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A Visit From EWHA Womans University, South Korea

January 31, 2024

In September last year, an email pinged into our inbox from a small group of students at EWHA Womans University in South Korea who wanted to visit us as part of their Global Frontier Programme. Well, this month, they found themselves on plane, bus and train to finally arrive at our Ross on Wye office…

Global Frontier

The Global Frontier Programme aims to promote global female leaders, allowing small teams of students to identify, plan and work on a certain theme or topic which sees them visit international organisations or universities – they can then use this learning and find ways to apply it to schools in South Korea.

Team CarEwha

Team CarEwha, the group selected for this year’s programme, aimed to find out more about what is being done in the UK to support young adult carers. They explained that there is little support for this group in South Korea, especially as care is seen as a private area, and they had recognised that young adult carers are having a very difficult time combining study and care; this is something that we completely understand, and sadly also see a lot in the UK – although, with established young carer groups, pastoral support and services like ours, much more support is available.

This team wanted to fix this though, by using the programme to change policy and establish a system for supporting young adult carers in EWHA Womans University.

The Interview

On a slightly chilly January day, Kwak Seoyeon and Kim Yujin arrived in Ross on Wye to meet our team; over a box of delicious yakgwa (a traditional Korean deep fried honey biscuit, which we are now all obsessed with), we talked all about the needs of young people at university when they have a loved one with a serious illness, and explained the support we offer across the UK.

One topic that was interesting to us all was ‘how do young people identify themselves as a young carer, and how does that impact the support available to them’? We discussed how many of the young people accessing Hope, especially our 18-25 year olds, do take on caring responsibilities but many of them don’t recognise themselves as young carers – whether that be because they’ve always done these extra tasks, they want to help the patient more, or they don’t think they’re doing enough to be called a young carer.

We pointed out that to speak to our team, a young person doesn’t need to identify as a young carer as our support is available to anyone who has a loved one with a serious illness like cancer or MND. On the flip side, however, young people may struggle to find other support (including things like the young carer’s needs assessment, financial help etc) if they aren’t aware that they are eligible to access young carers groups – meaning they can easily miss out on the guidance available, and don’t get to meet others who are understand what they’re going through.

Youth Voice

As well as asking us all about our one-to-one support and group programmes, our visitors were interested in how our Y-Team is involved in the charity and how peer support plays a big part in what we deliver. Youth voice has always been key at Hope, with our Y-Team (Youth Management Team) being at the forefront of what we do since the charity started – so, we knew it was key to have a young person share their experiences too.

One of our young people joined the interview online, and shared how the support she received from Hope helped her when her dad was diagnosed with cancer. She is now away studying at university and had a good experience in reaching out for support when her dad sadly died last year, something she bravely shared with CarEwha.

Looking forward

When we first read that email back in September, we knew we wanted to be involved in the project; we have been so impressed by these students who have not only recognised a problem, but are actively working to change it and make sure their peers have the support they need – something we try and encourage with our own Y-Team programme (although on a bit more of a local level, rather than international!).

We hope to stay in touch and find out how they’re getting on, and have high hopes that they’ll achieve some wonderful things.