"Cheer Up, POSCO" Gwangyang City Multicultural Families Flood Damage Recovery Support

Repaying POSCO for Support in Stable Community Settlement

200 Local Marriage Immigrant Women Voluntarily Participate, Delivering Goods and Handwritten Letters

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seon-sik] Jeonnam Gwangyang City Multicultural Family Support Center (Director Son Kyung-hwa) took the initiative on the 28th at the Kumho-dong Gwangyang Steel Cooperation Hall to cheer on POSCO, which is working hard on typhoon Hinnamnor damage recovery.

Since the opening of the Gwangyang City Multicultural Family Support Center in 2008, Gwangyang Steelworks has been carrying out various activities to help multicultural families settle stably in the local community, including ▲support for visiting home countries ▲joint weddings ▲opening of the communication space Dagaon (ON) ▲vocational education.

Also, during the typhoon damage in the Philippines and Vietnam in 2013 and 2020, and the Nepal earthquake damage in 2015, the Gwangyang City Multicultural Family Support Center took the lead in delivering relief supplies such as water and medical supplies together with Gwangyang Steelworks.

Having maintained a special relationship with Gwangyang Steelworks for the past 15 years, the Gwangyang City Multicultural Family Support Center planned the POSCO cheering project to repay the generous support and love it has received so far, after the Pohang Steelworks suffered great damage from typhoon Hinnamnor on the 6th.

To this end, they created a card news about the recent typhoon damage and POSCO’s support cases for multicultural families to carry out fundraising activities, and delivered hygiene products and snacks worth about 9.2 million KRW to Gwangyang Steelworks, based on the participation of about 200 marriage immigrant women, 32 employees, and about 270 students from Cheongam University’s Department of Social Welfare.

In particular, the marriage immigrant women voluntarily participated in the fundraising campaign by sharing POSCO’s situation in their group chat rooms and leaving relay donation certification photos, spreading the word around and gathering small contributions from many people.

Additionally, they attracted attention by writing cheering messages and handwritten letters wishing for the speedy recovery of Pohang Steelworks.

They left messages such as “We feel sorry that POSCO, which supported us, has been damaged. We pray for a quick recovery and will always cheer for you,” “POSCO, stay strong!”, and “We will be with you.”

Ms. Bolojiba Saltanat, who came to Korea from Kyrgyzstan seven years ago, said, “Thanks to various programs and opportunities supported by POSCO for us, such as special Korean cooking classes, GED support, and computer education, I have come to understand Korean culture a lot and gained a lot of confidence, so I am living well,” adding, “I was very saddened to hear the news of the great damage caused by the recent typhoon.”

She continued, “Just as POSCO helped us, I also participated with a grateful heart. I pray that our small help will be a support so that POSCO will stand taller as a company we Koreans are prouder of than before.”

Meanwhile, Gwangyang Steelworks plans to deliver the received support supplies to Pohang Steelworks and share the heartfelt cheering messages and handwritten letters from multicultural families in Gwangyang City with all employees, offering comfort and encouragement to the staff who are sweating day and night to recover from the typhoon damage.

Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seon-sik hss79@asiae.co.kr