Two Stories from KONA Volunteers

Story One: Seven Years with KONA

By Nayan Das

It has been more than seven years that I have been in Korea. I came to Korea as a PhD student and am now a researcher. In the seven years, many things have changed in my life. I lost some people near to me and also gained many things. But one constant thing was volunteering with KONA. It has been a wonderful life-learning journey. Officially, I joined KONA in 2016. Since then, I have met many amazing people through this volunteering experience and had many opportunities to experience Korean culture.

As KONA volunteers, we met in person at the KONA Storybook Center, read storybooks, and shared lessons with children prior to Covid-19. Kids also read storybooks according to their level, made story maps, shared them with other kids, and presented them in front of all participants. They were also encouraged to express their opinion about what they felt after reading a book. It was always entertaining. The senior children were trained to teach junior children in what was essentially leadership training. We also took the time to celebrate special cultural and historical events of different countries. However, after Covid-19 hit the world, everything became chaotic, and our volunteering moved from offline to online.

Online volunteering was a new experience for me. Through online fora, we started teaching English to adults and kids. KONA volunteering switched from being local to global. People from different countries (Canada, USA, India, etc.) were able to join in the live online storybook readings and discussions. It was a great experience to see people of all ages and backgrounds come together in one screen. We are still doing story maps presentations and story sharing in this way. We can now do volunteering from our home and office through Zoom.

The year 2022 was a very eventful one for me. I graduated with my PhD from GIST, had an accident and broke a leg, had an operation, and got a job as a postdoctoral researcher. I have become busier than before. However, I am still doing KONA volunteering and learning something new every time. I am grateful to the founder, professor Kim Young-im, for allowing me to be a part of the KONA volunteering group.

Story Two: My KONA Experience During 2022’s GIC Week  
By Alexander Boling

Recently, I was given an opportunity to experience a wonderful event centered around international communication and cooperation through my amazing volunteering group, the UNESCO KONA Storybook Center led by Professor Kim Young-im.

I originally joined the KONA Storybook Center to improve my ability to teach English and aid those in need. I was introduced to the Center through a friend I had met at another volunteer event by the name of Nayan. After meeting with Professor Kim, we established a strong bond and saw many similarities in life philosophies. The KONA Storybook Center provides learning services for both vulnerable youth as well as elderly learners in both online classes as well as in-person meetings at various locations in Gwangju.

In October 2022, we started in the afternoon under the hot 2:00 p.m. sun setting up our booth in the international village of the festival grounds at the Asian Cultural Center in Gwangju. I met with the other volunteers, and we invited passing families to listen and share stories. Soon, we had people eagerly lining up to speak with our volunteer group. My story was the American folk tale Johnny Appleseed, which I had grown distant from over many years but remember fondly from my childhood. The moral of the story involved a lesson I could easily share with my listeners: Share and provide for those in need whenever possible regardless of whether you will receive immediate benefit, and others will appreciate your work.

I taught KONA’s English teaching method using story maps and storyboards. Both tools are designed to reinforce English skills through memorization, reinforcement, image recognition, and utilization of grammar. Through these methods, students quickly develop an understanding of sight words, allowing them to quickly fill in the gaps of their story maps and build confidence with speaking and sharing their skills amongst their peers. What I feel is most important is that people learning through the KONA Storybook Center are provided with a wealth of resources that allow lessons to remain fun, challenging, and engaging, as well as variegated in content, with consistency in availability.

The GIC Week event gave KONA Storybook Center and me an opportunity to meet and greet many people to educate and provide outreach to those in need of our services. I met dozens of brilliant and stunningly skilled English speakers between the ages of four and twelve years old. We spoke briefly to discuss their age and how well they could speak English before reading through Johnny Appleseed together. Many could follow along, and a few were capable of easily reading through the rather daunting story on their own! Afterwards, I asked participants where they wanted to travel in the world and why as an opportunity to foster conversation about our international involvement and opportunities.

In addition, I was able to meet with other volunteer leaders of various groups around the city of Gwangju. We were able to share stories, build connections, and discuss how to better provide for our communities together.

These opportunities would not have been available had it not been for both the GIC Week event and KONA Storybook Center, both of which I am extremely grateful for. I look forward to providing continued services whenever possible in the future!