Dispatch of overseas volunteer team at start of new year - in connection with sister colleges and NGOs, etc. of Cambodia

Construction of Global ESG 5-Year Project System for education & environment, agricultural development, and health & medicine, etc.

[January 30, 2023]

<YU’s overseas volunteer team students help Cambodian Kampong Cham orphans to make their own eco bags>

 YU (President CHOI Oe-chool) started global social contribution activities with start of 2023. With beginning of Post COVID-19 times, YU accelerates achievement of an educational goal to practice ESG (Environment, Society, and Governance) management as a higher education institution and to cultivate talents for contribution to common prosperity of human societies.

YU Social Contribution Group organized an overseas volunteer team consisting of students and staff and dispatched 44 volunteers in January divided into two times. Each group of the volunteer team made service activities in Phnom Penh and Kampong Cham, etc. in Cambodia for two weeks, respectively. 

 The student volunteer team visited local orphanages, high schools, and universities, etc. made service activities, joined traditional plays and performances with local students and residents, and made cultural exchange activities. YU Overseas Volunteer Group students visited orphanages and made arts and physical education services and cultural exchange activities including eco bag decoration, soap production, soccer, and traditional plays, etc. Also, students visited a high school in Speu Commune, provided the students with computer education, and made educational environment improvement activities including repair and painting of outer walls of school buildings. 

<YU Overseas Volunteer Group students are painting old outer walls of Speu Commune High School.>

 Especially, YU donated 50 sets of computers and monitors, more than 500 Korean/English books, and more than 500 pieces of clothes through these volunteer activities. For this donation, YU made agreements with local organizations including Western University and Cambodia Development Center and operated material supply and volunteer activity programs. The programs operated with the students of Western University were also highly appreciated by local citizens. They made local purification campaign activities for village streets and riversides and cultural exchange activities with the students of main campus and branch campus of Western University in Phnom Penh and Kampong Cham.

<YU Overseas Volunteer Group students are teaching local students how to use the computers donated to Speu Commune High School.>

 BAE Min-seong (3rd grade of Department of Saemaul International Development), the leader of the First dispatch Team, expressed his feeling by saying, “I have participated in overseas volunteer activities through the programs if possible. It would be meaningful to participate in volunteer activities but I felt that I was growing with stepwise systemization and expansion of my view on the world through volunteer activities many times. I’d like to participate in overseas volunteer activities continuously after graduation, too, if possible.”

In addition, YU dispatched two teams to implement an agricultural development project and an educational facility improvement project for five years in Speu Commune and a medical volunteer team of YU Medical Center, independently from aforesaid student volunteer team. The purpose was to overcome the limitations of one-time overseas volunteer activities and to make practical contribution to improvement of living quality of Cambodian local residents. Therefore, YU intends to dispatch overseas volunteer teams and project teams to same areas for five years from now on.

Meanwhile, YU Overseas Volunteer Group students visited Korean organizations and enterprises working on the global stage such as Phnom Penh office of KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) and Phnom Penh Branch Office of Daegu Bank. They had a roundtable meeting with YU alumni working in local corporation of Daegu Bank.