A Roof Over Our Heads: Revamping a Neighborhood Shelter

PUBLICO, a Gwangju community service group, started with a belief in the power of good people. Talents are all around us, even in our own neighborhood. Through a collaborative effort between people and organizations, PUBLICO aims to add positivity to people’s lives. Our collaborative system is very flexible. We welcome people from all over the world and we do not require a long-term commitment. We simply ask the public to contribute to our projects in any way they can.

Our recent Shelter Revamp Project is an example of what can happen when good people come together to improve their community. We noticed a group of elderly ladies sitting by the road and chatting every evening. Yet five meters away, there was an abandoned shelter. The shelter could provide them protection from the sun and the rain, yet the ladies preferred sitting by the road because they said the shelter was “dirty and lifeless.”

Through this project, we discovered some hidden talents in Gwangju. Brad Evans, who is the host of Gwangju Television Network’s “Welcome To Gwangju,” contributed his knowledge of wall painting. Along with Tong Chen, they gave the shelter a good base coat of paint. Maia Gillet, who is currently an English teacher with the EPIK program, also helped with painting. She graduated from the Maryland Institute of Art. Kotchaphon Krittiyanan, a language student at Chonnam University, is not only talented at handicrafts, she paints skillfully too.

The experience was especially fulfilling when the residents got together to support us. One neighbor supplied us with water to clean, another contributed her broom and one more also painted alongside us. Our neighbors also generously treated us to kimchi jeon (Korean savory pancake) and makgeolli.

We hope that PUBLICO grows as a community and that we can share resources and support more projects for the good of the public.