One incident amounted to HGU to be recognized as having one of beautiful communities, by helping an international student who was in difficulty. On April 25, many people supported Mary by prayer and material spontaneously who came from NTTU University in Vietnam as an exchange student. She had an operation with acute appendicitis, and finally, she was able to fund her surgery and safely discharge herself. I met Haley(Kim Seo Hyeon), who was the closest to the scene as the team leader of the professor Richard Hamm’s team that Mary belongs to.

Q What were the difficulties in this case?
Mary was anxious since she was not accustomed to Korean culture or language. Also because she was young and had no hospital experience, she needed to be comforted by side. All of our team members who were nursing were able to translate, so we didn’t have difficulties regarding translation. However, we seemed to have consumed more energy at the beginning of the case because we did not know clearly about what kind of medical insurance she took out, how much that would cover, and how medical expenses for foreigners are done.

Q I wonder what made you and team members become so devotional in this case even it seemed not easy.
In fact, our team members are well united and they are all warm-hearted. Our team members are like a family, so we took it for granted as part of the community. Of course, we burned out in the middle since we had a lot of personal schedules, but we comforted our heart by prayer and helped each other.

Q A system called ‘Handong Foreign Students Medical Fund’ has been created. What do you think about this new program?
Medical funds are not big yet, but I hope that grows into a system that would be gradually settled. Based on this, I hope an optimal system to be created to help all students who are in the economic hardships.

Q What are some areas that you wish to be more developed, or lack about institutional or everyday consideration of international students?
In everyday consideration, there is limited number of clubs that international students can choose. Also, English notation on Hisnet does not work properly, and international students lack at accessing to school facilities. In institutional consideration, I hope the university to have procedural education as well as proper inform and notice about the situation that they may encounter with when they come to Korea.

Q What else do you want to say?
I want to thank you so much for those who have helped us financially and even more with heart and prayer.

Meanwhile, on April 29, an article posted on Hisnet noticed appreciation and the discussion about the difference of the contribution. This included notifying an appreciation for the people who helped prepare the charges for the operation, and the opening of a Handong foreign student medical fund with contribution left.

Hye Eon Kim, Guest Reporter