Rainbow Teen Safe Space

Because of social distancing restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of young people visiting our center has decreased. Youth support centers across the country have been hurting from reduced funding and programming due to the pandemic, and youth living outside of Seoul are having an especially difficult time accessing services and receiving support. As a result, LGBTQIA+ youth outside of Seoul especially are suffering from feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Due to shelter-in-place requirements beginning in February, schools continue to all be conducted via internet and video chat. Because of this, it is even more difficult for LGBTQIA+ youth to stay safe and avoid conflict with family members. In addition, LGBTQIA+ youth struggle as their privacy is violated by their parents (surveillance of social media and internet activity, restrictions on going out, etc).

This is in addition to the discrimination that many LGBTQIA+ youth continue to face because of their gender and sexual identity. DDing Dong recorded cases of discrmination against LGBTQIA+ youth at schools, youth shelters, group homes, medical institutions, and government offices (neighborhood and community centers, office for reporting for mandatory military service).The forms of discrimination recorded were hate speech, refusal to provide services, and indirect discrimination.

#Rainbow Kits to support LGBTQIA+ teenagers living independently From March to July 2020,

we delivered Rainbow Kits to 30 LGBTQIA+ youth

Since 2017, DDing Dong has been steadily making and delivering Rainbow Kits to LGBTQIA+ teenagers. Rainbow Kits contain food and living necessities to support LGBTQIA+ teenagers who are living independently from their families. In addition to providing a Rainbow Kit, DDing Dong checks in with the youth monthly to see how they are doing, if they are healthy, and what kind of support they may need.

#COVID-19 Emergency Living Expenses Support

Thanks to the generosity of DDing Dong and our supporters, emergency living support was provided to seven LGBTQIA+ youth between May and July.

In the first half of 2020, many unexpected things happened. With the spread of COVID-19, young people were forced to take unpaid leave without no guarantee they would be able to return to the job. Because of this, many had to reduce their food expenses and look for any possible part-time work to pay rent.

As the effects of COVID-19 continue to be ongoing, we will continue to do our best to support LGBTQIA+ youth in the second half of 2020, and do all that we can to create a better life, society, and environment for all.

#Rainbow Wing

From May through June, we conducted our “Rainbow Wing” project twice with the “Saram Maeum Trauma Healing Center”. The goal of the progam is to help address issues that contribute to suicide and self-harm among LGBTQIA+ youth. Participants explored how to identify emotions, as well as how emotions and actions are connected, and how to observe and describe their feelings.

#Daegu, Gyeongbuk 10th Sexual Minority Support Project 'Todak Todak Memo’

In June and July, we visited LGBTQIA+ youth in Daegu and Gyeongbuk to show our support for them during the spread of COVID-19.

Through the KakaoTalk chatting platform, 33 LGBTQIA+ youth shared their current status and feelings with us. DDing Dong volunteers responded to each of the youth with encouragement, and also sent meal and snack coupons to them.

At DDing Dong and throughout Korea and the rest of the world, as COVID-19 continues to affect all of us as we struggle with the continuing impacts of the pandemic. In-person gatherings remain restricted and for the health and safety of our community, DDing Dong has cancelled all scheduled events. However, we continue to provide counseling and support for our LGBTQIA+ youth as essential services. As we counsel and support our youth, we are learning firsthand how the fallout from COVID-19 is impacting the lives of our youth who dream of living freely and independently. Even after knocking on countless doors, many of them are struggling to find work. Those who do have work have had their hours cut or are forced to take unpaid leave.

As we comfort and share in the feelings of frustration and distress of our youth, we are doing our best to support them. We are also working hard to find food and daily necessities to distribute in our “Rainbow Kits” for youth as we weather this difficult time together. 

Here’s a snapshot of what DDing Dong has been doing for the past four months since January 2020: 

• On February 5, DDing Dong sent letters of love and hope to all of its transgender, genderqueer and youth all across the gender binary. We want all them to know that they are not alone, and that we don’t want anyone to struggle alone. We received many replies, some from youth we haven’t heard from in a long time. We are so glad that we are able to be in contact and support each other during these hard times.    

• Starting in 2020, we reorganized the counseling topics we cover to better reflect and understand the unique difficulties and challenges of our LGBTQIA+ youth. In particular, we integrated the topics of family neglect and violence into a category of “family abuse” to help our youth more effectively. We are also tracking the ways that various types of violence threaten the lives and bodies of LGBTQIA+ youth, including gender dysphoria, religion, and hate speech.       

• Our DDing Dong volunteer program: the 5th “DDingga DDingga” volunteer season has finished. Through feedback from the volunteers, the volunteers reported that their time working with the youth was meaningful, with the keywords of comfort, growth, guidance, heart, change, happiness, and dialogue. It was a meaningful 2019 for all of us, staff, volunteers, and youth alike. A sincere thank you to the 5th DDingga DDingga volunteer team.

• Each year at our general meeting, DDong Dong reflects on the previous year and shares plans for the coming year. Despite their busy schedules, members and supporters who attended the General Assembly provided valuable feedback and advice on our schedule and plan, as well as encouragement for the upcoming year.  We were also excited for an energized start after receiving approval of nine third-term management committee members. 

• Even in these hard times as we all struggle with COVID-19 together, we are thankful to our regular sponsors and others who donated and helped with fundraising. Because of you have been able to continue preparing and shipping Rainbow Kits to help provide basic support to our youth.

Your precious donations are helping LGBTIA+ youth in Korea survive in this difficult time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support! We couldn’t do it without you.