Nanoogi promotes multiculturalism, preparing for a nationwide concert to premiere this summer

Twelve beautiful ladies from the Minyeodeului Suda, a well-known TV talk show highlighting foreigner as guests, are giving a helping hand to the society. They not only regularly visit the Holt Children's Services Inc. (Holt), an organization for adoptees, but also take part in several other charitable projects. Their aim is to minimize the gap between Koreans and multicultural families residing in Korea. Recently, this particular group, called Nanoogi, is receiving more attention as they released an album cheering the Korean football team for the 2010 World Cup.

 

 “When I visited Holt, I realized there is someone I can help. Then, I gathered friends interested in volunteering and established Nanoogi last October,” said Sun Yao, from China, who has lived in Korea since 2002. Sun, who graduated from Kyung Hee University majoring in international trade and commerce, hoped to enter graduate school and work with NGOs. However, she found herself stuck with reality when her volunteering group did not work out as she had expected.

 

“At first, we kept our work in secret, but, the organization was unable to attract sponsors. So, we thought maybe we needed to progress and promoted our activities through the media,” Sun said.

 

As their work was made public, Nanoogi was able to expand their activities. Last January, the internet shopping mall, Romantic Scandal, was established and started selling sponsored clothing, with some of the profits being donated to Holt and Skill Storm Rainbow 7, a youth soccer team composed of seven year olds from multicultural families.

 

Nanoogi’s first digital single, is another important project that the group pulled off in April. The album was fully sponsored by Culture Factory, a company that produces broadcasting and corporate promotions, and the online album was released, comprised of two songs: “We are the one” and “We love Korea.”

 

The title song, “We are the one” calls for an integrated society regardless of differences and a better understanding of multicultural families.

 

“I heard that children from multicultural families are still bullied at school. As a person from a global family, I hope relationships will get better through this song,” said Amanda Kasim who is half Korean and half Indonesian.

 

The second song, “We love ,” is a remake of Jung Su-ra’s big hit song, “Ah! Korea.” It is a song meant to cheer the Korean team during the 2010 World Cup. It was newly arranged by the musician MC Changjo.

 

Moreover, most recently, Nanoogi was designated as an official model for the 2010 World Cup t-shirt for the Korean team, KOREA LEGEND.

 

“The expected two to three billion won profit will be used partially for multicultural families including the soccer team. We will also model our clothes for no profit,” Sun said.

 

During the past three months, members took voice training at a music lab nearHongikUniversity.

 

Nanoogi’s help toward multicultural families lay on their own understanding of them.

 

“Most multicultural families in Korea are under tight financial situations. Moreover, Korean society is not so open to children from such families. We want to give them hope.”

 

Nanoogi and their good intentions are appealing to foreigners. Starting with seven members, the group now has 12 members, comprised of foreign friends who are interested in their work.

 

Tachaporn Wajasath (’10, Television & Film), one of the original members, said her volunteering work truly has given a breath of fresh air. “I often went to volunteer when I was in. But, during my college years at Ewha, due to the stress of studying, I could not spend much time on extracurricular activities. Now I am volunteering in, and it suits me very well,” Tachaporn said.

 

Nanoogi is preparing a nationwide concert throughout the summer.

 

“We are contacting related organizations about multicultural families to bring to our concert,” Sun said.

 

“Even though current members will go back to their home countries someday, I hope Nanoogi will still continue its good will by other foreign residents in Korea who are interested in charity work.”

 

 Caption: Nanoogi was recently designated as the official model for the 2010 World Cup T-shirt for the Korean Team called the KOREA LEGEND.

 

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