UPDATE #2 FOR THE WEEKEND

VOLUNTEERS—Make sure you’re dressing to suit the weather; it will be colder on the beach than it is in many other parts of the peninsula. The work will help to keep you warm but you’re still going to need a hat and you will also have breaks away from the heavy work.

About Breaks—consider bringing some games, Frisbees, soccer balls etc… Yes, we’re going there to work but there will be down time for lunch and rest breaks and there are kids who live in Padori Beach. This past week has been relentless, thankless and exhausting for the adults and it hasn’t been any fun for the kids either. There’s nothing wrong with having a little fun while you’re taking a break—it’s a great way to relax and make sure your muscles don’t stiffen up before you get back to work.

Donations—There have been some really great financial donations in the last couple of days and every bit is going to help but there is also a need for used clothes.

The folks in Asan are bundling together whatever they can to send out on the bus this weekend and volunteers are welcome to do the same. So if you have friends, co-workers or students who would like to donate used clothes bring them along, they will be put to good use.

Also watch for updates about future used clothing drives. If we can get enough donations we will organize a truck to make pickups in major centers around the country.

A Bag of Rice

The oil spill at Taean has effectively and abruptly ended the livelihoods of the vast majority of people who live and work along the beaches. Fishing, fish farming and tourism were the primary industries and 66,000 barrels of crude oil has ended those industries—for now and a long time to come.

The 200 households in Padori Beach have all been affected by this disaster and they represent only a fraction of the total number of families and businesses along more than 35 kilometers of coastline now covered in oil. Faced with a situation that feels overwhelming and seems to be insurmountable the people of Padori Beach, and all over Taean, have not given up—but they do need help.

As they fight to clean-up and as they begin to look at finding a new future for their lives, these families still need to survive. Government assistance and insurance money will come eventually, but it will never be enough to offset the cost. The cost of losing the family home or the business that raised children and put them through school or the cost of having to start a new life somewhere else. These families will, no doubt, use their savings to get through the next few months, which should have seen the harvest of good oyster and shellfish crops, but their savings are most likely modest since this coastline is not populated by the wealthy. So what can we do to help?

It seems practical that we help these folks by giving them something they can use right now, that they don’t need to use their savings to buy. A large bag of rice costs about 100,000 won and one for each household in Padori Beach is not even going to scratch the surface in terms of the cost of this catastrophe to these people—but it will help. And perhaps it will also help them know they aren’t alone; that someone truly cares about them.

So what do you say? Let’s do it! Let’s buy a large bag of rice for each of the families of Padori Beach. For many expats in Korea, December marks a season of giving and hope in their home countries. It seems only fitting that we expats embrace our roots and do a little giving and spread a little hope in our adopted home.

If you can help us buy the rice, the organizers at EHH will make arrangements with local suppliers in Padori Beach to deliver the rice to the village clan chief, Mr. Jeong, and he will ensure that ‘A Bag of Rice’ finds its way into every Padori Beach home.

Thanks for caring enough to give!

If you would like to donate please visit our How to Donate page for the steps on how to do that.

Update on Clean-up Crews for Saturday and Sunday (December 15 and 16)

Due to the tides at Padori Beach, the clean-up times will be limited to 6 hours each day during the daylight hours.

So there has been a small change to the bus departure schedule from Asan—it will now leave at 8 am, the return trip will still depart Padori Beach no later than 5 pm.

For those coming from other centers—we will collect you at the KTX station or the Express bus terminal in Asan and get you to the bus departure site. We just need to know where you will be and when. Tell Thom when you sign up.

Once we get this first weekend in, we will plan other similar days, so if you want to help but can’t make it this particular weekend—keep checking back.

Soonchunhyang University has graciously donated 80 sets of cleanup gear for folks to wear—so we have a clean set ready for both days—alleviating this logistical need. Still needed: buckets and shovels.

Bag of Rice Program—in addition to clean up efforts we plan to supply each household in Padori Beach with a big bag of rice. Tentatively that will take 20,000,000 KRW. Look for more information on this initiative in the next day or two.

Clean-up volunteers—volunteers are starting to trickle in, let it be known we will exclude no able bodied person from joining—bring your Korean friends, let your students know (talk about a day of English Immersion, huh!). If you can make your way to Asan, we will collect you and get you to the clean-up site.

Bank Information for donations is now up.

Soonchunhyang University has graciously donated 80 sets of cleanup gear for folks to wear—so we have a clean set ready for both days—alleviating this logistical need.
Still needed: buckets and shovels.

Well at day 5 after the oil spill, things are still sketchy, but considering that the most immediate concern is to clean up the oil, that is where we plan to start. After talking to emergency response officials, we know there is an almost limitless demand for equipped volunteers to collect the spilled oil before it does more damage. The work will go on for several months it seems—it is that bad.

On Saturday and Sunday of the coming weekend (December 15,16), we are preparing to take in teams of volunteers each day to work on the clean-up. The teams each day will be limited to 40 people. They will be equipped with personal gear necessary for doing this work, which we will purchase in the next day or two. We have discovered that there is a critical shortage of buckets and shovels right now, so we will also purchase those, so that our teams will have something to work with. We will feed ourselves for those days.

The bus will leave from Soonchunhyang University, in Asan, early each morning and return early evening. A bus has been generously donated by the University to transport the volunteers.

Once the weekend is over, and we know more what we are looking at, additional arrangements for volunteers will be made.

We will also use this site to provide as much information as we can gather about the spill, it’s impact and volunteer opportunities. One and all are encouraged to contribute to this information hub. Pictures, stories, links, queries, answers—we want them all.

It looks like it will take about 2,000,000 KRW for equipment and gear and sustenance for the first teams of volunteers—so we will happily take donations. The gear and equipment will obviously be reused. It feels tacky, but in the essence of time, one of us will open an account in our name to facilitate the inflow of those donations. Establishing a legal entity to do otherwise, will take some time. We are currently working on that.

Longer term plan

Yet to be determined, but we know that our friends at Padori have had their livelihoods abruptly and completely shut down. Relief funds will never fully cover needs and delays are inevitable, so there will no doubt be further initiatives to help these folks. Several folks have already spent time considering possibilities—all in due time.

Invitation

Expats, folks abroad, and Koreans are all invited to take part in this initiative—however they can, where ever they can and when ever they can. Each and every contribution will make a difference.

I remember my mother baking a batch of cookies to send to a crew fighting forest fires—she made a difference in her own way and I love her for showing me that way.

A sign up list has been started with Thom Walls of Asan, Korea. For the planned clean-up trip to Padori, Korea on Saturday, and Sunday (Dec. 15, & 16, respectfully). Please contact him directly either by phone or email if you would like to volunteer for a dirty job.

Cell Phone: 010-5848-0305
Email: thomwalls2002@yahoo.ca

Welcome to Expat Helping Hands. We are a loose organization of ex-pats living in the province of Chungcheongnam, South Korea. This website is intended to be a staging point for volunteer activities related to the oil spill in December 2007. This includes the physical clean up and what’s going on with that. How to get involved.
OR
If you want to donate money we will have that information shortly. Please stay tuned.
Sincerely, 
expatHH Administrator