Junho in Ethiopia (eng) + "Untold Story"

[taecmyheart.livejournal.com]

TIME2SUBtv

"Hello, I'm 2PM's Junho…I contacted you because I wanted to help a child…"

That was how Junho's first connection with World Vision started.

Calling in person to say that he was interested in sponsoring a foreign child.

After quietly sponsoring them for about a year, another phone call came.

"I…want to go to Ethiopia to meet Felmeta, how can I do that?"

In his first vacation time in 4 years, to Africa to meet the person he most wanted to see in the whole world.

When World Vision puts a public figure in charge of goodwill or international relations usually we first suggest the idea to the star's manager or management company, but Korea's most popular idol group, 2PM's Junho called me first instead.

Amongst Korea's busiest people are idol singers. I knew that they always have a lot of schedules abroad and not much time in Korea either, so I thought of asking frankly "Can you really go? Can you use up a whole week to meet a sponsored child?". But the next time I spoke with Junho I realised that those thoughts were completely groundless.

"I received permission from management for a vacation starting a week from the 16th of January!

I arranged it with my manager hyung so that I could go to Africa ^^"

                Junho was always one step ahead of us,

Before leaving for Ethiopia, we arranged to have two orientation meetings. The first meeting. He had arranged to meet us at World Vision's headquarters in Yeoido with his manager, but even though the meeting time was arranged for early morning he arrived right on time. Second meeting. The meeting was once again arranged for the morning, but he arrived about 10 minutes before us. As you can never be late for meetings with celebrities, and even though I arrived earlier than our arranged meeting time I was so surprised to see Junho already there waiting for us.

We cautiously suggested to EBS doing a newly planned "Global Project Sharing" programme. Our helper Junho was worried about whether there was any chance of causing damage or inconveniencing the residents of Ethiopia due to the filming. After worrying for a while, we thought that even if one person who had seen the broadcast could help a child in difficulty it would be great, and so decided with the broadcast team to go through with it. Of course, under the condition that the staff would cause the minimum amount of disruption there.

        Finally, depaaaarture!

If a celebrity is going to help out somewhere, a lot of people look at them a bit funny. "Are you going to get there by flying business class?" "Some more money to spend in duty free would be more helpful…" "Why are you bringing your coordi and make up artist into the wilderness with you, are you shooting a pictorial?". Our helper Junho's visit to Ethiopia to help the children would shatter those sort of public prejudices. Now in earnest we depaaart!


[CAPTION: I think maybe you've seen this picture through all the news sites. Junho's tweet just before taking the plane to Ethiopia.]

After going through the departure process, the first place that Junho stopped by at was none other than a bookshop!
This friend seems like he really like books.
He was already reading our team leader Han Biya's book "Three times around the world on foot" to prepare.
If I was going to recommend a book to give as a present it would be this!
(I didn't forget to call and check after the trip as to whether he had read it all. ^^;)



This broadcast of EBS's "Sharing" was going to be themed around hope blossoming through music, and our helper Junho did it with his close friend JYP music engineer Shin Bongwon. They sat side by side in economy class, and chattered about how as they're going to Ethiopia they must definitely give a sheep to the kids as a present. As I watched them chattering away I started laughing without realising. If the fans could have seen this lovely picture they probably would have passed out. (ㅠㅠ)



Only 17 hours after leaving Incheon airport we arrive at Addis Ababa airport!

The boxes piled on top of Shin Bongwon's cart are all presents to give to the children.

Arrival in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.
World Vision's aid giving is difficult, and we mostly do it in poorer rural areas.
Therefore even though we arrived in Ethiopia it wasn't really our arrival.
This was just the start.

Dust and dirt covers the unpaved roads, and after 8 hours we arrived at World Vision's establishment in Jimma Geneti.
The hotel of course didn't have a restaurant. There wasn't anything.
We stayed in the lodgings of the World Vision employees, and cooked in the establishment's kitchen…
We make trips to Africa often but amongst the places we've been this was one of the poorest areas.


The lodgings where our team stayed.

The child I've only seen in photographs, you're really real!

The story has become a bit long but this was the goal of the trip, Junho meeting the child he had sponsored, Falmeta!
It was a really touching reunion moment for sponsor Junho and Falmeta.



Planting an apple tree with Falmeta, giving as a gift the sheep that they had talked about on the plane, and going to the school Falmeta attends and giving the whole school stationary and supplies.
(Junho considered all the friends who might be jealous!)
The whole time he thought about how to make it not awkward or uncomfortable.Watching him trying to share his heart with the child while being careful out of concern that a foreigner's approach might become a burden or hurt the little one, we could understand how much he was sincere towards the whole thing. 

He had already become close with all the neighbourhood children. If Junho ran, all the children would follow him and run too.
If Junho waved his hand, the children would wave back until they couldn't see him anymore.
Even when you can't communicate through words, you can still convey things with your heart!

Don't cry!

The day before we left Ethiopia,
after meeting the children, the things he felt and the time he spent with them, I saw Junho's eyes get wet.
He wanted to always show the kids a bright and happy image, and seeing Junho holding back his own tears I felt sad and cried.

Idol group, Hallyu star, 2PM…For that week in Ethiopia, no title was stuck to him. 
To the children he was a neighbourhood hyung, to the World Vision staff he wasn't a celebrity, he was just a polite young Korean man.




The first week-long vacation time in 4 years. Wanting to take a break for myself from the murderous schedule if only for a week…
Instead Junho spent his time helping World Vision and continuously thanking us.

"It would be great if happy people could turn their eyes to these children and share just a bit of that happiness with them." Junho's words continue to linger in my mind.
To our supporter Junho, who left on this trip to find true happiness, I hope that this becomes a time that for your whole life you'll never forget.

Writer - Korea's World Vision Sponsorship Development Team Deputy Sharon Kim

SOURCE: World Vision Blog
Kor-Eng: Buckme @ 2pmalways

proud of him ^___^ urgh but srsly the conditions in africa... ;__;
[...also can we keep the junhomophobe comments out of this post please? just this post.]

Comments

[montauks.livejournal.com]

:')

[raviolikenshin.livejournal.com]

ahhhhh i wanted to make a smartass comment about how i hope the kid he is sponsoring isn't gay. because then junho would hate them....

but now i will just watch the video because of OP's sincere plea

[taecmyheart.livejournal.com]

lol but...... you made the comment anyway.....
.____.

[raviolikenshin.livejournal.com]

Sorry, the first part was a joke, but I meant the second line sincerely. I realize now that it came off pretty sarcastic. Sorry I'm sick ;_; Still, I cannot forget his past indiscretions, even though what he does in Ethiopia is nice and good.

Do I think he's an evil asshole? No. Do I think the homophobic part of him is fucked up? Yes, I think of it every time I see him, and it makes me uncomfortable.

Sorry I think people might latch onto this comment now...I wish it could get frozen or something. But I don't want to take it back or get banned ;_;

[taecmyheart.livejournal.com]

lol no worries~ feel better!

[akaich0u.livejournal.com]

because then junho would hate them....
This is a rather two-step inference and really demands an "all-or-nothing" perspective of the situation (when those in it likely don't have the means to consider it such). Call me crazy but I have an extremely, extremely hard time thinking Junho would go "Oh, you're gay? No aid for you!" if faced with such a revelation. Religion is a funny thing but having been on one of these missions before with a similar set of folk, I don't believe they are that deserving of such vilification.

[raviolikenshin.livejournal.com]

I didn't mean to imply anything about religion...I didn't even fully realize this was a religious mission.

He turned down a friendship before based on someone being gay...It's good that he did this thing, but sorry, I don't expect the best from him when it comes to accepting others for being gay.

Of course he wouldn't say "no aid for you!" but homophobia can warp your mind and make you hate and persecute those you love dearest.

I just can't understand people who harbor such hatred and misunderstanding in their heart. And sorry, I don't trust them.

I meant the comment as a joke, but now I see people are going to take it pretty seriously. I meant the last line of my comment sincerely but now I see how it came off sarcastic. Damn. Not myself tonight.

[akaich0u.livejournal.com]

Hmm I see. Didn't mean to put pressure on you--I'm absurdly verbose in both how I think and write so I come off as so serious all the time lol whoops OTL To add to the discourse, I'm not really religious (I'm actually atheist, if you don't count the Church of Richard Dawkins hahaha) but I was quite puzzled by fundamentalist Christian POVs growing up (like they just didn't seem logical) so I really made a lot of effort to get out there and understand such people more, especially when I got older and wanted to go on medical missions, as a great number of them are sponsored by religious groups (such as World Vision).

I still don't agree with a lot of what they believe but I came to see that many of them are honestly not terrible people, especially in a humanitarian setting. Indoctrinated beliefs--especially of the "this-is-the word-of-a-deity" variety--are really complex and I've come to see that they exists on many levels. I think requiring that a charity worker's every belief, even those that are seemingly unrelated to the matters at hand (matters such as procuring tomorrow night's dinner, for example) be congruent to yours can be counterproductive to the problems at hand, like those that these Ethiopian citizens face. Sadly we often need to pick which problems we can tackle for now, and life needs to be attained and prolonged first, before the comfort of how that life can be lived can be considered. It's absolutely your choice whom you choose to trust vs. not though, ofc. I guess I think of it like, a lot of the time, you can't really pick and choose entire people anymore but rather their particular actions, if that makes sense.

[violentiak.livejournal.com]

Just to be fair, Junho never stated that he turned down the friendship because og Hng Suk Chun being gay. He said "Hyung, I think that would be a bit difficult". I'm not saying he can't be homophobic because hey, there are people like that. They have their own views based on religion or some ther things, maybe ignorance and the fact that they have never known a gay person. It's sad and stupid, but judging all of their actions for that is the same thing as them judging the gay people.

They can change their views (I've seen it myself during our presidental election recently, since one of the candidates was openly gay, but a loads of people got over their prejudice), but the fact it that no chance will happen if more tolerant people just think "oh, you can't be a good person then" and turn their backs on them.

[swhyeon1991.livejournal.com]

mte tbh :x

[pamuya.livejournal.com]

aw this is both cute and depressing at the same time

im happy he did this for those kids <3

[lysblack.livejournal.com]

TT_____TT my heart

[junhos-butt.livejournal.com]

oh my heart ;~;

[youlittle.livejournal.com]

this was a great experience for him and i hoped he learned a lot ;~~~;

[islandgurl84.livejournal.com]

Junho is such an angel.Handsome, talented and kind. So perfect! If my angel Sunye of Wg isn't already in a relationship, they'd be a perfect fit and they can go off to help kids in Africa or Haite on their vacation days. thanks for sharing.

[carmine-pink.livejournal.com]

I teared up reading this and I don't even know all the names of 2PM members. Only after seeing the pics did I recognize him as the member I referred to in my head as 'the one who looks like Rain'.

[cipherstar.livejournal.com]

you just made my day :)
thank you!

[nnejck.livejournal.com]

I wish this was posted in the first Ethiopia trip post so we could have avoided all that "he did it for a program/publicity" crap. :(

Anyway, I find it amazing that he went through the effort of actually visiting the child he had privately been sponsoring and helping his community out as well, instead of just writing checks every month to the organization. He could have easily chosen to catch up on his sleep or smth during his first real break in 4 years, but instead he chose to do this. Seriously, this kid. <3

[miss-esperanza.livejournal.com]

It's a long video, but I'm glad I watched it :) It was definitely worth the watch.

[hwaitings.livejournal.com]

:( i just had a horrible week being bullied in school and this just makes my life better omg ;~;

[jaghatar.livejournal.com]

really that sucks what happened?

[icedfaerie1.livejournal.com]

<3<3

[modernabsurdity.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear that, bb. :( *hugs*

[clayray3290.livejournal.com]

This was so heartwarming to read. Regardless of other qualities Junho may possess, that doesn't diminish that what he did here was a good thing and here he comes off as a genuine caring person.

[modernabsurdity.livejournal.com]

IA, a good deed is a good deed.

[yunjaeaktf.livejournal.com]

This actually brought tears to my eyes. :)

[domokuniscute.livejournal.com]

Well I don't really like the guy in general, I think this is really nice to hear and I'm glad the JYPE staff joined him. It reminds me of the school trips I've gone on to help the kids and how much I miss that, I should do this some time in the future.

[shintotchi.livejournal.com]

I surprised myself by watching the whole video. I'm really glad that they did this. I was especially happy when the other JYP friend admitted he had prejudiced views of the children, but had changed once he saw them in person. It's not so easy to do blackface when you have contact with innocent children. I facepalmed when Junho gave Felmeta his cd and expected more of a reaction. He even knew he'd never be able to listen to it. the most value that would have would be if he sold it somehow. I understand his sentiments of wanting to show what he did for a living, but as he proved, there are other ways to do that such as through a music video or singing.

In summary, I'm proud of Junho for doing this as well as his crew. The awkwardness was a bit hard to avoid, but their intentions were good. ^^

[polyritsimu.livejournal.com]

Ia, I think it would have been better to give him a toy of some kind if he wanted to give him a token, the cd seemed a bit disingenuous although I imagine that is not what he intended. The musical instruments they gave the kids later was a really nice gesture though.

[miyozari.livejournal.com]

This is so sad and heartwarming at the same time, I also hope that people will start to realize that just because someone may have negative aspects,
they can still have other great qualities and deserve happiness.

[evivante.livejournal.com]

This is probably the 3rd time I read this whole story and I'm still crying, just the same as the 1st one. I'm about to watch the show now and I can't even imagine my face in about 30 minutes, a total wreck.

Thanks, op.

[woohyun.livejournal.com]

;~;

[xkat-attackx.livejournal.com]

Awww, so heartwarming! It's so inspiring to see how these children, living in some of the worst conditions imaginable, can still smile and laugh. They are beautiful and really inspirational. I legit teared up at the part when Junho finally met Felmeta, so sweet.

[xkat-attackx.livejournal.com]

LOL, omg the kids are so precious!! Clapping for Junho when they saw him in the video, so cute!

[691979082.livejournal.com]

This made my heart swell so much. I love that JYPE really seems to get out there and do charity work along side of sending monetary aid.

[chewyish.livejournal.com]

my heart ;______;
the children were all so precious
I think Junho looks even more handsome here than he does all groomed up on stage