YEAR IN REVIEW
Seoul International Women’s Association
2019 - 2020
WELCOME TO Seoul International Women’s Association (SIWA) The largest and longest-running international women’s organisation in Korea
CONTENTS 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10
OUR STORY
History of SIWA
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Veronica Koon
SIWA BY THE NUMBERS Social events Supported charities
SIWA WELFARE Sunghwa Han
08 - 09
10 - 11
12 - 13 14 - 15
16 - 17
SIWA & THE DIPLOMATIC COMMUNITY Friendship and fundraising
SIWA’S WELLNESS Activities
SOCIAL MEDIA Where to find us
SIWA LEADERS
Executive Committee
MEMBER EXPERIENCES Member’s stories
ESSAY CONTEST WINNERS About evironmental protection
18 - 21
22 - 25
26 - 27
28 - 31
32 - 37
40 - 49
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DWIGHT SCHOOL SEOUL INTERNATIONAL
PERSONALIZED LEARNING Admissions@dwight.or.kr 6
Our differences
make us
Unique! INCLUSIVE STATEMENT Seoul International Women’s Association members hail from 40 different countries with diverse experiences. Our differences make us unique, and for more than six decades SIWA has championed this very idea in Seoul by bringing together women from around the world for friendship, enrichment and charity.
OUR SIWA CORE VALUES
Respect UNITY
TRUST
COLLABORATION
C re a t i v i t y
Agility
EXCELLENCE Diversity
LEGACY
INTEGRITY
SIWA’s programs and activities foster cultural competence and seek to provide ways for members to learn about different cultures, traditions, customs, and practices. SIWA is committed to the fundamental principles of inclusion and equality; therefore, we focus on building an inclusive environment which enables us to perform at our best, ensuring the differences work for the benefit of both the individual and the association. The principles by which we operate are clearly reflected in SIWA Core Values. SIWA takes inclusion and diversity seriously. It is the policy of Seoul International Women’s Association not to discriminate based on age, disability, race, religion, marital status, national or ethnic origin, or sexual orientation. We are open to opportunities that are inclusive of the entire SIWA membership base and therefore do not participate in activities and events that exclude, intentionally or otherwise, any segment of the aassociation’s membership. 7
HISTORY Since 1962, SIWA has been a place where women from around the world could meet, forge friendships, learn about Korea and other cultures, contribute their talents and ideas, and help improve the lives of those in need. As many ideas so often are, SIWA was formed around a kitchen table by individuals who were looking to connect to their community and make a difference as they did.
Since 1962 8
‘‘That spirit is as vibrant today as it was more than five decades ago.’’ With more than 240+ women from ~35 countries, including Korea, our members know that there is always something exciting happening at SIWA and a way for them to get involved – whether it is by connecting with fellow members through our regular tours, interest and group activities, SIWA socials, or by contributing their skills – and building new ones – to help run the organization and plan fundraising events.
We invite you to connect to Seoul’s international community with SIWA!
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P RE S ID EN T’ S M ES SAGE Dear SIWA supporter, Looking back on the SIWA year 2019-20, so much has happened. Like many of you, my summer international travel plans have been disrupted by COVID-19 and I am concerned about family, friends, and acquaintances who may be at risk. I feel fortunate to be in South Korea where the government and the people have worked hard together admirably to control the spread of this pandemic. For the first time as a 57-year-old organisation, SIWA has moved a large portion of our activities and meetings online. This unprecedented move follows the South Korean government’s guidelines regarding social distancing. Despite some initial challenges in making this transition to virtual space, our board members and volunteers worked creatively to launch online events for our members to participate and stay connected. As life is slowly returning to normal conditions here
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in Seoul, summer has turned out to be pleasant. The anticipated heat wave is yet to be here. With relaxed social distancing measures in effect since June, I hope you are spending some quality time with your family and friends and perhaps exploring Korea’s beautiful countryside While so much attention has been given to COVID-19, I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on SIWA’s activities since May 2019. We received so much positive feedback regarding our new coffee morning venue in Four Seasons Hotel. In September, we moved into our new office in Heyground, the first co-working community of changemakers in Korea. We held a couple of WWN events and an issue education coffee morning about aged-out orphans at our Heyground space. In November, our annual SIWA Bazaar was held successfully thanks to the tireless work of SIWA’s
executive board, volunteers, various expat clubs, and forty-five embassies. A third and final-year donation has been made to SIWA’s first philanthropy project, All Love School, benefitting multicultural students. Later that same month, several SIWA members participated in the MizSilverKorea beauty pageant to celebrate love, friendship, and diversity. In December, we organized the Winter Luncheon at Grand Ambassador Hotel. Not to mention, our charity activities have been carried out despite the unfortunate cancellation of our annual Charity Gala.
‘‘There is so much uncertainty about what will
become the “new normal” in the year ahead. What I do know is that we need the help of each and every SIWA member more than ever.’’
While COVID-19 has put enormous financial pressure on non-profits, SIWA has managed to continue providing funds to KUMFA and other philanthropy projects. We also supported Community Chest of Korea, a major government-sanctioned charity organisation, to help fight COVID-19. Our relationship with our long-time Premium Platinum sponsors remains strong, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Seoul Foreign School, Dwight School Seoul, and Hana Bank. Meanwhile, several of my friends in SIWA departed this year. Please allow me to thank you personally for your service and dedication to friendship, enrichment, and charity. While you now may be based in another country, remember that our friendship will last forever. While I was saddened to see some friends leave the country, I have been pleased to meet new members. Welcome to the SIWA family. Many thanks to all SIWA members, existing and new, for your dedication and support for cultural diversity and women’s issues. Special thanks are due to all volunteers. Without your time and energy, our fundraising activities simply would not be possible. Lastly, the SIWA leadership has done so much to ensure that SIWA’s operations run smoothly during these difficult and challenging times. Thank you, everyone! There is so much uncertainty about what will become the “new normal” in the year ahead. What I do know is that we need the help of each and every SIWA member more than ever. I will do the best I can on my part. Let’s all hope for the best. Please enjoy this publication of a Year In Review. Sincerely, Veronica Koon President Seoul International Women’s Association
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100%
Volunteer driven
240
Members
AGE
27 - 87
SIWA BY THE NUMB 12
INT E R E ST G RO UP S
158
EVENTS ORGANISED TOURS
55
MOMS AND TOTS / KIDS
25
COMMUNITY SERVICE: ORPHANAGE
15
INTERNATIONAL CULINARY EXCHANGE
4
BOOK CLUB
10
WORKING WOMEN’S NETWORK
4
COMMUNITY SERVICE: SOUP KITCHEN
29
COFFEE MORNING
5
MEET & GREET
11
ERS 13
S U PP ORTED CH A RI TI ES SIWA GIVES BACK TO THE COMMUNITY BY supporting many different local Korean charities
2014 - 2020 • Aeranwon • All Love School • Anna’s House/Seongham City Temporary Protection Center for Boys • Asia Community School • Big Mama’s House • Bitdurle Study Room • Buchon Women’s Shelter • Columban Day Center for Persons with Disabilities
6.8%
• Dreamtree Village
12.2%
4.1%
• Ebenezer’s Home • Emmao’s House • Eastern Social Welfare Society
15.5%
• Hamil School • Happy Silver World
51.2%
• KUMFA (Korean Unwed Mothers’ Association) • Malguemteo Temporary Protection Center • Maria & Marta’s House
10.2%
• Myungdo Welfare Center • New Light Community Center • Oak Tree Project • Planting Love • Rainbow Community
FOR SOCIAL CAUSES
• Shingmanwon Children’s Home
People with disabilities
• Soyang Rainbow Hill Orphanage
Homeless adults
• SOYF (Stand On Your Feet) Studio • St. Columban
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SIWA’S SUPPORT
Multicultural education
• Sunshine Drop-in Center for Homeless Men
Runaway youth
• YangYang Children’s Welfare Center
Aged-out youth Orphans
2019 - 2020
58,020,000 KRW
DONATED TO 9 CHARITIES Including our Philanthropy Projects 3rd donation of
20,000,000 KRW to All Love School
benefiting multicultural students
&
2nd donation of
20,000,000 KRW to KUMFA benefiting unwed mothers
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BY SUNGHWA HAN (Welfare Committee Chair) In late March, SIWA Board made a difficult decision to cancel and postpone many of the regular events such as the annual gala for health and safety reasons. In contrast to our initial belief that the coronavirus related situation would quickly improve, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been rapidly increasing and the government began cautioning everyone to protect themselves against the virus. Since the Gala is one of the most important fundraising events for SIWA where members and non-members gather together to celebrate friendships and make contributions toward raising funds to help Korea’s most underprivileged communities, we were disappointed to not host it this year. As months passed by, the coronavirus lingered on and a sense of fear and anxiety escalated as social and physical distancing became somewhat normal in our daily lives. The pandemic hit economically disadvantaged Korean populations extremely hard. Many lost their jobs and had to cope with financial stress and anxiety. This was especially true for underserved communities who were facing extreme difficulties and challenges due to the financial and social disparities. Many charities and NGOs were also experiencing a shortage of financial resources and insufficient funding. SIWA reached out to several charities including KUMFA (Korean Unwed Mothers’ Families Association), our current Philanthropy Project recipient, and continued to provide them with
much needed financial and emotional support. Instead of imposing our point of view, we tried to recognize the actual needs of underserved communities by maintaining close communication and relationship with the charity/NGO founders or directors SIWA leaders have learned a valuable lesson throughout the process of our work with charities over the years. We, as a donor, might have clear ideas regarding the social issues we would like to address and have the motivation and aspiration to solve the problems at their root causes. However, we must embrace the fact that our charities/ NGOs, community-based organization are closer to their underserved communities thus they better understand its development issues and have a deeper understanding about the types of interventions that are required to improve their lives. A most respectful and effective approach is to encourage charity directors to be open in their views and share their honest perspectives, challenges and shortcomings. It is crucial for SIWA leaders to build trust with the charities by staying open-minded and working closely with them; the potential to change the system increases which then can create longer lasting impact. In other words, charities or NGOs have the knowledge, experiences and resources to drive actual changes to social problems that the underserved communities, the ultimate beneficiaries of our fund, face. Will go their educational and vocational training programs for the mothers.
2020
2019
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TIME OF REFLECTION AND GROWTH: Power of Creative and Collaborative Efforts for SIWA’s Charitable and Philanthropic Work ( 2019-2020 membership year )
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Workday Inc. is an American on-demand financial management and human capital management software vendor. SIWA and Workday collaborated on a few different occasions to support various charities. Last fall, around 15 volunteers from Workday’s San Francisco, Singapore and Seoul office branches joined the community kimchi making event with Noneumagi Homeless Charity. Through the collaborative efforts, Workday’s Seoul office made additional donations to the following charities: Sunshine Drop-in Center (donation of hotel amenities to homeless men), KUMFA/Korean Unwed Mothers’ Families Association and Soyang Rainbow Children’s Home (donation of 15 backpacks to elementary and middle school students)
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Emergency donation to the Community Chest of Korea Community Chest of Korea was launched in 1998 in its efforts to support various welfare centers and community projects, as well as collaborate with other nonprofit organizations and charities to provide urgent assistance or needs to underserved communities. In early April, we decided to send an emergency relief fund to the Community Chest of Korea to help the City Government of Daegu fight the outbreak of coronavirus.
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SIWA Gala donations Despite canceling this year’s SIWA Gala, we chose Happy Silver World (HSW) and Sunshine Drop-in Center as the gala recipients to receive our donations. HSW’s primary mission is to guide retirees or seniors to live a meaningful and contented life by helping them overcome isolation and depression. HSW provides various programs including therapy and counseling, volunteering opportunities, and community building.
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were given to Aeranwon (for unwed mothers) and Ebenezer’s Home (for people with disabilities). Aeranwon, founded in 1960, provides shelter for unwed mothers and gives valuable support through various programs. Ebenezer’s Home in Suwon provides a permanent home for people with physical and/or intellectual disabilities who have been either abandoned or entrusted in their care.
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Our second donation to KUMFA, our current Philanthropy Project Recipient The coronavirus pandemic brought many challenges to unwed mothers who are raising young children on their own. KUMFA was able to provide a safe space where the children could be cared for while their mothers were able to enroll in various group classes including leadership training, speech class, and empowerment program. We are hoping to organize a few exciting collaborative events with KUMFA this winter or next spring. SIWA and KUMFA will host an international women’s conference with the moms and SIWA members. In addition, SIWA will continuously work with Workday to create more projects to help unwed mothers and homeless people. This new membership year, we are focusing on collaboration and collective impact to make our giving more impactful and long-lasting. We want to continue to seek creative and innovative ways to advocate and serve the vulnerable and underserved communities, and create more opportunities to work together with the charities and other organizations to help the underserved populations fight inequalities and achieve a life that is more equitable.
We are very grateful for your support and look forward to taking next steps with you to bring positive changes.
SIWA Essay Contest Donations SIWA made donations to SIWA vetted charities chosen by our essay contest winners. The donations
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2019 SIWA & DIPLOMATIC COMMUNITY BAZAAR RAISED
35,385,794 KRW For welfare
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2017
2018
All Love School SIWA’s first philanthropy project completed
2019
19
20
SIWA & THE
D I P LO M AT I C COMMUNITY
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SI WA’ S W ELLN ESS MAY 2019 – TRADITIONAL EASTERN MEDICINE AND WELLBEING In this coffee morning, we learned about a few traditional medicine practices that can be found here in Korea. Experts in this area joined us to explain away the mystery with science behind some of these ancient traditions and practices. Three expert speakers gave live demonstrations, information and take homes. Dr. Ashley Amas, DACM, LAc is a Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine and a Clinical Herbalist. Her work in Women’s Health and Dermatology focuses on individualized treatments that combine acupuncture, herbal medicine and lifestyle modifications to help people achieve optimal health. Dr. Ashley presented on Herbal Allies for Healthy Skin: A Traditional Perspective and included how to use herbs for healthy skin and where to source common herbs in Seoul.
Ashley Amas
OCTOBER 2019 – HEALTH & FITNESS October is International Breast Cancer Awareness Month so for our October Coffee Morning, we focused on women’s health and fitness by participating in an applied fitness class at 4TP with a short yoga class let by SIWA member, Jennifer Cho.
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ZO O M TU TO R IA L Learning the basics of Zoom - online conferencing software - with a SIWA-led live Tutorial.
YOGA C L A S S Online yoga class in the comfort of your home taught by SIWA Hospitality Chair, Jennifer Cho. Jennifer is a registered hatha yoga teacher from the US and is currently teaching private and small group classes in Seoul.
CHI N E S E C H A R AC T ERS AND WR IT IN G SYS T EM Chinese characters, 漢字 (hànzì), have been adapted to write a number of other Asian languages. In the Korean language, they are called Hanja (한자). Taught by our very own, Veronica Koon.
LEC T URE KORE A N B U DDHISM Early 7th-century Master Jajang-yulsa can be credited with much of the foundation and early organization of the Shilla Kingdom’s Buddhism, and therefore what later became all of Korean Buddhism
COVI D-1 9 INFORMATION S ES S I O N Living as an expat in Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic presents unique challenges. A group of SIWA members with a background in biological science, medical expertise and policy hosted a Zoom Q&A session to help our community cope with this unprecedented challenge.
M OBILITYA ND STRE TCHING CLA SS A Zoom class led by Swedish Physiotherapist Ida Lovgren of Create Wellness Center, a dedicated SIWA partner.
PHOTOCONTE ST W IN N E R S #siwastayingpositive Week 1: Uyanga jackels Week 2: Brenda Cabrera Week 3: Hannah Hoang
A NNUA L GE NE R A L M E E TING Our first online general meeting and board elections was a great success.
SIWA G OE S ONL I NE
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ONLINE AC T I V I T I E S
25
Social Media Activity May 2019 - April 2020
Followers / Members
13% 6%
Facebook public Facebook public4563 4563
Facebook public 4563
4%
LinkedIn 286
7%
Facebook dues-paying members 472 Facebook members 472
Facebook members 472
69%
Twi=er 383 Instagram 885
LinkedIn 286 LinkedIn 286 Twitter 383 Twi=er 383 Instagram 885 Instagram 885
Posts / Tweets
2% 2%
8%
Facebook public Facebook public189 189
31%
Facebook memb
Facebook dues-paying members 347 Facebook members 347
LinkedIn 14
LinkedIn14 LinkedIn 14 Twitter 10 Twi<er 10 Instagram 885 Instagram 885
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Facebook public
57%
Twi<er 10 Instagram 885
SO C I AL M EDI A #SIWAKOREA
H OW WE US E S O C I AL MEDI A . Social media plays an important role in informing SIWA members and the greater public about our events, tours and meetings, membership benefits, and important SIWA news updates. SIWA members actively communicate with each other via the Facebook Members Only Group, where we share photos from events, exchange useful information, and post upcoming activities. SIWA reacted swiftly to the Covid-19 pandemic. On February 25, following an Executive Committee emergency meeting, all in person SIWA events were canceled until further notice, including one of our most important annual fundraising events, the Charity Gala. Since then, SIWA has been organising an increasing number of online events and as of late, following major improvements of the situation in Korea, gradually including in-person events such as the recent Spring Luncheon. Throughout the crisis, we have continued funding Korean charity organisations, thanks to the dedication of our members as well as the longterm support of our Premium Platinum sponsors: Seoul Foreign School, Dwight School Seoul, and Hana Bank.
Follow us now! 8:30
SIWA KOREA
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S I WA L E Veronica Koon/ President Veronica joined SIWA in September 2017 and upon her arrival in Seoul and has volunteered for the SIWA and Diplomatic Community Bazaar 2017. Prior to her move, she lived in the Netherlands for a year. Coming from a Shanghai family, Veronica grew up in Hong Kong and spent time mostly between Hong Kong and Shanghai. Her family has been running a Shanghai food chain in Hong Kong and China for over 40 years and she is one of the shareholders. As a business owner, Veronica set up her first company, V-One Language Services, in 2003, which has been lately merged to V-One Consulting Services in 2017.
Bockhee Lee/ Vice President, Fundraising Bockhee Lee founded Global Youth Fair (GYF) in 2015 for both privileged and underprivileged students of Korean and foreign nationalities to grow as global citizens and leaders. As the first Korean bazaar chair, she led a successful 2012 SIWA and Diplomatic Community Bazaar where 7,000 people participated. As a Tours & Events coordinator, Vice President and Cultural Connection Chair, she has been actively working for SIWA for over 10 years. She loves espresso coffee, singing in a choir and reading.
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EADERS Vibha Mehta/ Treasurer Vibha is an Indian citizen by nationality. She is a Chartered Accountant by profession and was working for Ernst & Young as an audit manager in Mumbai, India. She has worked in the Finance and Audit sector for 15 years. Her family relocated to Singapore in 2014 and thereafter to Seoul in Jan 2017. She joined SIWA in August 2017 and volunteered in the planning team of the SIWA Bazaar held in October 2017. She spends her time learning Korean and absorbing all that Korea offers in terms of experiences and enjoying the landscapes in this beautiful country. She likes to play sports like Badminton, Squash, Table Tennis etc. and enjoys traveling, driving, reading and watching movies.
Nicolette (Nicky) Skyers/ Treasurer Nicky moved to Korea at the end of 2014 and immersed herself in Korean culture through Korean classes and exploring museums and markets, enjoying Korean food and making friends with the local people. Prior to Korea, Nicky spent 11 years in Her Majestyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Armed Forces as a Combat Human Resource Specialist serving in the United Kingdom, Iraq and Germany. She has completed a Diploma in Accounting and volunteers as Treasurer at Namsan International Kindergarten. A native of Jamaica but also a British citizen, Nicolette is married to a Swedish national. Together they have 2 children. In her spare time, she enjoys travelling, crocheting, volunteering and exercising.
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Robin Carney/ President, Emerita (left in June 2019) Robin joined SIWA in August 2015 and served as Newsletter Manager from 2015-16, then as VP Brand Communication from 2016 -18. A dual American Portuguese citizen, after nishing her MBA, she worked for Deloitte as a management consultant in New York and Lisbon. She then moved into the non-pro t sector, managing fundraising and communications projects for breast cancer charities in Portugal and Belgium. After 15 years in Europe, Robin and her family moved to Seoul and are enjoying this chance to explore Asia.
Berenice Bojorquez/ Vice President, Brand Communications (left in July 2019) Berenice is an Economist and mom of two girls. She’s been a Blogger at the Hungton Post and has published articles in several Mexican ̈Healthy Living platforms ̈. She is currently Ambassador in Asia and was previously partner and general manager at Evolue Skincare. She has also worked in the nancial industry at ThompsonReuters in New York and as an independent distributor for Mexican artisan leather goods. A few years ago, she decided to pursue a Health Coach Degree at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in NYC. She enjoys fashion, entertainment, healthy food and exercise.
Johanna Widmann/ Vice President, Operations (left in October 2019) Johanna joined SIWA in late 2016, served as Membership Chair in 2017 before changing to Tours and Interest Groups Chair in December 2017. She’s also involved inthe Welfare Committee and various SIWA Teams and Interest Groups. A German, born and raised in beautiful Black Forest Johanna worked in the educational sector for several years before relocating to Seoul with her family in January 2016. Johanna enjoys learning languages, travelling, reading and spending time with her husband and her two children.
Irene Nuutila/ Vice president, Brand Communications (left in February 2020) Irene is a Finn who came to Korea in 2014 and loves living here, in Seongnam, just south of Seoul. Educated as an engineer, she worked in B2B sales in Finland. Years before moving to Korea, Irene worked in England for a few months and studied in Germany for a year. She is excited to further help SIWA by serving on the Board, having previously held positions as a graphic designer and web content manager. In her free time she studies Korean, volunteers in a soup kitchen for the homeless, exercises, and does photography or makes photo books. Her passions are in health and wellbeing, travelling to less touristy places with beautiful nature, environmental protection, and animals.
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Flory Schraeder/ Board Administrator (left in March 2020) Flory Schrader joined SIWA right after she and her husband moved to Seoul, in March 2018. She is from the south of The Netherlands, where she worked as a hearing care professional after studying Speech Therapy. She has been a volunteer at a leisure youth club for more than 10 years. It’s her first time living abroad, but she’s enjoying every minute of it. In her free time she loves traveling the country with her husband, shopping, eating Korean food, and learning all about Korean language and culture.
Anjali Bansal/ Vice President, Operations Anjali is an Indian citizen who worked as a legal and financial professional in India for more than seven years before moving to Korea in 2015. She joined SIWA in 2019. She lives with her husband who works as a Project Engineering Manager with Siemens Ltd., Seoul. Anjali teaches Hindi at various language exchange platforms. She also loves to travel and take pictures. After studying photography for a year, she is now geared up to opt her passion as her new profession.
Joohee Byon/ Vice president, Brand Communications With over 20 years’ robust multi xcultural insights through living and working from broad sectors for the US, Europe, and the Republic of Korea, Joohee specialized in delivering cultural transformation and initiate change with my extensive role experience in IT, entertainment, and marketing industry. As the charge of multicultural projects in print productions and media, manage crossfunctional teams for nationwide projects, Joohee will try her best to emphasize SIWA’s branding and expand its community and beyond.
Azin Komam/ Board Administrator Azin is an Iranian who lived in Canada before moving to Seoul in 2019. She holds a b.Sc. in IT engineering and a Master of business Management and Marketing. Besides, she has a great passion for art and design and worked as an interior architect and designer for 8 years. She speaks Persian (Farsi) and English and spends her time learning Korean. In her free time, she enthusiastically explores beauty gems of Seoul, does mobile photography, reads and watches movies. Also, she likes to do yoga, swimming, and hiking. She joined SIWA in November 2019 and volunteered on the planning team of the SIWA Bazaar held in November 2019.
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MEMBERSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; E X P E RIE N CE SIWA MEMBERS TELL THEIR
32
Stories
‘‘
I will always cherish the people I met, the events I attended, and the memories that
’’
this great organization helped me to create.
Brenda Cabrera
Two years ago, my husband Jared and I arrived in Seoul with four suitcases full of stuff and our best possible attitude towards the adventure ahead of us. Our move to Korea was quite rushed, so we barely had time to prepare… Additionally, three days before flying I had quit my job and, for the first time in my life, I had no clear plans for myself. However, I was lucky enough to find SIWA in the very first month! The organization provided me with good friends, enriching activities, and multiple opportunities to use my time supporting charity projects. My initial event was a Newcomers Meet and Greet in Itaewon. Although I did not know anyone, I remember having a wonderful time and I felt happy to be in a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. In the following months, I joined hiking tours, went to museums, and made traditional tofu with the ladies that now I am happy to call my SIWA sisters.
On top of the fun outings, I enjoyed to regularly attend as a helper to Anna’s House (an amazing place to serve people in need), to participate in the Korean-English language exchange, and to be part of the Nominating Committee 2019. All these experiences motivated me to get more involved, so I became a SIWA Community Service Leader coordinating the Infant Orphanage
Volunteering Program at the Eastern Social Welfare Society. This has been one of the most fulfilling activities I have had the chance to do as a volunteer, and I am forever grateful for the opportunity to spend time with the little babies as well as with all the kind women who gave their love and time to this cause. For me, SIWA is a strong support network in Korea that connects locals and foreigners, creating a beautiful environment for sharing each other’s cultures and interests. Together with my fellow Mexican friend Laura, I was happy to organize an ICE Event about Mexico. It was awesome to bring a bit of our home country through food, music, decorations, and lots of stories! Truthfully, the motto Enhancing lives through Friendship, Enrichment, and Charity is an accurate description of my experience with the organization. I cannot imagine my life in Seoul without SIWA. I will always cherish the people I met, the events I attended, and the memories that this great organization helped me to create. ¡Gracias por todo, SIWA
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‘‘
I love tha from all o that this b
Patricia Tiedeman Just a short introduction of myself. I am Patricia Tiedemann, originally from Germany but more or less, since finishing high school, I left my hometown Cologne, to travel the world. First I studied in France, (Avignon/Lyon) and then moved to Spain for my first job. After a short time working in Germany, I met my husband, who is an Engineer from Munich and off we went to discover the “Expat life”. The crazy journey began. We lived in South Africa, Germany, Turkey, Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Seoul where we spent the longest time in one place: 11 years up to now. In January 2009, I arrived from Shanghai to Seoul and shortly after that a friend of mine made me sign up for SIWA Membership. A little later my friend got a full time job and said to me, “Why don’t you just take my place in the tours team?” Me, hardly knowing Seoul at that time, started with assisting David Mason Tours and later on more and more I was able to guide my own Tours. I know that the first Tours Team were a few Russian Ladies, highly motivated, who started with two Tours a month and now (before Corona) we organized at least 2 Tours a week. I think Tours Team is really great to explore Seoul and Korea for people who arrive new in the city/country and its great for people who live here longer to always be able to make new friends at all times. SIWA Group is a fantastic international Group for Charity, Friendships, Exploring and Discovering! I love that you can spend time with people from all over the world and I already know that this is what I will miss the most, once back in Germany next year. SIWA Members are so spontaneous, flexible, adaptable and its just so much fun to be able through Tours to make them happy for a day and use the collected money for charities. I know many SIWA Members who left the country, mentioned that this was the best of their time in Korea. I hope that this strange Corona times comes to an end very soon and that SIWA can continue its journey in raising money for Charity by continuing to organize great Events, Gatherings and most of all great Friendships. 34
at you can spend time with people over the world and I already know s is what I will miss the most, once back in Germany next year.
â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122;
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‘‘
Provide opportunities for women from around the world to meet, find friends, learn about each other’s culture and improve lives of those less fortunate in Korea.
’’
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Vickey Walker I was asked to write an article about what SIWA has meant to me during my time here in Seoul. I was happy to since I consider SIWA one of the main reasons I have enjoyed time in Seoul. I think it will help to hear how my connection to SIWA came to be… maybe you will be able to relate. About two years ago my husband came home from work and said, “What do think about moving to Seoul Korea?” We discussed the idea for a couple of weeks and ultimately decided it might be a great adventure!! So, a few months later with excitement and a little depredation we backed up a few meager belongs and flew halfway around world. It was Spring when we arrived in Seoul, Cherry Blossoms and flowers beginning to bloom everywhere. I was ready to embrace Seoul as my new home away from home. The first month in country was a flurry of activity, finding a place to live, buying furniture, figuring out how to get around without a car. A month later we were all settled in on the 26 th floor of our new apartment building in the middle of Seoul. Quite a change for us as we had always lived in a single-family house in the suburbs. I felt quite Metropolitan. Then one morning my husband went off to work, and I thought to myself, “Now What?” I am in a different country, with different cultural norms, I do not speak the language and I do not know a single person. What do I do? I decided to check out what to do in Seoul Korea on the internet. One expat website I looked at talked about SIWA, an organization for English speaking women in Seoul. I had not heard of SIWA before but clicked on the link provided. In exploring SIWA’s website, which I found to be extremely user friendly, I found out SIWA stood for Seoul International Women’s Association. Their purpose is to, “provide opportunities for women from around the world to meet, find friends, learn about each other’s culture and improve lives of those less fortunate in Korea.” Jackpot!! That was exactly what I was looking for. I clicked on their events calendar and found it packed with a variety of activities. To name a few there were cultural lectures, walking tours of significant sites in Seoul, community special events, outreach
and volunteer opportunities, and social gatherings. Also, there were many special interest groups such as a Book Club, cooking classes, working women’s group, Korean language classes and many more. I first signed up to go to a Meet and Greet event. It was held at a coffee shop, very informal. There were many new people from all over the world. Everyone was so warm and friendly. Right then I knew I wanted to checkout more SIWA events. One interest group that caught my attention on the SIWA calendar was the Book Club. I love to read! The next book they were discussing was a Russian novel with plenty of mystery and suspense. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and was excited to hear what the other women thought of it. There were women from many different countries at the meeting with so many intriguing and diverse opinions on every aspect of the book. I left the meeting pondering many things I had not considered. I have attended book club regularly since then and look forward to each new book as Book Club has become one of the highlights of my month. Over the last year and half, I have attended or helped with many SIWA events such as: The Annual Bazaar, Anna’s House homeless shelter, coffee socials, lectures, and tours around the city. My life has been so enriched, and I have so many wonderful memories of sites I visited and people I met through SIWA. I am grateful to all the dedicated volunteers that give tirelessly of their time to help ensure women in Seoul feel welcome and connected.
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NEW OFFICE Since September 2019
H EYGROUN D
HEYGROUND launched in June 2017 as the first co-working community dedicated to Changemakers in Korea. Many Changemakers such as social ventures, non-profit organizations, NGO, intermediary organizations and Pro-bono service providers are working together at HEYGROUND. Anyone who dreams for a better world can be the member of HEYGROUND, and HEYGROUND indeed supports those members to make bigger and sustainable impacts.
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E N VIRO N M E N TA L P OL I CY S IWA EN VI RO N M E N TA L P O L I C Y
We at S I WA a re co m m itted to re ducing and minimiz ing our environment al burde n.
TH E S E AR E THE CO NCR ETE ST E P S AND ACT IONS WE ARE TAKING: • We do not u s e o r offer p la s tic water bot t les as our major event s such as Cof fe e Mo r n in gs , Lu n ch eo n s or Charit y Ga la • Dur i ng o u r b o a rd m eetin gs ,we encourage our leaders to bring t heir ow n t um bl e rs a n d water b ottles . We encoura ge our leaders to t ake publ ic t ra nspo r t atio n a n d d o n ot offer f ree park ing. • Our ma j o r events a re a r ra n ge d near subway st at ions for easy reachabi li ty by publ i c tra n s p o r tatio n • We a re red u cin g p r intin g wa ste by designing our printed event materials i n a way th at th ey ca n b e reused • We se l l e co -b a gs to h elp red uce plast ic waste
Order your S IWA Bag now!! 39
ES SAY W IN N ERS SIWA is happy to announce the winners for the SIWA Essay Contest 2020:
JUNIOR CATEGORY - INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
1st Place Alex Kil, Seoul Foreign School and Aaron (Yejoon) Lee, Dwight School Seoul
SENIOR CATEGORY - KOREAN SCHOOL
1st Place - Sooah Kim, All Love School
SENIOR CATEGORY - INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL 1st Place â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Ki Hun (Simon) Choi, Seoul Foreign School
Congratulations to the winners!
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SIWA ESSAY CONTEST 2020 We asked middle and high school students their thoughts on this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theme:
ENV I RO NMEN TA L P ROTECTI ON
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Imagine you are visiting planet Earth from another planet. How do you see us treating our planet and preserving it or not preserving it for the future generation? What advice would you give for the inhabitants of planet Earth shape to shape a better future? How can we be more sustainable by our everyday choices and decisions?
A lex Kil
Se o u l Fo re ig n Sc h ool Visiting planet Earth from another planet, which is also in the Goldilocks zone, and hence, conducive to life; I see Earthlings treating their planet badly and preserving not preserving it for future generations. Earthlings pollute the natural ecosystems, by littering, dumping waste into oceans and landfills, and wasting natural resources to an excess. Even though there were some people who seem to work diligently to solve this crisis, others merely denied it, finding it a costly inconvenience. The people who deny climate change are severely impeding the progress of others who want to preserve their planet. This was heartbreaking to watch, as half of our planet has been destroyed through similar pollution, due to the lack of unity amongst our people in environmental preservation. I only wish for planet Earth not to suffer the same tragic fate. Hence, I would advise the inhabitants of planet Earth to take urgent action to save the environment by using natural resources wisely and adopting more sustainable practices and energy sources, as this will shape to shape a better future for their planet and themselves. On my visit, I discovered Earthlings are treating their planet very poorly. In fact, NASA has recorded that Earth’s carbon dioxide level is currently the highest in the last 650,000 years - evidence of Earthling-caused global warming. As such, worryingly, 18 of the 19 hottest temperatures on earth have been recorded since 2001. All this heat is causing the polar ice caps to melt and acidify the oceans and rain. Not only is this disrupting polar ecosystems, but this is also causing natural disasters, including floods and hurricanes. Furthermore, this polar ice cap melting has recently caused lots of immigrants to lose their home as their islands have, and continues to, sink. This, in turn, has generated global chaos as the number of displaced immigrants seeking refuge despite only certain countries being willing to accept them, continues to grow exponentially. Other catastrophic events that I have witnessed and surely spell doom for Planet Earth if left unimpeded include deforestation. Even if 70% of Earth’s living species live in forests, humans recklessly destroy their
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homes by cutting down trees at an unsustainable rate. This is counterproductive, because the rainforest of South America alone produce 20% of Earth’s oxygen and 4 hectares of them are being lost every decade. Most human deforestation appears to be due to smallscale agriculture and cattle farming. If it continues, it causes global warming because there are fewer plants to absorb carbon dioxide, reduces rainfall because the lack of plants affects the water cycle, and it causes soil erosion and coastal flooding due to less trees to retain water and topsoil. Already, I, and humans, have witnessed Mother Earth’s rage. 2018 saw Hiroshima, Japan suffer devastating rainfall induced landslides, which killed at least 104 people, despite Japan’s careful physical management of landslides due to a preexisting susceptibility. This reveals just how severe, and surprising the effects of deforestation coupled with climate change can be. Similar natural disasters have, even previously, occurred worldwide, begging for urgent action: Dominican Republic, Haiti, and across other several Caribbean islands in September 2017; heavy monsoon rains and flooding in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, in August 2017; Heat wave in India and Pakistan, killing 3,700 people in summer 2015. I admit, I have seen some people trying to help raise awareness for the urgent action needed to solve these environmental issues. Some such people are the young sisters, Melati and Isabel Wijsen, who inspire hope in Earthlings and myself that, despite the current damage done, there is still hope to solve this crisis. The Wijsen sisters, though only 17 and 15 years old, have singlehandedly started a campaign to get rid of plastic in their home island, Bali, which they describe as “a green paradise” and “island of gods” turned into a “paradise lost” and “island of garbage”. The campaign, while it started small, snowballed into a huge movement that even the governor of Bali couldn’t ignore, resolving, with the sisters to solve the issue of plastic as soon as possible. Though only two teenagers, Melati and Isabel have, and continue to, influence the whole of Bali, which was flooded with plastic, to become more of a plasticfree environment. Think how much change we could
make if we all worked together, caring even a fraction of what the sisters do. Yet simultaneously, aggravatingly, some powerful people deny the issue of global warming and environmental endangerment altogether, a quintessential example being Donald Trump. While in the high position as the United States’ president, Trump has previously promoted unfettered oil, coal, and natural gas development and suppresses climate and related science. Now, he seems to be acknowledging climate change, but he has persistently denied this until recently, thus facilitating fossil fuel usage, causing massive environmental damage. This reliance on fossil fuels for the main energy source over other alternative renewable energy sources such as solar energy, wind energy, etc., has resulted in the United States emitting the most fossil fuel per capita as of 2019, 16.5 metric ton per capita. Simultaneously, the U.S. is one of the richest countries in the world by GDP, making the U.S. is one of the few countries that can afford the investment of renewable energy. Therefore, it is awful that Trump’s policy against fossil fuels has led to minimal development of renewable energy. During this time, other similarly wealthy nations like Iceland, have converted to using its energy entirely from renewable resources: 87% from hydro-power and 13% from geothermal power. However even Trump has recently announced that climate change is not a hoax, and it is a serious issue for planet Earth, publicly stated that he will reverse his previous policies for fossil fuels. Hopefully, all deniers similarly wake up. Advice I would give to Planet Earth’s inhabitants to help shape a more sustainable future includes reducing the amount of energy used in average daily basis by changing to LED lights. While standard light bulbs use 90% of the energy as heat, and only 10% of the energy as light; LED lights use 95% of the energy as light, while only using 5% of the energy as heat. Their efficiency makes them a very practical solution, and the only reason why humans seem to be unwilling to make the swap is because of the cost. However, the cost in the long term, considering government taxes on electricity, not to mention the environment, will be significantly reduced through this simple swap. Reducing meat consumption is another practical solution. 58% of the greenhouse gases are emitted by livestock. More importantly,
cows produce 105kg of greenhouse gas per 100g of protein, while other protein sources, such as tofu, only produce less than 3-5kg. Furthermore, 83% of the farmland is used by livestock, whilst the production of calories and proteins only result up to 18 and 37% respectively. Therefore, if humans were to eat less meat, it would significantly reduce pollution of the Earth. Another piece of advice I would give humans is to use less tree products, or more importantly, palm oil products. Palm oil is the largest cause of deforestation in Indonesia. Since palm trees grow in rainforests, they need the same humid temperatures to properly grow as rainforests. Therefore, to take advantage of the same ideal climate for growth, lots of rainforests are being cut down and replaced with palm oil plantations, instead. However, Indonesia is home to many endangered species, such as orangutans, and also responsible for much oxygen emission. It is worrying that more than half of the products in an average human supermarket contain palm oil, due to its established efficiency and cheap cost. If humans reduced the amount of palm oil products they purchase, surely the deforestation rate will be significantly reduced, as less demand would result in less production. To conclude, having visited planet Earth from Mars, I have observed humans treating their planet atrociously and not preserving it for future generations. They pollute the Earth’s natural ecosystems, litter, dump waste into her oceans and landfills, and waste natural resources excessively. However at the same time, I have seen some humans care for the Earth’s environment. These people give me hope and inspiration that Earth’s fate will not be the same as half of our planet. Like the aforementioned Wijsen sisters that inspired all of Bali to militate for the environment, if more humans started caring and cooperating to implement environmentally safe practices and preserve their finite natural resources; Earth’s natural beauty might be preserved. In this regard, I would advise the inhabitants of planet Earth to take urgent action to save the environment by using natural resources sparingly and adopting more sustainable practices and energy sources. It is only through these measures that they can shape a better future for their planet and themselves.
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Enlightenment for the Unmerited Aa r on ( Y ejoo n) Lee D w ig ht Sc h ool Seou l
‘‘Jonas, wake up.” Jonas opened his eyes to find a strange green skinned three-eyed creature in front of him. “Aaaaah”, he yelped. Jonas stared at the strange creature in front of him. The last thing Jonas remembered was watching TV, then going upstairs to sleep. The thing spoke again. “I am Yrylil. I have come to enlighten you.” Then, the thing paused, “Did I get you there partner?” Jonas stared at the alien. “Hahaha” he chortled. “I should have taken a photo of your face right there!” Jonas stared at him(she?) a little more. The thing stopped laughing. Jonas looked around. He was in a dark room with no visible exit. In front of him was an alien with a sense of humor. ‘Great’ Jonas sighed, ‘I’m going to have to hear him out. “So,” Jonas said. “First of all, how do you pronounce your name? Second of all, Let’s cut to the chase here. Where am I, and why did you bring me here?” “You humans, always so impatient,” pouted Yrylil. “It’s Yea-ryee-lil, and as for your other question...” Then suddenly, his voice got all gravely and serious. “I come from a planet not much unlike yours.” At this he pushed a button on a small cylinder-ish remote, and a projection of a lush green forest appeared. “Rich in nature,” he continued, “and resources.” At this, the image changed to more three-eyed, green skinned creatures finding various ores, and deposits of natural gas and oil. “But we became greedy and ambitious,” rumbled Yrylil. “We dug, and dug, mined and mined taking more than we need, and using more than we need.” Yrylil stopped to glare at Jonas. He flinched. Then, his fear turned into sudden defiance. “Are you accusing me of something?” Jonas snapped. “I didn’t do anything wrong!” Yrylil ignored him and continued. “Soon, within a few generations, our planet ran dry, and we were forced to abandon our home because of this. The same thing will happen to your planet if you don’t do something sooon.” At this, he waved his hands around in a circle. “Woah!” Yelped Jonas, “Why did you do that?” He asked. Yrylil frowned. “Do what?” He asked Jonas. “You know,” Replied Jonas. “This!” At this Jonas waved his hands around in a circle. “Oh that,” replied Yrylil, “It was for emphasis.” Jonas sighed in relief. For a second he had thought that the strange alien had been
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doing some alien mumbo jumbo on him. Then, his relief turned into arrogant annoyance. “I know all this stuff.” He said snottily, “You didn’t need to bring me here. You should have kidnapped someone else, like for example, Donald Trump,” he said. At this Yrylil’s otherwise friendly attitude changed into a sudden and surprising fury. “The unmerited must be enlightened!” Yrylil yelled. “YOU are the one who must realize. YOU are the one who must change.” Then, he clicked on the remote again. The walls seemed to change around them, and showed an image of Jonas a few days ago. In the image, Jonas was hanging out with his friends around the locker. He was showing off his money. “I get loads of pocket money every day!” Jonas boasted. “I buy new pencils every day!” he said. At this, he took out several pencils. The current Jonas winced. That week, and for several weeks before that, he had been buying new pencils every day in order to show off his money. Then, past Jonas did something even worse. He put all the pencils in the trash. ‘I don’t even use pencils.’ thought current Jonas. ‘Why did I do that?’ Yrylil stared at Jonas. Then, he clicked the remote again, and the scene changed to a lumber mill. Jonas watched helplessly as hundreds of trees were cut down and changed into neat stacks of wood. The scene changed again. This time, it was at a pencil factory. The stacks that Jonas had seen earlier now were chopped up using huge machines with blades. The image concentrated on the machines. Hundreds of tons of water moved around the machine in order to cool it down. Jonas stared in horror and shame as the burning hot water entered cool streams and lakes unfiltered, and watched hundreds of fish boil, and ecosystems collapse. Then, the scene changed back to a fast forwarded Jonas who bought the pencils only to put them in the trash. “I wasn’t trying to do this.” Jonas said softly. “These people weren’t trying to do this either.” Yrylil said as he clicked on the remote again. A group of men with black suits appeared. He recognized the group as the government of Brazil. “We are allowing the cutting of the Amazon Jungle” said the man in the middle. The scene changed. This time they
were in the center of the great rainforest itself. It was beautiful, and full of life. Suddenly, smoke started to rise from the horizon. The scene zoomed in to reveal a group of people setting the forest on fire. Jonas could tell they were trying to clear a small piece of land. But the fire was uncontrollable. The flame spread like, well, wildfire. Soon, the fire grew to be a huge dancing inferno. Animals, and plants burned, and the beautiful green rainforest, a kingdom of animals became nothing but a kingdom of fire. Jonas realized that this was on the news a couple days ago: ‘The Amazon in Brazil is on fire - how bad is it?’ He remembered his dad forcing him to read it. He remembered watching funny cat videos soon after. “These people didn’t know either.” Yrylil said softly. “How was I supposed to know?” Jonas yelled “No, how can I know? Just a normal kid trying to live his life!” Yrylil, with a look of disappointment on his face, silently clicked on the remote again and the scene changed. This time, Jonas was at home. He wanted to go to a game shop around a ten minute walk from his house. “Dad! Come on!” Jonas yelled, his face a mask of frustration. “I wanna go to the game shop!” Jonas’s father sighed. “The game shop is only 10 minutes from here.” Jonas’s dad said patiently. “You can walk.” “But Dad, why would I walk when we have a car?!” Yelled Jonas. “For the environment Jonas, ” His father said, “for the environment.” After a few more minutes of pleading and yelling, Jonas’s father relented. When the trip took only one minute, Jonas smiled smugly. “Exactly my point.” he said “Who cares about the environment when you can make a ten minute trip into a one minute one.” The current Jonas stayed silent for a moment, clutching his head as if he had a huge headache. “Stop” He said softly. Yrylil frowned. “Stop!” He yelled. The unrelenting screen changed, and Jonas watched as the carbon dioxide entered the atmosphere, cloaking the beautiful
blue Earth with a sickly black gas. The sunlight that once came and went freely got trapped within the atmosphere. The polar ice caps slowly melted like ice cream on a hot day. Polar Bears swam for their lives only to be eaten by orcas, and some simply drowned, their white bodies floating on the dark blue waves. Jonas stared, with tears in his eyes as a baby polar bear watched his mother get eaten by a deadly orca. It didn’t end there. The waves became higher and higher, and soon, New York City was under water. Wave after wave engulfed his school, his house, and his friends and family. Soon, the entire earth was nothing but a huge writhing sea. Jonas glared at Yrylil with tears in his eyes. “I told you to stop!” He yelled hoarsely. Yrylil’s gaze became a little softer. “I just wanted you to realize.” he said. “To prevent what happened to my planet doesn’t happen to yours. The PEOPLE must know. The PEOPLE must change. Not the Presidents, Prime Ministers, or the world leaders. For if YOU don’t change, why would they.” 5 years later the image of the polar bears, and the world being overwhelmed by the sea still haunted Jonas’s mind. Since then, he had rallied the students of his school and had gone on protest after protest. He was 21 now, and was about to give a speech to the people of the U.S. He walked up to the stage, and started to speak. “Today, I have come to enlighten you.” 3 hours later, Jonas was at home, celebrating with his parents, his friends, and his colleagues. Suddenly, Jonas’s dad caught his shoulder. “Son,” he said, “I have something to show you.” He took Jonas to the upstair’s bedroom. There, Jonas’s dad opened a closet, and at the very back of it, was a mask. A mask of a green skinned, three eyed, alien. And on a planet far, far away, a race of green skinned, three-eyed aliens met their demise.
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It’s time to reverse the damage. Sooa h Kim
Al l Love Sc h ool Our beautiful earth is going to be destroyed because of us humans if we don’t do anything about it NOW! Scientists have already warned us about the destruction of the earth but not enough of us are doing something about it. In this essay, I will be talking about my three important yet simple steps that can hopefully reverse the damage we have done to help the environment. These steps require the government, companies, and people to sacrifice their consumerist lifestyle in exchange for environmental protection. My essay highlights how our lifestyle rooted in mass consumption has been proven to be devastating for the sustainability of our earth. Firstly, change needs to be initiated on a grassroots level. People can start applying changes into their life by cutting down plastic usage, more specifically singleuse plastic products. Other methods like replacing the use of garbage bins with recycling bins, as well as reducing the usage of electricity and water can also be effective. Cutting down plastic usage more specifically single use plastic products, there being recycling bins in homes instead of regular bins and lastly saving electricity and water. As we all know, plastic is harmful for the environment because it takes about ten to one thousand years to decompose and that’s why we should cut down plastic usage. Having recycling bins would mean that we would have to separate food waste, plastics, paper, cans etc. but it all is worth it in the end because it helps reduce pollution caused by waste. Lastly, saving electricity will help us protect the air from pollution. The same goes for saving water. It will reduce the amount of energy used in pumping water which contributes to greenhouse gases and leads to climate change. With effective precautionary measures taken by people, our collective effort will be able to reverse the damage we have made and prevent further environmental destruction. We were asked if we could give up something to help save the earth what it would be, after some thinking I decided that I would willingly my usage on plastic items. After doing some research, I found out that there are approximately three hundred billion tons of plastic being produced each year, fifty percent are single-use plastic. Though plastic is recyclable, only nine to thirty percent is being recycled. The rest is dumped into the ocean
and on landfills releasing toxins, taking over ten years to decompose, killing innocent creatures, causing global warming and polluting the air and water. Therefore I have decided that if I could, I would willingly give up using plastic. Moving on, the responsibilities of governments, companies/businesses, and people entail making laws to recycle. Governments are to make laws to protect the environment. For many years now, scientists and people all around the world have been telling the governments to do something that’ll help the environment, the responsibilities of us people are to volunteer for cleanups, recycle more, cut down on one-use plastic items, educate others on recycling and to shop wisely and lastly the responsibilities of companies/businesses should be to make environmentally friendly products, use as little chemicals as possible, improve air quality by having indoor plants and to use recyclable items to make new products. These are the responsibilities I think governments, companies/businesses and people have. We are often unaware about how destructive our consumerist behaviour can be on our environment. The negative effects are the increasing pollution of the earth and exhaustion of natural resources. Society increasingly demanding products puts extreme pressure on natural resources such as wood, water, coal, and other raw materials. These attitudes also encourage factories to use chemicals which are known to damage more of the environment. Therefore, environmentalists often point at factories for being responsible for environmental pollution causing bad consumerism.I hope that being aware of our responsibilities as citizens of the earth and making sacrificial choices for the sake of our environment will bring a positive impact on the earth and will help us understand our current situation and make an impact on saving our precious earth. Doing something now to help save the environment could protect our earth for all future generations. Even though making small changes may not seem to be generating any result; but the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
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Should people who own cars pay more taxes because cars pollute the environment?
K i Hun ( S i mo n) Cho i Se o ul Fo rei g n Sc h ool
Should people who own cars pay more taxes because cars pollute the environment? In the past few years, pollution around the world has worsened considerably due to industrial emissions, poor disposal of wastes, and deforestation, among other factors. Car pollution has been one of the biggest factors for the exacerbation of worldwide pollution. In order to decrease pollution, people should reduce car pollution. To achieve this goal, governments should tax car owners for the pollution their cars cause to the environment. Although some scholars question the level of harm caused to the environment by air pollution, most scholars tend to agree that air pollution is a significant harm responsible for climate change. In her article “Effects of Car Pollutants on the Environment” for Sciencing, Jenny Green explains that carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, water vapor, and solid matter emit from the burning of fossil fuels. 1Greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, which causes worldwide temperatures to rise. By burning excessive amounts of fossil fuels, such as gasoline and diesel, global temperatures rise significantly. 2 Warmer global temperatures consequently affect farming, wildlife, sea levels, and natural landscapes. 3Moreover, nitrous oxide contributes to the depletion of the ozone layer, which shields the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun, and sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide mix with rainwater to create acid rain, which damages crops, forests, and other vegetation and buildings. 4Clearly, the burning of fossil fuels is detrimental to the environment. The burning of fossil fuels from cars is an extreme environmental concern. Though the level of air pollution is not the same around the world or even within the same country, car pollution contributes largely to air pollution, especially the case in areas of dense populations like cities. For instance, megacities, cities with populations exceeding ten million, like Mumbai and Beijing are famous for air pollution. 5At least 96 percent of these megacities’ populations are exposed to PM2.5, exceeding WHO Air Quality Guidelines levels. 6According to WHO, cars are responsible for around 30 percent of air pollution in European cities and up to 50 percent in
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OECD countries. 7In the United States, approximately one-fifth of all pollution comes from cars. 8However, cars pollute more than just the air. Oil and fuel spills from cars and trucks seep into the soil near highways. Discarded fuel and particulates from vehicle emissions contaminate lakes, rivers, and wetlands. 9For example, in California, rainfall washes more than 7 trillion pieces of microplastics into the San Francisco Bay each year. The microplastics are mainly derived from tire particles left behind on the streets, and the amount washed away is 300 times greater than what comes from microfibers washing off polyester clothes, microbeads from beauty products, and the many other plastics washing down our sinks and sewers. 10The end of a car’s life doesn’t mark the end of its environmental impact. When cars are thrown away, they may accumulate in a junkyard, and their many components may deteriorate. The heavy metals present in cars can contaminate groundwater and eventually affect the oceans, and acids from rotting car batteries can severely impact the chemistry of the soil, which is deleterious to plant growth in the area as well as human health. 11About three-quarters of today’s average car, including the bulk of its steel frame, is made up of recyclable material. However, cars are not often properly recycled, leaving a concern footprint on the environment. 12Fuel costs are also a factor. Petroleum products raise environmental red flags even before they are burned. Extracting fuels from the Earth is an energyintensive process that damages local ecosystems. Companies apply the drilling method of “fracking” to extract oil and gas. Fracking contaminates drinking water sources with chemicals that lead to cancer, birth defects, and liver damage by injecting a mixture of water and chemicals into rock formations. As a result, it generates huge volumes of wastewater with dangerous chemicals that can leak into ponds, lagoons, and underground aquifers. Moreover, loud noises, human movement, and vehicle traffic from drilling operations can disrupt wildlife animals’ breeding and nesting. The infrastructure built for energy development, such as powerlines, wellpads, and fences can get in the way of many species.
People, too, are affected by the pollution caused by cars. Particulate matter, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and other car pollutants harm human health. Diesel engines emit high levels of particulate matter. Airborne particles cause skin and eye irritation and allergies and can lodge deep into the lungs, where they cause respiratory problems. 14Breathing in toxins can lead to inflamed lungs, causing chest pains, coughing, and difficulty in breathing. 13
Carbon monoxide is particularly dangerous to infants and people suffering from heart disease because it interferes with the blood’s ability to transport oxygen. Pollution from cars clearly affects health. Car pollutants are an alarming driving force in global warming and climate change. We must enact change. To alleviate this problem, car owners should be forced to pay more in taxes as an incentive to stop or decrease their car usage. In a 2014 article, Golam Kibria states that a possible solution for reducing car pollutants is implementing a “green tax.” 15Also referred to as “environmental taxes,” “pollution taxes,” or “eco taxes,” green taxes are excise taxes on goods that produce pollutants. 16Advocates of green taxes believe that a tax will reduce environmental harm in the least costly manner by encouraging changes in the behavior of firms, organizations, communities, households, and individuals. 17 The IMF has proposed that the countries that emit the most greenhouse gases establish a tax on carbon dioxide emissions at a rate of $75 per ton in 2030. 18This type of tax seeks to shift from polluting forms of energy in favor of less polluting ones, such as renewables. 19Taxes on pollution provide clear incentives to polluters to reduce emissions and seek out cleaner and sustainable alternatives. As a consequence, people will seek out more affordable forms of traveling. To further deter car owners from driving their cars, people must be encouraged to resort to public transportation as a means of traveling. Public transportation must be marketed as a more attractive option as a means of traveling. C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group suggests that improved physical planning can help promote public transportation. Physical planning refers to how close bus and metro routes, as well as walking and cycling infrastructure, are to one another so that they can intersect, conveniently allowing people to move from one mode of transportation to another when traveling. 20 By making various modes of transportation interlinked, people can easily get to their destinations. Furthermore, by integrating fares, meaning that payment systems are integrated so that passengers only pay once for trips that
include multiple public transit modes, the government can make public transportation more affordable to a greater extent. This solution was implemented in Fortaleza, Brazil in 2018. Prior to the implementation, only two to four percent of the road network gave priority to buses, resulting in heavy traffic as buses had to share road space with other vehicles. By investing in 108 kilometers of dedicated bus lanes that allow buses to bypass congestion, bus terminals were improved and an integrated fare for the entire transit system was introduced. Alongside investment in the bus system, Fortaleza invested in 225 kilometers of bike lanes, integrated bike-share systems with public transport, reduced the speed limit, narrowed roads for cars, raised pedestrian crossings, and redesigned intersections in favor of cyclists and pedestrians. The initiative won the city the ITDP Sustainable Transport Award in 2019. 21Another way to encourage the use of public transportation would be to optimize bus/subway routes to minimize overlap and ensure coverage across the city in line with demand. By making sure that buses/subways stop at every major destination efficiently, public transportation can save people time and money getting to and from a destination. Designing maps and/or apps that are easy to read and understand are necessary as doing so will encourage more people to make use of public transportation. When maps and apps are easy to follow, more people will have a better understanding of their city’s routes, making it more likely for them to travel by public transportation. 22
Transportation will always be necessary as people need to travel both short and long distances, whether it be during the weekdays for work or the weekends for leisure. It is also undeniable that cars are one of the most popular forms of transportation due to the comfort and privacy they provide compared to public transportation. Cars undoubtedly cause a great deal of pollution, and with the rapid increase of climate change, everyone around the world should work towards reducing any factors that may worsen the environment as well as human health. Through taxing car owners and encouraging public transportation, the world can mitigate car pollution and head towards a brighter future. Notes 1 t/m 22: https://www.siwakorea.com/announcement/2020-environmentalprotection-winning-essay-by-ki-hun-simon-choi-seoul-foreignschool/
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Sanne Tops My name is Sanne Tops and I’m the creative person who designed this Magazine. At the end of December 2019, I moved with my husband to South Korea for a one year adventure. Together we wanted to discover and experience the Korean culture. I quit my job in the Netherlands and as soon as we arrived in Korea, I joined SIWA as a member and volunteered as a Graphic Designer. I love good food (only not too spicy, which can be a challenge in Korea) and having cocktails with friends. Besides food and drinks, I spend my time being in nature. I enjoy doing various things like hiking, snowboarding, swimming, and surfing. I have my Bachelors Degree in Graphic & Spatial Design, and I’m specialized in Digital Design. In 2017, I graduated then worked for 3 years at an advertising agency as a designer and traffic manager. What I like the most about being a designer is the variety of projects. This is because I think every company is unique and needs its own way to communicate their identity. So far, I love being a member and the Graphic Designer for SIWA. With my design background and my open personality, I hope to be a great asset for the SIWA team. If you want to know more about me, join one of the SIWA meet & greets and let’s have a coffee together. See you there!
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