Seoul Jung-gu Connects Hearts Through Ontact Interactive Team-Building Event

On the afternoon of the 26th, Jung-gu Daycare Center Childcare Staff Online Unity Event Held... Organized to Boost Morale of Childcare Staff Exhausted by COVID-19

Seo Yang-ho, Mayor of Jung-gu, attending the online unity meeting

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] "Rock, paper, scissors! Please put down your fists. Those who showed fists are eliminated."

The recreation host's voice was followed by a burst of lively laughter.

This place, where childcare staff from 67 daycare centers in Jung-gu, Seoul gathered for recreation, is none other than an online space.

On the afternoon of the 26th, Jung-gu (Mayor Seoyangho) held an online unity event to support childcare staff who are exhausted due to COVID-19.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, childcare staff have been spending each day under tension, as 'disinfection' and 'sanitization' have become routine to protect the health and safety of infants and toddlers at daycare centers, increasing their workload and requiring them to take care of their own health as well.

Accordingly, the district prepared the 'Jung-gu Childcare Staff Online Unity Event,' a place of harmony with about 1,000 childcare staff from 67 daycare centers in the area, using the online platform Zoom to relieve their stress.

The host was at the Jung-gu Office Planning Situation Room, and the childcare staff were at their respective daycare centers, physically apart but connected through the online space to strengthen their bonds.

Each daycare center’s staff formed teams with various props such as headbands, name tags, and toppers, and during communication time and programs like Together Jung-gu, they engaged in team building and recreation to relieve accumulated fatigue and enjoy a time of unity that had inevitably loosened due to social distancing.

The initially somewhat awkward atmosphere began to liven up with various quizzes on district affairs and nonsense topics, and the professional recreation instructor’s facilitation, making the mood no different from a unity event held in the same physical space.

The cheers from the daycare center that won chicken through the quiz made it feel as if they were actually on site. Even those who got the quiz wrong didn’t mind. They sang prepared cheering songs and introduced their daycare centers, raising the excitement. Despite being apart, the participants’ passionate energy radiated beyond the monitor screen.

All participating staff were also provided with a prize 'Stress Relief Healing Kit' specially made to enjoy alone at home, consisting of a glass cup, snack set, mini humidifier, and more.

Seoyangho, Mayor of Jung-gu, who has emphasized that the quality of treatment for childcare staff caring for children must be high along with childcare conditions for children to grow up happily, also participated that day, solving quizzes and encouraging the hardworking childcare staff, bringing vitality to the unity event with his characteristic witty remarks.

A Jung-gu Office official said they planned this online unity event thinking that if the event was conducted with interactive online communication like watching 'Baekfather Cooking, Don’t Stop!', it might boost the morale of daycare childcare workers.

Mayor Seoyangho of Jung-gu said, "I thank all of you who have worked tirelessly in the childcare field," adding, "As contactless methods are emphasized due to COVID-19, the role and capacity enhancement of childcare staff are also required, which inevitably increases their burden and stress. The district will not spare various supports for childcare staff to make Jung-gu a happy place for children."