Trainees at Hanawon visited a residential home for people with intellectual disabilities on June 15, 2017. They cleaned up the facility from top to bottom, took a walk with the residents, and kept them company for some time.
Hanawon director Lim Byeong-cheol and staff at the Ministry of Unification also participated in this volunteer work.
Hanawon trainees provide side dishes every month to the socially disadvantaged, including the elderly living alone at home, in cooperation with the Korean Red Cross. They began visiting the facilities for persons with disabilities every other month this year to provide more practical volunteer service.
They visited the House of Angels in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, a rehabilitation center for about 100 disabled children, and the Holy Family Center (Seonggawon) in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, a residential home for about 40 persons with intellectual disabilities.
Hanawon trainees said that they came away from their first volunteer work for the disabled in March very impressed with South Korea’s social welfare.
Hanawon under the Ministry of Unification plans to render volunteer service for the disadvantaged on a regular basis during the training period so that North Korean defectors not only gain a better understanding of South Korean society and more easily settle in the South but also feel the joy of giving through such volunteer work.
Hanawon, in cooperation with the Korean Red Cross, plans to share samgyetang (chicken soup with ginseng) with homeless people and those people living in cramped rooms near Seoul Station next month.
