Good morning, everyone! My name is Heejung Yoon from the Korean Women's Association of New Zealand.
First of all, thank you for inviting us and for giving us the opportunity to introduce our organization.
I am going to talk for about 5 minutes about our organization's history, vision, and major meaningful activities this year.
The Korean Women's Association of NZ is a non-profit organization established in 1996 and has been registered with the Charities Commission since 2009 and has over 3,500 registered members.
I will call it the KWANZ from now on. In short, the KWANZ (Korean Women's Association of NZ) KWANZ is mainly composed of Korean Women immigrants from Korea.
Like all immigrants, Korean women also have difficulties settling down here in New Zealand, where the language, culture, and legislation are very different from those of Korea.
KWANZ works for Korean women who are suffer from isolation, loneliness, frustration, and lack of support or network.
To ensure the well-being and happiness of Korean women in New Zealand, we have set up 3 visions, which are as follows:
First, Equip to Settle, assists Korean immigrant women to assimilate into New Zealand society among their fellow immigrants.
Second, Equip to Health is designed to assist a mother of a family, a wife, or a daughter who are striving for physical and mental health.
Third, Equip to Work encourage women's participation in society as professionals.
To realize this vision, we hold health seminars every March to monitor and support the mental and physical health of our families. We also have regular legal forums to help Korean women to assimilate into New Zealand society. The legal forum covers a variety of topics such as small business start-ups and the Employment Act, Pension, Tax, and property law Act, general finance, and so on.
We provide free legal advice as well given by professional attorneys covering such topics as domestic violence, bullying, international student counseling, relationships with neighbors, and other related activities.
In addition to these seminars/forums, we are currently running more than 10 weekly learning classes, which cover the essential needs required for life in New Zealand. They are, for example, English reading class, Computer & Smartphone class, Sewing class, Photo class, Golf class, Tennis class, Korean dance class, Samul nori, which is a Korean traditional instrumental performance, as well as other classes and activities.
As you might imagine, we have done a lot of meaningful activities this year, but I'd like to introduce only some of them due to time limitations.
First, with regard to COVID-19, we conducted a successful vaccination campaign for Koreans where more than 1200 Korean were vaccinated with the cooperation of Waitamata Hospital, the Asian Health Network, and the Browns Bay Unichem. In addition we were able to directly help Korean neighbors by providing rice and ramen for free to 110 Korean residents suffering from COVID-19. Doing the vaccination campaign and directly helping Korean people was truly worthwhile.
Second, we have held three photo exhibitions so far this year. Many Korean and locals visited the exhibitions, and it was a relaxing and short break and healing time during their busy daily life.
Third, In September, we had a Local Election Vote seminar to encourage Korean residents to vote in the local elections. We guided and discussed how to identify candidates in each region, the voting process, and why voting is so important to New Zealand society.
Fourth, In November, we had the CPR 3 steps for Life training by a professional trainer from St. Johns. This CPR training, which can save people's lives in emergency situations, was more meaningful due to the active participation of more than 60 Korean residents.
All programs held by the KWANZ I hve previously mentioned, are totally open to everyone.
It means that our programs are not only for Korean women immigrants but also for all Korean people who live in New Zealand or for locals as well.
These programs held by KWANZ are not just one-time, they are regular and ongoing programs, and participating in these ongoing programs naturally leads to the creation of a human network including Korean women, Korean people, and locals. This human networking helps our new Koreans settle down well and build a sense of belonging in this Auckland society, without feeling isolated or lonely.
We will develop and implement more useful and beneficial new programs next year in order to provide practical help and support to all Korean people living in New Zealand.
I sincerely hope that the Korean Women's Association will continue to contribute to the development of Auckland society and the Korean community as a whole.
Thank you for listening and for your time.
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The expression "My wife" to a Korean comes to symbolize the meaning "Sun of the house". We believe that the wife, the sun of the family, brightens the family with a happy smile. Then society will be brightened, and finally, the whole world will be peaceful.