JAMES HONG
VOLUNTEER
The SALT is a student volunteer group that I co-founded to help needy children in Rwanda. We have provided access to the internet and computer through fundraising and currently running an online tutoring program to teach English and Intro to Biology by developing e-books and teaching materials.
This is the link to The SALT's website.
Bannanaonsegae is a continued project of The SALT aimed at reusing wastes from bananas, a main Rwandan industrial product. My twin and I have noticed that many banana peels are just trashed, causing environmental problems and opportunity costs. So, we developed a philanthropic business model to reuse and sell banana peels for many uses, including bug repellent and skin oil, manufacturing them in Rwanda.
We saw great potential in these banana peels; instead of being thrown away, we believe there must be various ways to use them, such as making them into fertilizer and acne treatment products. So, we have devised a business plan to develop innovative and profitable products using these banana peels.
The purpose of our business is to make a profitable and sustainable business that can contribute to the improvement of the quality of Rwandans’ life. For this purpose, we are planning to create our business in Rwanda in the belief we will be able to use its widely connected East African trade network. We also plan to hire as many Rwandans as possible because one of our goals is to provide consistent financial support for poor Rwandan families. In addition, since producing various products with banana peels is not expensive, we will sell high-quality products at a cheap price which can make our products compelling to people compared to other companies products.
Raphael Clinic Volunteering is a medical volunteering session that provides free treatment and medicines to homeless people. Premed and med students, renowned professors, and people from diverse backgrounds gather every Sunday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., doing their best to give the medical care that homeless people hardly get.
The work is the most strenuous. As a high school student, I am assigned to guide homeless people to where they are administered. My work is crucial because it organizes the people to be in the right place and wait, preventing chaos. However, there are only two high school students, sometimes one, to guide several hundred homeless people. The weather is extremely hot and humid because the camp is set outside, and the air conditioning is only provided for the professors giving treatments. Some people frequently yell about the long waiting time. Once every session, homeless people fight with each other, arguing about who came first, and I am responsible for mediating them.
Despite this harsh condition, I enjoy this volunteering. I feel a sense of purpose fulfilled because my position is so crucial, and this volunteering is necessary for an unrecognized part of society. Also, homeless people in Korea are generally very old. I feel great sympathy for them because they are about the same age as my grandparents, who raised me and thus feel familiar to me. Some homeless people tell me I remind them of their grandson they have not seen for a long time. The grateful words make me feel very rewarded. Most importantly, I learned to be humble and thankful for where I am. I recognized that being born into a good background was not granted, so I want to contribute to those who are not in some way. One of my dreams in the future became making philanthropy to return the valuable privileged opportunities I have gotten to society.