AWC KOREA “GOT ENGLISH?”
Submitted by
Bobby Herwig, AWC Korea webmaster
http://awckorea.org
AWC Korea supports underprivileged children in Incheon by sponsoring a monthly Play Day/English Experience at after-school community centers for children who are not fortunate enough to attend language academies or receive tutoring. Yet they are Korea 's citizens of tomorrow who will be expected to thrive in a global environment and they, too, need English language skills.
Volunteers meet as a group in Seoul and travel an hour to Incheon for an afternoon that is an absolute delight. The children are curious and eager to participate, making the experience one members don’t soon forget. The play dates are followed by a trip to one of the many interesting restaurants in Seoul . “Got English?” is a fantastic way to connect with Korea and to meet some wonderful and unforgettable children.
Bringing the Healing Touch of Lipstick
AWC of Korea understands that many organizations support charities to assist women who are fleeing lives of abuse and poverty. However, AWCK also realizes that sometimes it is the little things that go far in enhancing a woman’s sense of well-being. AWCK is a club filled with women who take action when there is a niche to be filled.
Members gathered unused cosmetics, lotions and creams to donate to a group called “My Sister’s Place.” My Sister’s Place shelters women fleeing the high-risk occupation of prostitution or untenable relationships, and who are trying to turn their lives around. These women have no money and no way of obtaining some of the little things that can bring so much to enhancing their lives.
This was a great opportunity for club members to find all those cosmetics that they never used. AWC Korea realized the world is full of more pressing needs and urgent situations, but making one woman at a time feel a little bit better gave members the emotional rewards. This is a project all clubs could consider and one that is so very easy to accomplish.
Hello Friends English Program
Although school children in Korea’s cities usually have opportunities to interact with people from other countries out in public or in their schools or language academy, in the countryside or more ‘isolated’ areas of Korea, that is not always the case. For many of these children, their only perceptions of ‘Westerners’ was from television or movies, or from the negative things they heard.
Hello Friends was created to address this situation and almost 10 years later, it continues to offer Korean children in country schools the chance to meet and interact with ‘real’ foreigners while having some fun with English. But it’s not just a one-way street. Hello Friends is a way for expats to meet some ‘real’ Koreans, visit out-of the-way areas of the country and have a good time.
Hello Friends sends volunteers to visit schools throughout Korea and introduce English to young schoolchildren. It is an outreach program and is not intended as an English Teaching course. All the costs of Hello Friends trips are covered by the AWCK and private donors.