud that it is a team where you can experience that much more. You can visit refugee families in person and talk with them, and there were really many opportunities to think about what support they actually need. Come to the CP team!