Lively Oasis in the Heart of a Concrete Jungle
By: Kevin of KIS(Korea International School)
SDGs: Good health and well being, Sustainable cities and communities
Today, I want to share with you my experience creating meaningful relationships with the elderly community in my neighborhood. This is the elderly community that I coordinated, build, and connected in my local community.
It all started with my grandmother’s sickness that became a major concern in my life. What made my heart even more heartbroken was the fact that the sickness made my grandmother avoid any interactions with friends and, sometimes, family members. As I researched if this was common for sick elderly, it appeared that it is now a prevalent phenomenon in the aging society in South Korea. It was clear that there was a need to reduce isolation of senior citizens in the local community. In order to meet this need, my key objective was to create a space for senior citizens to connect and have fun.
I first created mini exercising sessions, which were basically having the time to hike with senior citizens. The group started very small; there were 2 people. As time passed, I asked each person to bring one friend for future sessions. Fortunately, as more people joined the exercising session, people started to enjoy just being part of this community. At one point, there were about 18 people in the exercising session. Despite the increasing number of people, there was one limitation that needed to be addressed: not enough human interaction. The exercising session was more like a line of elderly seniors walking up the mountain, meaning some elderly citizens only interacted with people that they were close to.
The next idea that I thought of was the garden: Green Valley. The purpose of the garden was to recommend and empower seniors to rejoin a broader community. But most importantly, elderly seniors got together in a more interactive way in the garden, which solved the problem from the exercising session. Before initiating the garden idea, the land was a vacant space that nobody used. I thought to myself why not use this land in a more meaningful way; I immediately thought that the land was perfect for a garden. In the garden, local senior citizens were able to grow their own vegetables in a designated area. We were able to harvest tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes, and Korean pumpkin. As senior citizens grew their vegetables, they could also have close human interaction since the garden wasn't big in size. What I witnessed was a vibrant and lively oasis in the heart of the concrete jungle. I am proud that I was able to create community connections in a sustainable way.
From this valuable experience with the elderly community, I was able to grow as a more mature individual who is curious about the world around me. I developed essential practical skills to understand how to bring communities together.
It all started with my grandmother’s sickness that became a major concern in my life. What made my heart even more heartbroken was the fact that the sickness made my grandmother avoid any interactions with friends and, sometimes, family members. As I researched if this was common for sick elderly, it appeared that it is now a prevalent phenomenon in the aging society in South Korea. It was clear that there was a need to reduce isolation of senior citizens in the local community. In order to meet this need, my key objective was to create a space for senior citizens to connect and have fun.
I first created mini exercising sessions, which were basically having the time to hike with senior citizens. The group started very small; there were 2 people. As time passed, I asked each person to bring one friend for future sessions. Fortunately, as more people joined the exercising session, people started to enjoy just being part of this community. At one point, there were about 18 people in the exercising session. Despite the increasing number of people, there was one limitation that needed to be addressed: not enough human interaction. The exercising session was more like a line of elderly seniors walking up the mountain, meaning some elderly citizens only interacted with people that they were close to.
The next idea that I thought of was the garden: Green Valley. The purpose of the garden was to recommend and empower seniors to rejoin a broader community. But most importantly, elderly seniors got together in a more interactive way in the garden, which solved the problem from the exercising session. Before initiating the garden idea, the land was a vacant space that nobody used. I thought to myself why not use this land in a more meaningful way; I immediately thought that the land was perfect for a garden. In the garden, local senior citizens were able to grow their own vegetables in a designated area. We were able to harvest tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes, and Korean pumpkin. As senior citizens grew their vegetables, they could also have close human interaction since the garden wasn't big in size. What I witnessed was a vibrant and lively oasis in the heart of the concrete jungle. I am proud that I was able to create community connections in a sustainable way.
From this valuable experience with the elderly community, I was able to grow as a more mature individual who is curious about the world around me. I developed essential practical skills to understand how to bring communities together.