IAVE appoints new World President, Dr. Kang Hyun Lee

June 2008 | IAVE

The International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) has appointed a new World President at the 20th IAVE World Volunteer Conference in Panama in April.

Read an except from Dr. Lee's plenary remarks at the World Conference.

I would like to tell you about my personal experiences. Since I heard that some of you, who do not know me well, ask and have some curiosity about new president; who he is, what's his background, what's his vision, and so on, I thought this would be a good chance to tell about my philosophy and experiences on volunteering and vision on IAVE.

I was a professor of medical school in Korea, but I was forced to give up the professorship due to my U.S. citizenship. When I was young I think I was expected to help others, especially help the elderly people. This was also Korean traditional culture. I used to do volunteering for helping children doing homework, teaching illiterate adults in rural village during summer and winter vacations. When I was a university student, I participated in civic movement like a "fair election movement" against dictatorship.

After university I went to America for graduate studies. While I was studying graduate degree I supported democratic movement of Korea. When Korea regained democratic regime, I came back to Korea to teach in a medical school in Busan. While I was teaching for students I enjoyed volunteering for handicapped people and founded an organization supporting municipal orchestra.

When university was in turmoil due to the democratic and nationalistic movement, I had to face some turning point of my life. The newly elected president declared that foreign professors would lose the professorship but might teach students as visiting scholars.  This was a clear discrimination against foreign professors. I could not accept unfair change of my status. I could not accept the inequality. I decided to stand up against the discrimination rather than giving up my professorship. However it was difficult to stay in the country as a foreigner because I was not authorized for an employment visa.

From that point I was led to the volunteering field. At that time Korean society gained some advancement in political democracy and economic growth. Nevertheless, society was not secure yet and serious crime rate was increasing and people were not very happy. After I found that volunteering is a building block of healthy civil society, I had to seriously think about the way how volunteer activities would be spread in Korean society. With the consultation of my friends, I decided to establish an organization which became the first volunteer center in Korea. Because I didn't know how to spread the volunteerism in my country, I visited local offices of United Way and volunteer centers in the United States and knew about the existence of IAVE. Upon my friend's recommendation, I visited the Points of Light Foundation in Washington D.C. There I met my mentor friend, Dr. Kenn Allen and was introduced to IAVE. With his kind advice I could obtain most of the information and materials in regard to establishing volunteer centers in Korea.

As I started to work on volunteer management, some were delighted and some were not. They were reluctant on new concept of volunteerism, which I introduced the concept as "volunteering is citizen's right and duty". Up until that time, most of Korean people thought that volunteering is a sacrifice of individual's time and efforts.

Therefore, at the beginning stage, it was not a great success. In order to make better volunteer promoting system, I realized that I have to be more strategic.

1. Increase awareness on the importance of volunteering and value of volunteerism
2. Infrastructure model development : volunteer center and volunteer management system
3. Legislation promoting volunteerism
4. Development of new program that can attract more people

For more studies of volunteering and volunteer management system, I formed a group of Koreans who were interested in learning more about volunteerism, and participated in American National and Community Service Conference held in Orlando, Miami, in 1993. In November of the same year, I attended IAVE Regional Conference for the first time. Next year, I was elected as a board member and participated in IAVE Tokyo World Conference in 1994 along with 30 Korean volunteer leaders.

At the end of 1994, I quit my volunteer activities in Korea and went back home in U.S. However, the seeds of the volunteerism that I sowed in Korea during those years were grown into leaders. They pleaded me to come back to Korea for a new volunteer movement in Seoul.

After I served as an advisor to the study group of university professors, leaders of non-profit organizations and government officials who want to study American volunteer infrastructure and management systems, I came back to Seoul and founded "volunteer 21" which became the main center in spreading volunteer movement in Korea. From this center, two important volunteer organizations sprang up. One organization facilitates volunteer activities among university students, and the other is a forum bringing volunteer issues to the public and increase the public awareness of them.

When Samsung Volunteer Corp. was established in 1995, I provided consulting services for its activities, with the hope that Samsung Volunteer movement would spread to other companies. I urged companies to consider such community involvement as a long-term investment and a part of corporation's strategic management. Now, Corporate Volunteering is one of the strong components of volunteer movement in Korea.

In 1997, Volunteer 21 joined Korean Association of Civil Society Organizations which is the biggest umbrella organization including democratic movement, women's rights movement and environmental movement organizations. As a member of the umbrella organization, I emphasized the importance of volunteer program to be utilized within NGOs and provided training services to those organizations.

In 1998, Volunteer 21 began professional training courses accredited for volunteer management. When UN declared the international year of volunteers, recommended the member governments to promote volunteerism, Korean government formed the task force team to draft a legislation promoting volunteerism and I played a major role to build a basic structure of this law. The law was passed in 2005.

As for activating Korean volunteerism, I was instrumental in hosting IAVE Regional Conference in 1997 and World Conference in 2002.

I also developed and introduced a new kind of volunteer programs, called "voluntainment". Voluntainment is a combined word of volunteering and entertainment. Since recruiting volunteers became difficult, changes of the value of volunteers seemed necessary to me. Programs benefiting volunteer themselves became important factors.

To put it simply, I wanted volunteers to enjoy their activities. I remember that "feeling good" creates only a hunger for more pleasure, while "doing good" can lead us to everlasting happiness.

Although many people think that the most important form of recognitions is "respect" and "a willingness to share both responsibility and authority to volunteers", I think, kinds of awards or certificates from UN Secretary General will have a great impact on their volunteer motivation.

Summary

I have heard people who have dreams for the world. Let me tell you my dreams for IAVE.

1. I have a dream for IAVE. Some day, everybody in the world will recognize our red "V" logo as the symbol for volunteering, just like the international symbols of the Red Cross are recognized.
2. I have a dream for IAVE to be recognized as one of the most effective world-wide network organizations.
   
3. I have a dream for the IAVE IRC to be recognized as a world volunteer center which provides all kinds of information related to volunteerism and volunteering. Then it can facilitate international volunteering all around the world.
   
4. I have a dream that someday volunteers can be truly regarded as "history makers".
5. I have a dream that someday volunteer managers and volunteer leaders can be truly appreciated as ones who empower of volunteers.

Previously I was a research pharmacologist developing new medicines against cancers and infectious disease. However, volunteering changed me, from the curer of human disease to the curer of social disease.

As you see in our conference poster, the picture reminds me of the story of the sparrow which is trying to hold up the crumbling sky.

Who are you
Who spreads warmth all around
Like the warm ray of the spring sun?

Who are you
Who clears away the fog of anxiety, doubt and trouble
And breathes hope and courage
Into hearts full of pain and despair
And let us see the value and beauty of life?

Who are you
Who prevent diseases and accidents
And relieves disaster and crises?

Who are you
Who listens to tales of woe
And lifts the yoke of oppression?

Who are you
Who breathes love into every leaf and stone
And thus restores life to drying earth?

Who are you
Who is holding up the crumbling sky?

All of us
Now offers thanks to you
Whose name is
Guess Who?

(VOLUNTEER)