2024-07-17 10:28:29
Goheung-gun is working together to create a ‘sea view’ fishing village vacant house. A camp will be held to inject new vitality into a very old fishing village with a large number of young people. This event, which is a project that participates in local issues, will be filled with practical activities that inject ‘youthful vitality’ such as creating a new fishing village vacant house space in collaboration with residents that has been neglected for decades, and producing village promotional content using the village’s fishery resources and landscape resources.
Goheung-gun (Governor Gong Yeong-min) and the Chwido-Geumsahang Fishing Village Anchor Organization (Representative: Local Asset Management Cooperative) announced that they will hold a fishing village camp in Chwido (Ochwi Village), Podu-myeon, from July 18 to 20 for 2 nights and 3 days with the Korea Habitat for Humanity University Student Club Association (CCYP; Campus Chapters & Youth Program).
A total of 36 college students from 11 universities, including Gachon University, Kangnam University, Gyeongsang National University, Korea University, Duksung Women’s University, Seoul National University, Seoul Women’s University, Ewha Womans University, Chung-Ang University, Hanyang University, and Hyupsung University, will stay in a fishing village with mostly elderly residents and work on improving their living environments, creating local content, and engaging in solidarity activities between regions and generations. As a camp that has been held for the third time since last summer, this time around, it will be filled with evolved continuous activities such as utilizing empty houses in areas at risk of extinction to create ‘ocean view, fishing village sensibility’ fishing stays.
Chwido, located in Podu-myeon, Goheung-gun, Jeollanam-do, has been designated as a target area for the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries’ Fishing Village Revitalization Project (Chwido-Geumsahang Area) since 2023 to resolve the issues of population decline and regional decline, and is currently promoting a regional revitalization project that encompasses hardware development and software programs. It is an unusual event in which a large number of young people participate in a fishing village made up of ultra-elderly residents and can provide practical help and connection to the region, such as by improving empty houses, and it contains the meaning of changing the region to the DIT (Do It, Together) method that is gaining attention these days (going beyond DIY (DO IT, Yourself) to working ‘together’).
The fishing village camp, which is now in its third year, is a task that goes beyond a one-time volunteer activity and serves as a cornerstone for young people and those interested in local life to return to the fishing villages that are disappearing due to aging. It also adds the meaning of restoring the local attachment, bonds with residents, and solidarity activities between regions and generations that are disappearing through the process of working together and producing tangible results.
Specifically, through prior consultation with residents, we plan and create a fishing stay based on a ‘youthful sensibility’ by collaborating with youth, residents, and related organizations (such as the military) in a long-term, (free) rental of an empty house. Based on the space concept we have created together, we plan to use it as a lodging and staying space for various visitors to the fishing village, such as youth, those with local interests, experience seekers, and tourists. In addition, we will work together to create various local contents using the village’s main fishery resources, such as Goheung oysters and clams, to give the village its own personality.
Shin Young-won and Choi Yeon-gyeong, executive members of the Korea Habitat for Humanity University Student Club Association who are participating in the camp, said, “It seems like a really great opportunity to be able to cultivate a space in a pretty village,” and expressed their aspirations, saying, “We want to capture the peaceful and affectionate atmosphere of Ochui Village and introduce the village’s charms to more people.”
Song Ju-min, head of the Goheung-gun Chwido-Geumsahang fishing village anchor organization (local asset cooperative), emphasized, “The Chwido-Geumsahang area is a place where beautiful resources, a blessed environment, and the lives of residents come together. If we work together to nurture and develop it, it is a fishing village with great potential.” He added, “I have high expectations for joining forces with young people to create an alternative for the future, going beyond extinction and isolation.”
Through this camp, the Goheung-gun Chwido-Geumsa-hang area plans to continue to actively promote the fishing village revitalization project to restore new vitality to the fishing village area without its decline through creative solutions such as advanced utilization of fishery and landscape resources, inflow of youth and related population, and expansion of living services.
Queen Choi Ha Na Reporter Photo Goheung-gun
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2024-07-17 10:28:29