‘Mini-UN’ unites Seoul for charity

Visitors at a charity bazaar hosted by the Seoul International Women’s Association are drawn to wines for sale in the Grand Hilton Hotel, northern Seoul, Sunday. By Jeong Chi-ho

Intrigued by the idea of participating in a rare shopping event, Kim Kyung, a housewife who lives in Incheon, boarded a Seoul-bound subway train early Sunday morning.
The trip to the Grand Hilton Hotel in northern Seoul took about two hours for Kim, her sister and a niece.
The women were attending a charity bazaar organized by the Seoul International Women's Association.
Kim said the travel time was a wise investment.
"I read about this event in the newspaper and thought it would be fun," Kim said, looking around the venue.
"And it is. This is a good chance to see products from all over the world. They look good, exotic and inexpensive."
The charity event was hosted by the Seoul International Women's Association, SIWA, the oldest and largest international women's community in Korea.
This was the 29th edition of the bazaar, which is held in cooperation with the diplomatic community in Korea.
For the latest version of the event, people from embassies in Seoul and subgroups of SIWA participated.
It was like a mini United Nations, with a total of 50 nations represented.
According to SIWA Vice President Kim Hye-jin, the Sunday bazaar attracted around 3,500 visitors and raised around 250 million won ($272,519).
All proceeds will go to more than 30 different Korean charities, as in previous years, Kim said. The event featured international products imported from all over the world.
A dozen Korean charities also participated to raise money selling items they made themselves.
The event also featured live performances, including Russian dance and music, an Indonesian fashion show, and Uzbek traditional and hip-hop dancing.
Among the vendors at the American Women's Club booth was Lisa Vershbow, wife of U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Alexander Vershbow.
Mrs. Vershbow said she baked chocolate chip cookies and brownies along with 30 other embassy employees.
"We chose what we can think represents America and what people would enjoy," Vershbow said, pointing to the cookies and other home-made items on the table.
She said she had no problem selling the items at her booth.
"I am confident we will sell all of these because they are fresh and the prices are good," she said.
"I don't know which countries will sell the most items. I don't think that matters. I think what matters is everybody contributes their efforts to the cause."
At the Israeli booth, Michal Caspi, wife of Israeli Ambassador Yigal Caspi, was explaining items to Korean visitors in fluent Korean.
She said she studied the Korean language for six months for the purpose of using it in events like the bazaar.
The items included jewelry, soap and wine.
"It is famous, actually," Mrs. Caspi said, referring to Israeli wine. "Israel is quite new in the wine business. We started developing a really good wine in the 1980s. So, yes, this is a good choice."
Yumiko Yamamoto, an official at the Japanese Embassy, was one of about 15 vendors in the Japanese booth, all wearing traditional Japanese festival costumes.
Yamamoto said porcelain items sold especially well during the day, as they were inexpensive and were representative of Japan.
Working at the booth for "Nordic Club Seoul" were women from the five Scandinavian countries ― Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland.
Pia Solmer, president of the Nordic Club, a subgroup of SIWA, said the bazaar offers one of the few occasions for the club to collect funds to help less fortunate Koreans.
"Today the Nordic Club Seoul will give all the money to SIWA, and they will use it for charity, but we can raise money ourselves and then also use it for charity," said Solmer, who is married to an official at the Danish Embassy.
"In Korea there are a lot of children in orphanages. That's very different from our countries. So we have special empathy for kids in orphanages and especially kids with special needs."
SIWA President Mary Clarke said that apart from raising money for the poor, the bazaar is also a good opportunity for Koreans and expats to get together.
But making the event biannual is unlikely because it takes a whole year to prepare for one event.
"As soon as this is done, we have to already start planning for next year," Clarke said. "It is so much work to put together.
"Embassies do so many other things in Korea, so this type of the event can only be held once a year. But we are always thinking of other ideas for raising money as well."

By Moon Gwang-lip Staff Writer [joe@joongang.co.kr]