Rotaract Sports Festival for Foreign Workers

 On Saturday, May 28, Sports festival for foreigners was held at the Grand stadium of Suwon University. The festival has been organized by Rotaract club for the last sixteen years for a purpose of eliminating perception about the foreign workers and of helping them adapt to Korea.

 

[Picture of foreign participants from all over the World along with the members of Rotaract club members]

 

 The sports event officially started around 10 a.m after the opening speech of the president of Rotaract club. Afterwards, foreign workers and volunteers from Rotaract club of Suwon University enjoyed playing soccer, volley ball and other games.

 

[Picture: President of Rotaract club addressing the participants during opening ceremony]

 

 Foreign workers and their families from Phillipines, Uzbekistan, Nepal, etc. participated in this year's sports festival.

 

[Picture: A multicultural family participating in the festival ]

 

 There was no participation fee and all the participants were provided lunch for free. Moreover, many prizes were also awarded based on the performance.

 

Ahmad, SGC Correspondent/mahi.skku@daum.net

Translation: Sanjay Kumar (SGC Correspondent)

 

 

Delightful Festival for CIS Kids

 

On May 28, a festival for children was organized at Mokjeong Park in celebration of Children’s Day of CIS countries. CIS countries do celebrate Children’s Day like Korea, but the date is different. It is celebrated on June 1^st   whereas one in Korea is on May 5^th.

 

It is for third time that a festival for Children’s Day for CIS kids was organized in Seoul.Thanks to the efforts of the ‘KIMushki’, Children Culture Club of Russia and Central Asia, the performances have become diverse and the number of participants has also increased.

 

 

Along with the delightful concerts, toys, and medical goods are also donated to the  families in need. Accordingly, the children who are unable to participate in the festival can also feel the warmth of Children’s Day.

 

 

 By: Karmanova Evgeniia,  SGC Correspondent (Russian) 

 Translation: Sanjay Kumar , SGC Correspondent (English)

Africa Festival 2017: Africa, We are all friends

On Sunday May 5th, Seoul Africa Festival was held on the pedestrian street in front of , Dongdaemun Design Plaza(DDP) from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

  

This year's festival was divided into six zones, such as the community zone with Africa related organizations; market zone for selling Africa related goods; friends zone with embassies of African nations; culture zone for experiencing African culture etc, and knowledge zone consisting exhibitions and lectures. Although the duration of the event was short , it attracted a large number of foreign residents from different countries.

 

       

 When you enter the entrance you can see that different sales booth and the embassy booths of some of the African countries are set up on both sides of the street. The embassy booths offered information on tourism and culture of the respective countries, while traditional food and various delicate handicrafts could be bought from the sales booths. A wide variety of traditional activities such as trying on traditional attire and hair styles, drawing and tasting African wine were provided for free. Especially, in the middle of the festival street, there was a concert stage and many more interesting activities could be enjoyed for free. Especially, in the mid of pedestrian street, there was a concert stage and diverse performances such as story telling, traditional songs of Korea and Africa, fashion show were staged from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. In addition, Djembe , the exciting/ soulful African traditional drum experience programs were continuously provided.

 

Many active organizations participated in this event. Seoul Global Center set up a booth to introduce services offered to foreign residents. The booth also provided simple pamphlets as well as counselling on various issues and pamphlets.

 

One of the participants of the event Vietnam said, " I go to know a lot about Aftrican nations and felt like I was doing something worthwhile by donating to welfare organization. Also, I saw some wonderful African sceneries in the photo exhibition and after seeing them I have decided to plan to go for a tour to Africa". 

 

 

Sanjay Kumar( SGC Correspondent, English)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Spring Festival at Seoul Dwight International School

On May 13, International Spring Festival was held at Seoul Dwight International School. As the festival started at 10 am, the people started gathering. Until 11 am most of the crowd were students, however, as the time progressed, huge crowd of about 300 persons including parents, teachers and people related to the festival could be observed.

        

         Inside view of the sports ground in the school    

 Photo: Seoul Global Center

 On this occasions such as World food festival, many traditional games, airbounce and outdoor games were also organized in the school premises and it could be easily participated only by visiting the tents. The parents spent quality time with the children and it was amazing to see them enjoying food of different countries during the lunch.

                                    

Greenpeace activists conveying the importance of saving environment

Photo: Seoul Global Center

 

The children showed interest in recovering the global warming issues and visited the Greenpeace tent while some of the products flea market attracted the children as well. However, world food festival having foods from more than 15 countries was most popular event among the parents as well as the students. They enjoyed foods from countries such as Australia, India, Turkey, France, Pakistan, Koream Neitherland, Canada, Philippines, Thailand, Italy, Japan etc.

        

 Visitors enjoying a happy visit to the fair Photo: Seoul Global Center

 

Apart from these, juice corner, advertisements of language training, jumbo dance, clothes and dentist also set up tents. Seoul Global Center offered a free jagae making experience and became very popular among the children. The children showed lot of interest in making the Korean jagae. One of the children among them said, "This experience is very interesting. I am so happy to receive a gift too" and attained affection from his parents. During the festival, it was possible to meet foreign teachers of Dwight International School followed by various programs such as shool tour, art and crafts etc. The book fair consisted of many books ranging from Harry porter to cartoons. The Flea market attracted attention because of the availability of many useful products of daily life such as books, gifts, cartoon books, pottery etc.

    

       Parents and students enjoying jumbo dance Photo: Seoul Global Center

 

The jumbo dance was enjoyed on the tunes of lively music and people had lots of fun trying the jumbo dance. It was a global cultural environment in a pleasant weather and observing the number of visitrs, it can be said that the event made feel the essence of globalisation.

 

 

Sanjay Kumar, 

Correspondent , Seoul Global Center

국제 봄 페어, 서울드와이트 외국인학교에서 열려

 5월 13일 토요일, 서울드와이트 외국인학교에서 국제 봄 페어 가 다채롭게 열렸다. 국제 봄페어는 10시에 시작되자 점점 사람들이 붐비기 시작했다. 오전 11시까지는 학생들이 대부분이었지만, 11시 되서는 외국인 선생님, 학부모, 관계자들까지 방문하여 약 300명 정도로 많아졌다. 이 날 세계음식문화축제와 함께 다양한 전통놀이, 에어바운스, 아웃도르 게임과 유익한 체험이 준비되어 있었기에 각 체험부스를 누구나 참여할 수 있었다. 학부모들은 학생들과 놀이체험하고, 점심시간에는 세계의 다양한 음식을 즐기는 모습이 매우 활기차보였다.

                    

             그린피스 담당자는 자연보호의 뜻을 전달하고 있다. <사진제공=서울글로벌센터>

아이들은 지구온난화의 극복을 위해 활동하고 있는 Greenpeace부스를 방문하여 자연보호에 관심을 보이기도 했다. 또 프리마켓의 제품을 꼼꼼히 보는 아이들도 있었다. 하지만 무엇보다도 음식문화축제에는 호주, 인도, 터키, 프랑스, 파키스탄, 한국, 네덜란드, 캐나다, 필리핀, 태국, 이탈리아, 일본 등을 포함한 약 15개국의 신선한 음식이 준비되어 있어, 학부와 아이들에게 제일 인기가 높았다.

 이외에 쥬스 코너, 어학원, 옷, 점보댄스와 치과 같은 분야를 광고하는 목적으로 온 부스도 있었고 서울글로벌센터에서 무료로 제기 만들기 체험은 많은 각광을 얻었다. 특히 어린아이들과 초등학생들은 제기 만드는 것에 큰 관심을 가졌다. 제기 체험을 여러번 한 아이는, " 이런 체험이 매우 재미있다. 선물도 받을 수 있어서 아주 좋다"라고 하며, 함께 참석한 부모도 매우 뿌듯해하였다. 국제 봄 페어에서는 드와이트 외국인선생님과의 만남도 가능했으며 학부모와 관계자들은 스쿨투어도 했으며, 공예 체험 프로그램도 있었다. 북페어에서는 해리 포터를 비롯하여 인기 문학책도 많았다. 프리마켓 코너도 있었는데 옷, 책, 작은 선물, 만화책, 청자와 같은 일상생활의 필수품이 있어 사람들의 인기를 많이 얻었다.

            

 신나는 음악과 함께 점보댄스도 중간중간 있었기에 때때로 사람들은 춤을 추며 즐거워했다. 활기찬 날씨에 야외의 모습은 매우 글로벌 문화의 분위기를 즐길 수 있는 공간이었다. 전 프로그램의 참석자 모임으로 보아, 세계화를 잠시나마 실제로 느낄 수 있던 행사였다.

서울통신원 선저이 꾸마르
globalsanjaykumar@gmail.com

Appointment Ceremony for the 6th Seoul Quality of Life Monitors at Seoul City Hall

The appointment ceremony and orientation for the 6^th Seoul Living Monitors 2017 was held at Seoul City Hall on 18^th of March 2017. It was the second orientation in a row after the first orientation held on Feb. 27. Monitors consist of 80 members in total, 70 foreign residents from 33 different countries in Asia, Africa, Europe etc., and 10 translators from Korea.

 

 

                                       Photo Courtesy: Multicultural division, Seoul Metropolitan Government

  

  According to the multiculturalism division of Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seoul Living Monitors Program has started with the vision to seek areas where foreign residents in Seoul face difficulties, to study successful policies of other countries and to propose plans to the Seoul Metropolitan Government for enhancing living conditions in Seoul. The Living Monitors would take initiative to improve areas related to tourism, medical, immigration education, public transportation, business, academics, safety, legal issues and other inconveniences by discovering excellent models from overseas and suggestions would be made and forwarded to the government for further action. Furthermore, they would make an on-site inspection, inform the relevant department and directly confirm about the action taken.

 

  As the monitors working in diverse fields, their areas of monitoring are also diverse. The results of the last year’s monitoring consist of installing cycle stands, using the same station names in different languages, marking bus information both in korean and english at Seoul Bus Station Transfer Center and marking the direction to destinations near the entrance. The program aims at interacting one another and making Seoul more globalized not only through monitoring but also through various programs such as health and safety education, discussion on human rights education for foreign residents, Korean history and culture, education etc.

 

 The coordinator of the program Hae Yeon Choi said that the foreign residents from 33 countries with different stories actively participated in this program appreciated the activities as a great chance to interact with one another.

Reported By: Luisa (SGC Correspondent, Uzbek)

Translated By: Sanjay Kumar( SGC Correspondent, English)

 

 

Foreign residents can also apply for job-seeking program by Korean Job Center

Job Center of the Korean Ministry of Employment and Labor offers many programs to support Koreans seeking jobs. Currently, there is no separate program for foreign residents. However, foreign residents with visas such as F-2, F-4, F-5 and F6 are eligible to receive the counseling from Employment team of the Job center. 

 

                          

                                                     [Photo: Entrance gate of Employment Team located on the 5th floor of

                                                                       Job Center , Western Seoul]

 

 The job application procedure starts with showing a valid alien registration card. After receiving the counseling, job seeking application should be submitted to the Employment center for the counseling. The applicant should write down his/her information such as qualification, staff experience, field, salary expectations and other details.  

 

 Around 14:30 on April 11, a 29-year-old Indian student in Korea a 34-year-old Bangladeshi student visited the Employment team located on 5^th floor of Job Center, Western Seoul and applied for job-seeking program. The resumes of the two were uploaded on www.work.go.kr and recommended two staff companies to the Bangladeshi foreign student based on his profile. One of the staffs said that there have been few matches between foreign applicants and companies, but if they keep applying through carious job portals, they will get good results.

 

 Applicants cannot register or upload their resumes by themselves on worknet.go.kr unlike other job portals such as Saramin and Jobkorea. Only the staff of Job center can do. If the resume is registered on the website, they can see job advertisements on not only worknet but other job portals at the same time, It is noteworthy that there are 44 Job centers Korea and 7 out of them are located in Seoul. 

 

 The number of foreigners residing in Korea is increasing day by day and accordingly the number of foreigners with resident visa has also increased in the last few years. The foreigners with resident visa are eligible to apply for jobs in Korea but they are facing difficulties in seeking jobs. The Indian student said , “ If Job Center organizes diverse programs for foreign residents, they can be a great help to foreign job seekers”.

SGC Correspondent, Sanjay Kumar