There is Kookmin student who is full of energy with an active mind even when the weather is cloudy and rainy. I met Kim, Ran-won (Law ‘11) who is a board member of the University StudentVolunteer Service at UNICEF. She is planning various volunteer programs and working at the service with a warm heart.

Q. I heard you worked at the UNICEF University Student Volunteer Service since being a freshman; is there a special reason?
A. There was a duty to serve the community when I was in high school, so I guess every high school student has to do volunteer work. But I wasn’t happy and didn’t feel self-worth when I thought of it as a duty. So I thought that I wanted to do a self volunteer activity when I went to university. Because I am especially interested in child welfare, I decided to work at UNICEF.

Q. What was your first ‘save the children’ volunteer work?
A. The first thing was to hold a seminar about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Each of the university students who work in volunteer service at UNICEF took one part of the rights of the child –rights for living, rights to participate, rights for development, andrights for custody- researched them and held a seminar about them at Sungkyunkwan University. I took the ‘rights for development’ part and studied it with 8 other members. Rights for development are needed for children to develop and maximize their potential and they include the right to an education, the right to enjoy leisure, the right to enjoy culture, the right to information, the right to have thought and conscience, and the right to have a religion. We discussed the data each member brought 2 times a week for 3 hours and researched about rights to development violations and real conditions.

Q. Why did you decide to work in this seminar?
A. Even though I decided to do volunteer work, I didn’t know what to do. I knew UNICEF was the organization to save the children around the world, but I didn’t exactly know the children’s conditions. I just guessed that they might be starving and that they would have no place to sleep. So I wanted to know detailedbasic information about what I would be doing before undertaking volunteer work. That way I could give the help based on what they really needed. I made a good choice to hold the seminar during my very first meeting. Actually, I had a hard time to work other events, but looking back, all the research and discussion that first time helped me to succeed in my volunteer work.

Q. I heard you are a board member of the UNICEF University StudentVolunteer Service; could you tell me what kind of work do you do?
A. We have long-term programs such as KkumnamuVillage, Friends of Math, and the Promotion of Nami Island. I’m in charge of the Promotion of Nami Island from among these programs. There is a UNICEF hall onNami Island where I recruit regular sponsors. People used to stand there and hand out information pamphlets, but it has changed since I began with the program. I thought this is not the way to attract people. So I made teams and we met every week to change the original promotion, and we then decided to make programs which people can enjoy like a waterway project, flash mob, and T/F quiz. These attracted the public’s interest.

Q. It sounds special in the idea that people can participate voluntarily. Could you explain it in detail?
A. First, in the waterway project, there are many children who suffer from a water shortage. Some children walkbare foot half of the day to draw water. These children are not only struggling physically but also educationally. While drawing water, they have no time to go to school, so naturally they don’t go to school. If there would be a pump in the village, all residents would not need to worry about collecting water,especially thechildren. This project has started to advertise for sponsors to purchase pumps. They would make a winding waterway along the ground and offer help to children to set a water jar on their head to go draw water. Also there are man-sized, and children-sizedjars. People tend to realize the seriousness of their problem after experiencing itfirsthand rather than through explanation.
There are many couples and families onNami Island. I started a flash mob project to provide some enjoyable things to attract people’s attention. We are concerned with music, dance, clothes, and time. I choreographed flash mobsmyself and I taught them. It was hard to coincide with each student’s time, so I set aside one day as a practice day and made them participate in it. I can’t forget dancing together at Sajik Park sweating in out. I was very grateful to people for following me even though they were in their exam period.

Q. Have you changed your mind from when you started volunteer work 1 year ago and now?
A. At first, I just thought helping poor people and giving material help wasvolunteer work. However, looking back I realize that real volunteer work is not only those two things, but also scholarly activities like letting people know the situation of the needy, and attracting the attention of people. Of course, giving material help to people who are really suffering in a difficult situation is also necessary, but helping them stand on their own feet is more important. Help is dependent on liquidity, so if people losetheir support, they would be in big trouble. I think an education to get them to stand on their own feet is really important to help them not end up in this situation.

Q. What was the best present to you during last year of activities?
A. People. I met many UNICEF people rather than just friends from school to do the many projects like a marathon, and the Nami Island Project together. We became friends naturally. They all gathered for volunteer work so they were really kind and nice. They helped to purify my spirit. We still see each other outside the UNICEF regular meetings. Also there is a mentor system to liaise between freshman volunteers and existing volunteerscalled‘Manito’. Through this system, the people in UNICEF have jelled as a team.

Q. Is there any volunteer work you can to recommend for Kookmin University students who would like to get involved but don’t know what to do or don’t have any volunteering experience?
A. I would recommend for them to not to start out on a large scale. If they do that, they will expect much and get tired quickly. A good way to start is by participating in various programs at school such as community service, farming volunteer activity, accompany program, and sharing briquettes event. When you can enjoy giving help to someone, it can be real help to them. If you don’t do volunteer work spontaneously, the people who get support may feel uncomfortable and the help couldn’t continue. So, start volunteer work when you really want to be actively engaged in it.

Latest Volunteer Work

2011 Aug~Nov – Preparation for UNICEF Convention on the Rights of the Child
2011 Oct – International Peace Marathon
2011 Aug~ 2012 Jun – Collecting sponsors and UNICEF volunteer work at Nami Island(Waterway experience planning, Flashmob)
2012 Feb – UNICEF online supporters

What she said:‘Don’t start volunteer work on a large scale’really touched my heart. I have always searched for big scale things before starting any activities. If you start focusing on name value rather than the content of work andbeing consciously aware of others, you cannot keep doing volunteer work. I hope you will start with small things if you start volunteer work for the first time. When you feel real happiness through volunteer activity, then you can start volunteer work in a large scale. “The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose” as the saying goes in China. I hope the fragrance will always stay in your hand.