Kim, Kyung-hee and Kim, Kuen-tae, Mother and Son of Multi-cultural Family Volunteer as Mentors
Mother a Bilingual Instructor, Son a Mentor for Children of Multi-cultural Families
[Jul 27, 2012]
“I remember having a hard time because everything was so unfamiliar when I first came to Korea 19 years ago. I want to use my experiences to help women of multi-cultural families settle down in the Korean society more easily."
Mother and son of a multi-cultural family, who successfully settled down in the Korean society, is catching the attention of many as they are now working as mentors for multi-cultural families in Daegu. They are Kim, Kyung-hee (47, bilingual instructor), a mother from Shenyang, China, and her son, Kim, Kuen-tae (18, freshman at YU Department of Urban Planning and Engineering).
Kim, Kyung-hee, who completed the YU Multi-cultural Family Leader School and her son Kim, Kuen-tae, who is a mentor for children of multi-cultural families Mrs. Kim met her Korean husband in China and soon after their wedding, she moved to Korea in 1993. Though she had difficulty getting used to the Korean society, she was able to settle down in Korea by overcoming many difficulties with the help of family and neighbors.
Mrs. Kim said that whenever she hears news about women of multi-cultural families being given the cold shoulder, and sometimes even being abused, she sympathized greatly. That is why she applied for the 'YU Multi-cultural Family Leader School' two years ago as part of the 2nd class (Feb 15-Dec 31, 2010), and began helping multi-cultural families having difficulties.
Mrs. Kim also said, "I am living a new life after studying at the YU Multi-cultural Family Leader School." In 2011, she completed the bilingual instructor course and is currently working as a bilingual instructor teaching Chinese and multi-cultures in elementary schools in downtown Daegu.
The 'Multi-cultural Family Leader School', which gave Mrs. Kim a new life, is offered by YU every year with the goal of fostering leaders for the multi-cultural society in order to contribute in the successful adaptation and settlement of multi-cultural families in the community for married immigrants. Students receive 156 hours of education from February to December and then become leaders in creating regional multi-cultural communities in various sectors such as language instructors and consultants for home abuse. Since 2009, 138 people completed this program.
Mrs. Kim's son, Kim, Kuen-tae (18) is also a mentor for multi-cultural families. Kim learned Korean together with his Chinese mother and after enrolling at the YU Department of Urban Planning and Engineering in March of this year, he applied for the multi-cultural family college mentor program, and is currently teaching Korean and schoolwork to children of multi-cultural families. He sometimes assumes the role as a big brother who children can talk anything about with him.
He said, "I look like a Korean so I didn't have too much problems, but in high school, I was heartbroken over the fact that I was teased because of being Chinese." He also said that he hoped to help children of multi-cultural families saying that he knows how they feel.
Mrs. Kim said, "I am very proud of my son who is now a university student and helping children that are a lot like him," and added with a smile, "I hope our society becomes one that is open to multi-cultural families and that tolerates and respects other societies. Though it might not be much, my son and I will do all we can to help."
On another note, YU was selected as a regional hub university for the 2012 Multi-cultural/North Korean Defector Student Mentoring project in the Yeungnam region by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Korea Student Aid Foundation, and is fulfilling its role as a leader in creating a multi-cultural community culture.
