The Geumchang-dong Residents’ Council (Chairman Jeong Yoon-woo) of Dong-gu, Incheon, visited Yangdo-myeon in Ganghwa-gun County, with which it has a sister-village partnership, on the 24th to help with farm work. The visit is significant in that the exchange linking city and countryside did not end as a one-off event but carried over into hands-on field activity that genuinely eased the burden on farming households.
 [The Korean Today] Helping hands at a sister-village farm in Yangdo-myeon, Ganghwa-gun © Reporter Kim Mi-hee |
The helping-hands effort was arranged to assist farms struggling with labor shortages amid the height of the busy farming season, and to broaden a path on which city and countryside steadily exchange visits and grow together. With the aging of rural communities and labor shortages recurring year after year, the activity is seen as a practical model of urban-rural exchange, in that an urban residents’ self-governance organization came in person to fill the gaps.
About 10 residents’ council members took part at the site that day. They pitched in with orchard work at a farm in urgent need of labor, sweating even in the sweltering heat. As it was an activity in which they traveled to a faraway sister village and helped with their own hands, the weight of the help felt by the farming household was considerable — going beyond a mere courtesy visit to actual labor support.
The Geumchang-dong Residents’ Council does not plan to leave this as a one-time activity. Going forward, it has decided to push a sharing event in which “farm-produce packages” made up of Yangdo-myeon specialties will be prepared and delivered to vulnerable groups within Geumchang-dong. The idea is to connect the helping hand extended to farms so that it reaches struggling neighbors in the community in turn, a form in which urban-rural exchange expands into local welfare.
Residents’ Council Chairman Jeong Yoon-woo said, “It may be a small hand, but I hope it was of real help to farms short of labor,” adding, “Through this activity we were able to strengthen our ties with the sister village even further, and going forward we will take the lead in residents’ self-governance that lets city and countryside thrive together through continued exchange and cooperation.”
Kim Soon-ok, head of Geumchang-dong, said, “I am deeply grateful to the residents’ council for stepping up to put into practice the values of neighborly love and coexistence despite their busy schedules,” adding, “The community administrative welfare center will also spare no active support so that the revitalization of urban-rural exchange and warm sharing for marginalized groups within the area can continue.”
[ Reporter Kim Mi-hee: incheonsouth@thekoreantoday.com ]
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