Jang Soon-Ok is known as the "125
cm Tall Tiny Angel" because of her height due to her spinal problem and,
of course, because of her selfless labor with the disabled.
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| Picture borrowed from the Group's FB Page |
The Angel House has around 50
disabled residents and one of the things that makes it unique is the fact that
the disabled residents support themselves by making (or more like assembling)
crafts they later sell the popular low-cost store Daiso in South Korea; in my
opinion, that is something not only worth mentioning but also worth baring in
mind to remind us all that no matter what conditions and situations life puts
you through, you will always be able to make it as long as you’re willing to
fight for it!
The Angel House opens its doors to
volunteers on the first and third Saturdays of every month. Each volunteer gives
a 10,000 won donation to cover the cost of food for the day. The remainder of
the money is donated to the Angel House to benefit the residents. Some of the
chores the volunteers are responsible for are: cleaning the facilities, doing
laundry, cooking, and providing basic personal hygiene for the residents. When
the work is all done, they get to eat, talk, and socialize with the residents.
Personally, I always enjoy
volunteering but I think I’ve only had experience volunteering in the Arts
field, which –for me- was not only rewarding but also amazing;
however, volunteering and giving your time with people is a completely
different thing, it’s much more fulfilling and you actually feel like you’re helping
out.
When someone talks about “giving
back” people usually imagines celebrities being altruistic and “giving back” to
the community as a thank you for everything they’ve got: fame, fortune and
whatnot. However, giving back is not only for celebrities and/or rich people, giving
back is something we can (and probably should) all do. In my case, I consider
myself to be very lucky and blessed with the life I’ve got, the people, the
experiences and all the things in it, so I wanted to “give back” and contribute
to the society even if it was a little of my time and care. I knew it might be
a bit of a hard experience for me as I’ve dealt with disabled people before (my
Mom) -hard in the sensitive kind of way- but I also knew I would be able to
help them and share my time with them and treat them like normal people,
because not everyone is capable of that, to be honest.
There was this lady who had a purse
hanging across her body and she had this little phonebook with her, she’d take
it out and ask each of us to write down our name and phone number in it (all in
Korean, of course, as none of them speak English), I thought she was so cute
and endearing! There was also this guy, a very smart man, he’d tell us how to
assemble the crafts properly and made sure to let us know if/when we were doing
it wrong, but in a nice way and when you were doing it right, he’d say “good
job!” (again, in Korean). For me, that kind of things are the ones that fill
your heart with love, your mind with peace and your body with good energy; and I
don’t mean to sound all hippie here and all, but it is what it is.
The general experience was just
alright, really, as I was expecting to spend a bit more time with the people
rather than the crafting part; however, I enjoyed it and would definitely do it
again.
If you’re in Korea and would like to
volunteer, you can check out the Angel’s House FB Group or find any other place
where you can do so, if you’re not in Korea, I’m sure you can always find
places where your help is much needed, so don’t be afraid or wait until you’re
rich or a celebrity to give back. We can all contribute a little now!
Special Thanks to Kiki for inviting
us to share this great experience!
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