COVID-19 is having an adverse effect on Korean society as a whole, especially among high school students. While facing the challenge of preparing to go to college, students find it hard to participate in their academic and other activities properly. There are very few things that they can do on their own, with many activities restricted due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Notably, a youth club continues to hold its social events without going against the social atmosphere.

Eight teenagers from Chadwick International School leads a youth club called “Destiny,” a abbreviation of the phrase “Diversity is Necessity.” The students are helping children from multicultural families who are socially disadvantaged to explore the present and future of Korea, where multicultural society is expanding.

Club leader Eunseo Lee (11, Chadwick International School) said, “When Covid-19 broke out earlier in this year, there was a mask shortage, but the Korean government immediately implemented the five-day rotation system to ensure that masks were stably supplied to all the people.”

“However, I learned that, in the case of a multicultural family, they were either unqualified to purchase the masks or even if they were qualified, they were having difficulties as they couldn’t afford to buy a mask due to their living conditions,” Lee said.

The youth club drew up a plan to support children from multicultural families by purchasing large quantities of cotton masks and disposable filters. The issue was a budget. The answer came from Youth Clubs Scholarship Program held by the non-profit organization Warming Korea. The club won the top award with its specific action plan and were given 1 million won ($800) in prize money.

“We were able to buy cotton mask DIY kits, hand sanitizer, 50 sets of disposable filters and more with the prize money,” Lee said. “Eight members made masks and donated them to the NGO Baraka Little Library, which supports multicultural families.”

The youth club said that it will continue to organize activities so that students can join together to support multicultural families.

By Lee Chung-hwan (leejh@heraldcorp.com)