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Helping the Children through Taekwondo!

Virlanie Foundation, Inc. says Annyeong haseyo! (Hello!) to the new Korean volunteer, Jaeuk Ko, also known as Kuya Jerome. He is currently

teaching taekwondo to the children, staff, and volunteers of Virlanie Foundation. During his spare time, Kuya Jerome sat with us to tell us

about himself and his stay in Virlanie Foundation.

Jaeuk Ko is a 23-year-old Engineering major and one of his talents istaekwondo. He started taekwondo when he was 8 years old, until he was

18. He now has a black belt (4th dan grade) in the sport and wants to share what he has learned, including manners and respect.

The first few weeks in the Philippines were difficult for Kuya Jerome because of the different lifestyle, culture, weather, and especially the food. “It is different from the food in Korea, but I like the chicken adobo among the Filipino dishes, but I try to enjoy and love everything,” Kuya Jerome said.

Sharing and love are two of the things that Kuya Jerome wants to share, and this caused him to volunteer even in Korea. During his volunteer work, Kuya Jerome wondered, “I have learned many things and met a lot people, and then I started to think about the real meaning of sharing. Accidentally, I saw a notice about a group of volunteers going abroad. I decided to apply, and luckily, I passed.”

Kuya Jerome is staying in Virlanie for 6 months; after which, he will go back to Korea and carry on with his studies. When he was living in Tanglaw Home, he felt that “every day is another day to learn something new, and another exciting day, like the time that I have realized that without those children I will never know how precious and lucky I am that there are people who love me.” Because of this, he wants to see them smile. “I want all the children to be happy, not just because of me. I also want to be someone they can count on when they are having a hard time,” he said.


Photos by: P.Dupire