ways to love yonsama: charity assoc VP jeong
seems like wuri yong joon wasn't involved in filming today. not sure what he's up to, but sure wish he had time to do whatever he needed or wanted to do. coz tomorrow it's probably gonna be back to danyang for more shooting... (maybe? hehe, we all know how plans can change around him....)but it's been great hearing from fans who had seen him these few days that he's looking much better. in fact, not only did he raise his right hand, he even shrugged his right shoulder alittle. as if telling everyone: hey, don't worry, i'm fine.
btw heard it's beginning to turn really cold in korea. chuncheon saw its first snow last night!! (oh, i wish i were there, or at least be going there soon!!) anyway, winter seems to have arrived kindda early this year. i was told he wasn't wearing all that much. sure hope he'll be okay. and for fans making travel plans over to baeland, consider yourself warned. pack your warm clothes and thick jackets, ya?
okay, and seems like wuri yong joon ain't the only one hard at work, our dear sweet sister has emailed me another chapter from the book ways to love yonsama. yup yup, chapter 10 is here!this chapter's still on his big, big heart. it's mainly an interview with vice-president jeong from the korean association for children with leukemia and cancer. not much that we don't already know, but somehow i feel the timing of this is quite good. one, to remind us of the less fortunate around us and to give generously. two, to also remind us that health is really really important and so, please, everyone, be healthy, be strong and be happy.
last but not least, as what i'd said previously, what goes around comes around. he'll come out of this okay.
original in japanese: ways to love yonsama
translated into english: a sweet sister / bb's blog
Ch 10 Yonsama and His Fans Expand
'Love Through Mutual Aid'
Korean Association for Children with Leukemia and Cancer
- Vice President, Jeong Ae Jung
In 2005, BYJ’s Korean fans had a fund-raising drive at a fan meeting and sent the donations to our Association.
We were filled with overwhelming gratitude and we were allowed to post a message of thanks on the home page of BYJ’s fan club.
Someone translated that message into Japanese and posted it onto a Japanese fan’s page, which became the opportunity, it seems, for our Association, to become known to BYJ fans in Japan.
Then suddenly, one fan from Japan sent warm knit caps to our Association. I think it was about January or February of 2006.
That person sent the caps to BYJ’s Korean management office, BOF, where a BOF staff member forwarded them to our Association, along with a note.
When we opened the box, there was an unbelievable 100 knit hats inside, a sight at which we were very surprised to see. We were so excited at receiving such an unexpected gift, that we again posted a message of thanks on the home page of BYJ’s fan club.
“Today, at noon, a small package arrived at the Association. Inside were 100 beautiful knit caps from BYJ’s Japanese fan, Yoshida Sakiko-san, who had knitted each one, stitch-by-stitch with devotion.
To knit so many caps, I wonder how long it must have taken her. Could this be called the power of love?
Because we are unable to write in Japanese, we will post our message here in Korean, and wonder if you will be kind enough to convey for us, our feelings of gratitude to BYJ’s fans in Japan?....”
It is our hope that our gratitude be expressed to Yoshida-san and also to all of BYJ’s fans.
BYJ Also Donated One Hundred Million Won
BYJ himself also donated one hundred million won (about 1.3 million yen) two years ago in 2005 to our Association.
He did not donate directly to the Association but requested that the money be used toward the Korean Association for Children with Leukemia and Cancer and to woman in need, and together with a social welfare charity collection, a total of two hundred million won was donated.
We were very happy and grateful to have someone like BYJ, a popular star that young people could view as a role model, take an interest in childhood cancer.
For BYJ, who has become very wealthy, donating the large sum of one hundred million won is not an amount that can be easily given away. It is proof of the love BYJ has in his heart.
I believe that the power of this love becomes an even bigger circle of love and spreads further throughout the world.
We are putting to good use the precious money that BYJ graciously donated toward the costs of treatment for leukemia and cancer patients and for operating “love houses” (free rest houses) for patients who come to Seoul from the outlying regions.
The number of leukemia and childhood cancer patients in Korea numbers about 25,000 people when you add in patients who have undergone anti-cancer treatments, are developing cancer, and are in remission.
The target age range in children is from 0 age to 18 years and each year, there are 1,300-1,500 newly diagnosed cases. Our association participates in the international organization, ICCCPO (International Confederation of Childhood Cancer Parent Organizations), which has about 60 world members, and each country has about the same conditions where for every 100,00 in population, 12-14 children are battling cancer.
The common problem we all share is the difficulty in early detection and prevention.
The Important Patient Belief “You Are Not Alone”
The reason that I am so active in saving childhood cancer patients is due to my own personal experience at having lost my son to cancer.
My son battled cancer for six years and as a result, passed away but even after his death, I have continued on with the cancer activities. I can distract myself from the sadness at losing my son, and also, I believe my son is certainly thrilled that I am taking part in such activities.
Also, in my experience with my son battling cancer, I understand all too clearly how necessary it is to have the assistance of everyone around you when it comes to the disease cancer.
For children battling cancer and their families, the advice of those who have experienced it firsthand is of great value. Our Association has many families as participants who have lost their children to leukemia and cancer and those are people who are able to offer warm advice.
Currently, for all patients and their families who are battling illness, we want them to know that, “You are not alone” and that we are here to support you. This is an important aspect to overcoming cancer.
If We Could All Climb Mount Fuji….
BYJ and all of BYJ’s fans donated to our Association, and this action has had an effect spreading out in many directions.
I heard that BYJ donated three hundred million won (about 3.9 million yen) to the victims of the October 2004 Niigata earthquake which resulted in 5,000 deaths. This donation was made from the proceeds of a photo exhibit held in Japan.
In December 2004, he also gave another three hundred million won to the victims of the Sumatra earthquake. Through his home page, he urged his fans to donate and the fans also seemed to respond to his request.
There are other incidents where the fans made donations on Valentine’s Day instead of sending chocolates to BYJ. The Taiwan fan club supports a Korean orphanage run by Korean nuns, while the Singapore fan club established the School Pocket Money Fund to support students who are unable to afford to take a lunch to school. *bb: actually we didn't establish the fund, we donated to the fund which was set up by a corporation in singapore. but heck, it's nice to be mentioned!!
It seems that BYJ himself does not want made known the charity work he does, but isn’t it wonderful the way that BYJ’s circle of love has spread in this way?
BYJ is a star with an appealing smile, but I think that when he unites with his fans to do charity work, this is truly a beautiful and wonderful accomplishment. I am amazed that he shows a deep concern for childhood cancer and I am, above all, most grateful to him.
Usually when I think of the activities of a fan club for a star, I thought all they did was chase after a star, but I see that there are times when wonderful things such as these can develop. This is all due to the power of love by BYJ and his fans.
It would make me happy if BYJ and his fans would continue to show their concern. We also intend to continue to pour our energies into the Association wholeheartedly.
Our future activities include offering aid for medical facilities and prescription drugs to Southeast Asia. Medical facilities in Southeast Asia are still ill-equipped so that many children die without receiving adequate medical treatment.
We would also like to rescue the children in North Korea. It appears that there are cases where childhood cancer patients receive no treatment at all and are discarded to be left to die. It is difficult to obtain accurate information or to offer aid but we must continue our efforts.
Also, it is our dream that the children from Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, and such countries, those who have already completed childhood cancer treatments, all travel together to the poorer countries to do volunteer work. I have also traveled to Japan a number of times. I visited the childhood cancer ward built by an English missionary in Tokyo and Yokohama.
Because of the efforts of BYJ, the Association can probably expect the exchange between Japan and Korea to become increasingly active.
Wouldn’t it be really wonderful if someday, BYJ, BYJ’s fans and the recovered children, if everyone could all climb Mount Fuji together?
bb: okay, i'm a byj fan alright, but errr... can't say i'm game to climb mount fuji. unless, of course, wuri yong joon's gonna be right next to me, egging me on!
p.s. there're lots of news articles about his donations and generosity over the years. won't list all the links, but here're some for the bewbies amongst us. just click here, here. here, here, here, and here.
posted by bb @ 11/20/2007 11:22:00 PM
4 Comments:
bb
This is a wondrful article and I don't think many Korean knows about this charity work of YJ. Don't you think it would be good to post in KOB?
bb, thank you again to help me to open my eyes about this. What a precious man he is in many ways.
byjglobal
hey byjglobal, he made headlines with these donations back in late 2005 and then some. i would imagine fans are already aware of his generosity.
Hi bb,
this is to thank sweet sister for another wonderful trans.
Also, I wonder how widespread it is for fans to organize donations on behalf of their star. I'm sure it happens with others but to what extent?
Hi bb,
Thank you for posting this and sweet sister for the translation.
I slso wonder the same thing as gosijo about other stars and their fans. I think BYJ is such a special person who attracts special, talented, and intelligent fans and inspires them to do great things like expanding the circle of love or express themselves through their literary and artistic skills. Not that I count myself among those special fans. All I've ever done is just dream about him or drool over him!
bethaimi
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