Better Together – 1. Together Day

On Sunday, May 21, 2023, Jungoe Park in northeastern Gwangju was the site of a tremendously successfully and extremely well-attended “tri-festival.” The park, directly adjacent to the Biennale, hosted Citizen’s Day, International Students’ Day, and Together Day simultaneously and brought together thousands of people for plenty of entertainment, mingling, shopping, and the opportunity to sample all sorts of delicious international food. In this feature, two attendees of the festival, Jo Lezada of the Philippines, writing about International Student’s Day, and Nahida Islam of Bangladesh, writing about Together Day, share their accounts of the events of the day.

Together Day

By Nahida Islam

Photos by Kim Hillel Yunkyoung

Has it ever happened to anyone that excitement kept you awake till late night, yet you still found yourself awaking earlier than ever? It has been a while since I felt this kind of excitement about an event that itself has a meaningful name: Gwangju Together Day.

Sunday, May 21, was a nice, sunny spring day with a breeze flowing around Jungoe Park in Gwangju. The place, hosting thousands of people from around the world, gave them opportunity to come together.

My friend and I were walking with a crowd heading towards the diversified stalls set up by participants from different countries (Vietnam, Egypt, Indonesia, Mongolia India, Nepal, etc.) as a way to introduce passers-by to their cultures. Lots of local and international organizations staffed booths to raise awareness for the need to make a safe place for foreign people, like the Gwangju Association of Migrant Women, the Support Center for Foreign Workers, the Gwangju Buk-gu Police Station, the Gwangju Youth Service Center, and the Gwangju Culture Foundation – all of which are helpful places to visit if you are a fan of diversified culture or are in need of their particular services.

We tried the traditional Korean game tuho (투호) and made dalgona (달고나) candy for the first time. I am a big fan of the famous Netflix series Squid Game, so I was so happy to get the chance to participate. However, my friend beat me at both activities. As a reward, she got to wear a hanbok (한복), or traditional Korean attire. Just kidding – everybody was able to wear a hanbok and take photos with no limits. We could even paint our nails and get a fake tattoo to commemorate Gwangju Together Day.

Food played an important role in making the program more cheerful. No, I am not a foodie who only talks about food, but I would be remiss if I did not mention the food offered. As we were walking a lot, it is obvious that we got hungry. We got the chance to try food from places like India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Canada, Nepal, China, Mongolia, Morocco, Iraq, and the Philippines. Yeah, one could have gotten tired just reading all the countries’ name, but people did not get a bit tired of trying their foods. We had several different items ourselves.

The most noticeable part of the event was that the Gwangju International Center (GIC) made the event eco-friendly. They introduced a stall where you could get a food container for free, so after eating, we just had to return the container. It is an admirable step to reduce plastic waste that is killing our ecosystem.

For people looking for some community activities, then groups like Gwangju Hikers and Dreamers are for you. Seo Ru-bin, a cute, little 11-year-old girl from UNESCO KONA told us a picture story about “a tiger and a dried persimmon.” She was too sweet to hear. In the end, it was a day well spent, and all kudos go to the GIC, which arranged the whole program to give foreigners a place to interact with the people of Gwangju City.

At last, there is the word “together.” Is it just a word?

It is more than that.

Together we can conquer every obstacle; together we can make the world more colourful; together we can be one heart. This is the message Gwangju Together Day wanted to convey. I think everyone who participated in this meaningful event got the message.

The Author

Nahida Islam is a PhD student at Chonnam National University in Gwangju. She is an introvert who always dreams of a world full of love and care. She does not think about achievement but cherishes the way to any destination. A country girl from Bangladesh, she should not be here, but she is.