Affiliation with high school students in Korea, China, and Canada,
First achievement from Canada to Egypt
This article was written by Chanhyung Kim, a 12th grader at Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology, the USA. Although he is still a juvenile boy, he is a practitioner who courageously puts his thoughts into action while worrying about the importance of health and the environment around the world. The Health Kyunhyang sends great encouragement to his determination and effort. How about if we take a step towards a better world from where we are all standing now?
Ironically, the exact product we use on our bodies to keep ourselves clean could be causing damage to the environment and aquatic systems. Derek Keyongo, the hero, chosen by CNN, has brought a meaningful change in my life. One of many social contribution projectsled by Keyongo, born in Uganda, Africa, was to recycle once thrown hotel soap pieces and distribute them to other undeveloped areas.
Sparkled by his story of how small actions lead to significant changes, I, too, have decided to take a small step from where I am standing. Based on the certainty that we cannot reach anywhere without a tiny step's beginning, I made a project group with some like-minded friends.
Looking at his story of how small actions lead to significant changes, I, too, have decided to take a small step from where I am standing. Based on the certainty that we cannot reach anywhere without a tiny step's beginning, I made a project group with some like-minded friends.
To introduce the hotel soap recycling idea that Derek put into practice, we contacted the local hotels. After collecting discarded soap pieces, we plan to sanitize them and remold them into brand new soaps to fulfill the need of momentarily less fortunate African people suffering from bacterial infections.
The idea of reusing soap is not new. However, in this egocentric society in which we live, we should acknowledge that the abundance we take for granted can be life-threatening to the people living on the other side of the world. Their daily life without proper hygiene products threatens their lives, and our life with inconsiderate use of disposable products endangers the environment of the entire planet we live in altogether. This soap, which we have never considered unusual, gives someone else the strength to combat viruses, germs, and bacteria. But on this other side of the planet where I live, 5 million single-use soaps are being discarded here and there.
From contacting some of the hotels to collecting soap pieces, we went through many trials and errors. However, through such attemptsand failures, we have come to have a plausible flyer, website, and organization name in our hands: Soap for soapless and hope for hopeless. While seeking ideas from people around us to create our slogan, fortunately, we contacted high school students from Korea, China, and Canada. This serendipity led our one small step to another slightly larger step. I can't forget the moment when I first heard that Canada was sending our first work to Egypt.
In connection with members in each region in the United States, I collected discarded soap and asked for help from interested parents to re-create it as recycled soap. However, we learned that every step does not always lead to a great path; Covid-19 broke out while contacting the hotel and collecting soap. Inevitably, the activity of collecting soap around the hotel had to halt.
But I have a strong belief that this one step we have taken will never go backward. We are just staying for a moment but still preparingto take another step. We are just high school students, but we perceive there are always things we can do and have to do at this time and at this place. I suppose taking this initial, humble step would unlock multiple doors for multiple people, benefiting our fellow humans as well as our morality. Please be with us and encourage us to take the second, little bigger step.
