Hats for kids' life
On 2012 April 9th, according to reporter Kim Hyo Sun from Seoul Finances, businessman Mr. Lee acclaimed that although he has a lot of clothes in his wardrobe, he cannot stop himself from visiting SPA shopping mall every week to buy new clothes. All the clothes that are left over from too much shopping is eventually thrown away.
The rising popularity of products from SPA has lead to a 20% increase in clothes that are being discarded, says associated companies. Although there are more than 20,000 clothes collecting boxes installed in Seoul, it is estimated that more than 100 billion won worth of clothes are being discarded yearly.
According to the clothing collection company, Won Joo Hon Clothing, more than a thousand pieces of clothing come in through truckloads but most of these clothing are either completely new or are recyclable. Through classification, some old clothes are recycled but most are incinerated or sent to landfills. It is reported that this consequently leads to environmental damage and hence, emphasizes the seriousness of clothing consumption culture in Korea.
Controversially on 2011 January 8th, Mark Lovett, a member of an international aid group called GoodGoes.org Saving Children Around the World, reported that 9 million children from developing countries are dying before the age of 5 from diseases that are fully preventable and treatable. This statistics means that around 24,000 children die every day.
In addition, according to reports from ‘Save the Children’, 2 million children worldwide die the day they are born and 4 million newborn babies die within 1 month. Among them, many die from diseases such as pneumonia and hypothermia which is caused by the temperature difference between day and night in Africa.
However, it is said that one fur hat can lower the mortality rate of newborns around the world by a significant amount. This is because fur hats are able to protect the newborns body temperature and can act as an incubator like a kangaroo taking care of its baby.
The objective of this project is to bring awareness to the crew about the aforementioned abnormal consumption patterns of Korea and its damaging effects on our environment. Through this project it is hoped that the crew will come to understand the importance of recycling valuable resources and the preciousness of life. This will help the crew improve their consumption habits in the future and also remind them to always help others, which is the most important value of the Scouts.
The crew have then taken old fur clothes or clothes that they are not wearing from their homes and have went through the process of washing them and unwinding them into ball of wools. However, a lot of time was consumed because it was difficult to acquire a sufficient amount of yarn for the project even with the help of friends and parents.
Under the direction of the Scout leaders, the crew were able to make fur hats in their spare time. Through the process of making these fur hats, they were able to become better and they were able to feel a sense of self-worth.
The initial goal for this project was to make 40 fur hats. But it was very time consuming because it was difficult to acquire enough wool for the hats and also because it was most crew members first time in weaving wool. Thus participating crew members leaders were able to make two fur hats each. This added up to 30 fur hats, which is 10 fur hats shy from the original goal. Although the crew members did not achieve the original goal, they were able to understand the importance of resources. The crew came to experience that they were able to create ‘hats of life’ for the newborn babies with discarded fur clothes that would have contaminated the environment if not recycled. Conclusively, the crew were able to embody the Scout spirit of helping others through this fulfilling project.