'I love Newington' - Good Neighbour

The Newington Neighbourhood Association would like to acknowledge the efforts of Youngchul Ji for his wonderful contribution to our community and as we head into a new year we'd like to share with you his Newington story.

We'd like to wish all residents a Happy New Year and we hope in 2011 you might find a little time to make a difference in your community.

Letter from Youngchul Ji

I live in Newington with my family whom I love. When I first moved here in April 2008, I could see from my window a little lake through the leafy branches.
It was beautiful.

I come from a busy and crowded city in Korea, so I really appreciated the quietness and the fresh air.  The river-side scenery was truly picturesque.

But when I walked down to the little lake, I was shocked to find all sorts of rubbish and wood chips covering the lake and around it. I thought Australia was a country where people loved  nature and honestly cared for it, so it was a real shock and disappointment for me to find the lake in such a state. To add to my shock, I also found wrappings from Korean products among the rubbish.

Before I knew it, I was picking up the rubbish and ended up spending the whole day cleaning the area that surrounded the lake. Since Newington is where I would be living together with my children, I decided then that I'd clean up the lake surroundings.

As I continued picking up rubbish, somehow I was reminded of my experience during the Korean war back in 1950's. I was a little boy back then. During those times, my main meal was a bowl of soup made from flour and corn-flour which was sent from Australia as part of the international aid. While the whole country was groaning under the fear of death and hunger, my family was sponsored by an Australian gentleman named David and his wife, through an Australian Christian organisation. Through the support from David's family, I was able to complete junior high school. I was thankful to David and this country called Australia. But as time passed, I had forgotten the wearisome days and those people who helped. It is still a mystery to me why I was reminded of David and the Australian Christian organisation, who helped me and my family half a century ago, while I was cleaning up the river-side. Driven by the memories and gratitude for what I had received, I kept on cleaning the riverside for two months.

At that time, I did not know how to get rid of all the rubbish that I was gathering from the river, so my "rubbish heap" grew bigger and bigger. One day, Richard and Youngsuk Song approached me and asked kindly why I was gathering all that rubbish. I explained my intention then, and only two days later I flew back to Korea.

Two years went by before I returned to Newington and met my dearly missed daughter and her family. I walked down to the river with my grand daughter. The river was as beautiful as before, but I was surprised to find so much rubbish in the river again. I was picking up various rubbish and wood chips from the water once again. Three months had passed while I kept on picking up a sizeable amount of rubbish everyday, yet, as soon as it rained, the river was again filled with rubbish from the upper stream.

One hot summer day, I suddenly wanted to quit cleaning up the riverside. I was constantly swiping away mosquitos, and getting extremely sweaty and tired. I wanted to stop this work that nobody seemed to care about. But again, I was reminded of the Australian gentleman I only know by the first name, David. He was the one who sent our family food and money for schooling when we were living in fear and hunger after we lost our father in the war. He had lovingly cared for us without wishing to get anything back in return, yet I had forgotten all about him and felt no gratitude while I grew up.

But now that I remembered him, I wanted to pay him back for his precious act of love for my family, even just a little bit. The thought that cleaning up the riverside and caring for it could be a way to return the debt of love kept me going.

It's been a year already since I started going around the little lake in Newington, cleaning it up each day. Whenever I see various birds and fish playing peacefully in and around the clean riverside, I feel a small pleasure that others wouldn't know. But the war against the tossed rubbish is not finished. The little lake in Newington cannot remain beautiful if people continue to dump rubbish there. It is an environment that we all must act together to keep clean and safe.

Now I am preparing to leave for Korea again. First and foremost, I am thankful to God who provided me with a healthy body so I didn't have to give up on the war against the rubbish. I am also deeply thankful to Richard and Youngsuk Song who encouraged me and became dear friends to me. Soonchul Shin took an interest in cleaning up the riverside and Ms Rose always encouraged me with cheerful hello's when I couldn't even speak English. I wish to thank them, too. I also thank the Sydney Olympic Park management who took away the rubbish heap when it grew big.

I am returning to my home country, Korea in a few weeks' time. When I come back some time in the future, I wish I could find the little lake in Newington to be clean and well loved by many people who take walks around it.

Oh and I shall never forget David. You might be in heaven now, but I want to say how deeply I am thankful to you. David, I've become an old man with grand children like you once were. I am starting my new life here in Australia, your country!

Thank you so much.

I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Youngchul Ji