More Than 1.41 Million Students Participate in Good Neighbors’ ‘Hope Letter Writing Contest’

[Financial News] More than 1.41 million elementary, middle and high school students nationwide sent letters of hope to Charles, a 12-year-old child in Zambia who has supported his family from a young age.
According to Good Neighbors on the 3rd, 1,413,908 students from 3,303 schools nationwide participated in the 18th Hope Letter Writing Contest, held from March through July. They wrote letters supporting the dreams and future of Charles, who has worked at a quarry since losing his parents.
A total of 126 national winning entries were selected through regional preliminary judging and evaluation by six experts in children’s literature and education. Winners will receive awards from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, as well as awards from the CEO of Newsis and the secretary-general of Good Neighbors. The results were posted on the contest’s online awards ceremony page.
The letters included words encouraging Charles’s dreams, such as, "I will support you until the light that fills you shines brightly." The entries receiving ministerial awards can be heard in the voice of Nam Doh-hyeong, a Good Neighbors ambassador.
Launched in 2009, the contest is a character-building education program that helps children and teenagers learn about the hardships faced by neighbors around the world and put sharing into practice. Good Neighbors also collected signatures opposing child labor from participating children and their families and delivered them to the National Assembly Education Committee in April.
According to global child labor estimates for 2024 released last year by the International Labour Organization and UNICEF, approximately 138 million children worldwide were engaged in child labor. Of these, about 54 million were involved in hazardous work that threatens their health, safety or development.
Donations collected along with the letters will be used to provide Charles’s family with a safe living environment, as well as education, medical care and living expenses. Updates on the changes following the support will be posted on the contest website in October.
Kwon Min-jung, head of Good Neighbors’ domestic business division, said, "The Hope Letter Writing Contest is a program that helps children living in the age of AI empathize with the hardships faced by neighbors around the world and put sharing into practice." She added that Good Neighbors would expand its character-building education programs.

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