To cement a global partnership of nine years, ambassador of the Republic of Korea Chull-Joo Park paid a visit to Monument Park High School in Kraaifontein on Thursday.
Founded by Pastor Kyu Sung Lee, a Korean missionary who came to Kraaifontein in 2004, the Global Teens student programme was piloted in 2013, whereby top matric learners annually undertake an educational tour to Korean high schools.
For the first time since covid struck, the school will this year prepare to send a group to Korea in 2023.
The programme was pioneered to develop youth leadership to assist the South African youth to enhance global citizenship and to carve out an exciting future for the country and its people.
Acting principal Christie van Zyl says the programme embraces diversity of cultures, while at the same time provides an opportunity for youth worlds away from one another to address issues such as global warming, HIV-Aids, malaria, clean air and water as a scarce resource.
“Having exposed them to a rigourous leadership training programme, we want to reveal to them the developed world of technology, economics, engineering, architecture, advanced transportation and cultures of the world. We want our students to return to South Africa with a story to tell that may enhance South African citizenship.”
Park, who has been the Korean ambassador to South Africa since 2020, endorsed the programme as the two countries this year celebrate 30 years of diplomatic relations.
“I hope that Global Teens in future will be able to give more students from both countries the opportunity to meet and share,” he told students and educators at the school.
Park says Korea has by 2021 successfully transformed its economy from the 1960s when the country was in the clutches of poverty.
“Today, Korea is projected to continue as an economic powerhouse with the 10th largest GDP and seventh largest exporter in the world,” he says.
Park believes education to be the secret to economic development.
“I strongly believe that South Africa has endless potential to develop its economy, as South Africa continues to be Korea’s biggest trading partner on the African continent,” Park says.
Former global teen in 2019 Megan Steyn says the programme was an opportunity for her to forge a future path.
She graduated from Stellenbosch University and is currently a teaching assistant at Brackenfell Primary School.
“It was such a fruitful exchange between global youth, all bonding and convening about our circumstances from an international standpoint. Before these exchange groups, it was unimaginable that I would be able to make the most valuable memories and friendships outside of my borders. In spite of a wide range of cultural and language barriers we embraced each other and formed something rare. A unified, harmonious group of youth leaders of all facets and strengths,” she says.
Global Teen in 2015 Heinrich le Roux echoes her sentiments.
Holding a masters degree in chemistry from Stellenbosch University, Le Roux recently published his first research paper.
“Was it not for the lessons I learned in Korea, I would not have survived defending my research. There I learned to adapt and to be brave in the face of uncertainty,” he says.
For Global Teen Kaitlyn Loggenberg who visited Korea in 2018, it was an eye opening experience that changed the way she views the world.
Loggenberg is a post graduate education student also from Stellenbosch University and teaching assistant at Monument Park High School.
“To this day I remember the vast difference between the learners from the two continents and the technological advancement in their classes,” she says.
Global Teens coordinator at the school Dirk van Rhyn says preparations for next year’s tour will begin in all earnest.
“As most of the learners will not be able to afford the travel costs, several fund raisers will be launched throughout the year to assist the top learners at the school to become Global Teens,” he says.
