Rainbow Teen Safe Space

Dear DDing Dong Supporters

There has been a lot of tragic news recently. We are going through an extremely hard time at Ddingdong at the moment, with the loss of a number of transgender community members, including former army staff sergeant Byun Hee-soo and writer Lee Eun-yong, who Ddingdong had connection with.

Everyone from Ddingdong office attended the funeral of Byun Hee-soo. When we were there, a lot of our (LGBTQ+ youth) counselees sent us messages with their deepest condolences and worries about our mental health, and some of the them even showed up to be with us. The fact that we had to be at a funeral and worry about each other in the first place is very upsetting, however, we are gaining the strength to get up once again thanks to our thoughtful, caring counselees.

We are back at the office now but it is still extremely tough for all of us. It is hard to focus on work, when all we can think of are the faces of the ones we lost. We are not sure how much more time we would need to be okay again, but we know we will get there. It may take a while, but we will eventually get our smiles back and meet, and care for our LGBTQ+ youth counselees.

We would like to thank all the sponsors and donors who support Ddindong. We are doing our best to stop blaming ourselves, get over this difficult time, and provide the best counselling and support to LGBTQ+ youths in need for help. We will listen to transgender, genderqueer, non-binary youths even more carefully, cheer them, and support them. We hope you would keep supporting us and be in this journey with us.

#2021 gathering for Ddingdong’s volunteers aka “Ddingga Ddingga”s.

We welcomed some new volunteers for the first time in a while. This year we will work with a total of 12 volunteers - 6 existing volunteers and 6 new volunteers. We held four seminars throughout February and March, in which the volunteers learned about teenagers’ rights and crisis support for them, where to meet and how to approach LGBTQ+ youths, and Rainbow-Kit-related mobile interviews.

#2021 Rainbow Kit Program

Through Rainbow Kit Program, we provide daily necessities and messages of cheering to LGBTQ+ youths who are living independently. Our volunteers had mobile interviews with the applicants to figure out what each of them need, packed the items (such as shower products, masks, food, emergency medicine, and more), and delivered them, along with supportive messages. This time, we ran a program called Rainbow Kit Plus, to reach out to LGBTQ+ young adults in their 20s, as well.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues around the world, and social distancing measures increase in South Korea as well as other places, we are able to continue to support LGBTQIA+ youth in these difficult times thanks to the help of our supporters. From the bottom of our hearts, we are so thankful to you all.

We’d like to update you on some of DDing Dong’s activities during the second half of 2020.

#T_GO!

Spaces where transgender queer youth can share their stories and experiences, as well as imagine and envision future opportunities and possibilities are rare. Because of this, DDing Dong saw the necessity of developing a special program to make this type of space possible, and in 2020 created a program called T_GO! Five transgender queer youth gathered on three consecutive Saturdays in October to meet and get to know each other. They also met one additional time together with a medical doctor, and had the opportunity to have any medical related questions they had answered. Through their four meetings, the youth were able to get to know each other and to begin to build and imagine their futures.

#DDing Dong Pocha

Following the spread of COVID-19 in 2020, DDing Dong has not been able to conduct our street outreach program DDing Dong Pocha. Prior to COVID-19, we met with youth every first Saturday of the month. After much consideration, DDing Dong Pocha decided to do outreach online instead. On Saturday, November 7 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., DDing Dong hosted an open chat for LGBTQIA teenage youth and was able to talk with seven teenage LGBTIA youth about their daily lives as LGBTQIA youth. In addition to chatting, participants also took part in an activity that DDing Dong prepared called “Queer Quiz Time,” and received online coupons for participating.  

#Challenge! HIV-ster!

In 2020, DDing Dong considered how we could better provide HIV/AIDS education to youth. Through funding received from the Northeastern NPO Center, we created and produced an educational card game named Challenge! HIV-ster! (HIV Master). On Thursday, November 12, we met with 13 staff members from youth-related organizations based in northeastern Seoul to conduct basic training and education about HIV/AIDS.

Through quizzes and matching exercises, participants were able to learn the information contained in our card game, and gain a better understanding of HIV/AIDS in an approachable and step-by-step manner. We will continue to spread human-rights information about HIV/AIDS through our game Challenge! HIV-ster! (HIV Master) in the future as well.