Sharing Neighborly Love with Kimchi... Yeongdeungpo-gu, Kimchi-Making Volunteer Service for Domestic and Foreign Residents

On the 7th, 'Neighborly Love Kimchi Sharing Made Together by Domestic and Foreign Residents' Held in Front Yard of District Office Hope Suragan... 10kg Each to Be Delivered to 130 Low-Income and Vulnerable Households in the Area... Participation in Painting Work at Daerim 1-dong Foreigners' Volunteer Crime Prevention Post on November 27-28... Neighborly Love of Domestic and Foreign Residents Shines

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Yeongdeungpo-gu (District Mayor Chaehyunil) successfully held the events “Neighborly Love Kimchi Sharing Made Together by Korean and Foreign Residents” and “Mural Painting” to promote mutual exchange and harmony between domestic and foreign residents and to practice neighborly love and sharing.

With the kimchi-making season in full swing, the district announced that it organized this kimchi-sharing event to create an opportunity for Korean and foreign residents to gather, check on each other’s well-being, and communicate while making kimchi, a traditional Korean food, by hand.

Additionally, the event was held with the purpose of practicing neighborly love by delivering kimchi carefully made by Korean and foreign residents to underprivileged households in the community and fostering a social integration atmosphere where foreigners, locals, and vulnerable households respect each other with one heart.

Thirteen members of the Intercultural Participation Group and Hanul Volunteer Group, formed to represent the voices of foreign residents, attended the main event, gathering at 9 a.m. on the 7th in the front yard of the Hope Suragan annex of Yeongdeungpo-gu Office to start making kimchi.

Before starting, participants strictly followed personal hygiene rules such as temperature checks, confirmation of vaccination status, wearing masks, and hand sanitization, and maintained appropriate distancing while making kimchi.

In the morning, they filled salted napa cabbages with seasoning and packed the finished kimchi into boxes, and in the afternoon, they prepared for delivery to vulnerable and low-income households in the area.

During the event, Yeongdeungpo-gu Mayor Chaehyunil visited the site and helped mix the kimchi seasoning with the participants.

The 1,300 kg of kimchi made in this way is planned to be delivered in 10 kg portions to 130 underprivileged households in the community.

On the 27th and 28th of last month, about 10 Korean and foreign families participated together in painting the Daerim 1-dong Foreigners’ Autonomous Crime Prevention Unit booth. Volunteers who voluntarily stepped forward to improve the local image in a fresher and cleaner way painted colorful murals over the previously gray and dull exterior walls of the booth, using blue and green backgrounds.

One of the participants who joined the painting work said, “Although painting the mural for two days was tiring and my shoulders hurt, seeing the completed mural makes me feel proud and that it was a good effort because the neighborhood atmosphere has become much brighter.”

Yeongdeungpo-gu Mayor Chaehyunil said, “I sincerely thank the Korean and foreign residents and officials who participated in the ‘Kimchi Sharing’ and ‘Mural Painting’ events with warm hearts loving their neighbors despite the cold weather,” and added, “We will continue to do our best to become a healthy community where Korean and foreign residents communicate and harmonize together.”