korea trip 2025 (April15-May 3)
The purpose of the Korea Trip 2025 was to check out the potential of Jeju as the main venue for the Planet Earth Village, our new program that will officially launch in 2026. A small group of selected Kentucky folks who support and believe in the BaeNaChi mission and vision flew to Korea on a preliminary trip with this main goal in mind. For over a week, we explored the different parts of Jeju, the biggest island in South Korea which is about the size of Lexington and Louisville combined. From government agencies to nonprofits and community groups, many new promising connections and partnership possibilities emerged. We were able to feel the excitement about our presence and the PEV program vision from the many local folks we met. And we were equally excited about the potential of Jeju as the main stage for our future program. Special thanks to our Korea trip 2025 participants: Tosha Larson and her teen daughters Lily and Ellie representing Levee in Lexington, Teddy Wimer from Appalshop in Whitesburg, Eric King and James Stapleton from Letcher County supporting Cowan Community Action Group, and our founders Dr. An and Rick Montgomery.
The Sunchang friends who visited Kentucky in November 2024 came to Jeju from Sunchang for a special 2-day reunion with our KY team. We had an awesome farm-to-table party, field trips to local tourist spots, and an exciting talent show of our own. Very grateful for this precious connection we have with Sunchang. After the Sunchang team’s Jeju visit, three from the KY team followed them to Sunchang to make a special visit with some children in the village. The three lucky KY folks also got an opportunity to appear on a popular TV program during their Sunchang visit. Korean Master Chef Chunja Yu, one of our Sunchang friends, was featured on the TV show to talk about her famous Gochujang. We were told that it was the first time that foreigners appeared on that TV show. What a special memory!
The preliminary trip in spring 2025 was a success. Yet, we feel that most of the new connections we made during this trip require more work to fully develop into strong partnerships. That’s why we are planning a second preliminary trip this fall. If we can find another small group interested in our fall trip, we will run a small-scale pilot program as well. To briefly introduce the concept of the Planet Earth Village program, it is a cross-cultural and cross-generational life exchange program, which goes much deeper than a typical cultural exchange program in terms of social, emotional, and spiritual connections. It is a pop-up global village created by both travelers and local people through mutual learning, sharing, connecting, growing, and healing activities. We are primarily interested in connecting with the youth and the older adults in rural communities as well as the socially disadvantaged communities in urban areas.