Children from Joyang-dong in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, have built birdhouses for the birds of Cheongdaesan, a mountain on the eastern slopes of the Baekdudaegan range.
The Joyang-dong Saemaul Leaders Council and the Joyang-dong Saemaul Women's Association organized the effort under a program called the "Cheongdaesan Birdhouse Campaign," turning the children's dream into reality.
The activity also served as a nature classroom where participants decorated the birdhouses and learned about the value of the natural world.
According to the Joyang-dong saemaul organizations, 66 first- and fourth-grade students from Cheongbong Elementary School took part Thursday in the campaign's first event — a birdhouse-decorating session — and received ecology lessons from 15 adults covering mountains, birds, plant life and animals.
The students drew and painted on birdhouses handcrafted by saemaul leaders, each child giving their house its own personal touch.
They also joined an ecology session on the role birds play in nature, their habitat needs and the importance of protecting the environment, deepening their appreciation for life and the natural world.
The birdhouses the children decorated are scheduled to be installed across Cheongdaesan on Oct. 11.
Students and saemaul members who wish to join will take part in the birdhouse installation, which will also include a litter cleanup around Cheongdaesan to ensure the lessons learned translate into hands-on environmental action.
"It is all the more meaningful to be able to decorate birdhouses our members made themselves alongside the neighborhood children and then hang them on Cheongdaesan," said Yang Seung-man, chairman of the Joyang-dong Saemaul Leaders Council. "I hope this activity becomes a special memory for the children — one where they feel close to nature and experience firsthand what it means to protect the environment. We will continue to carry out a variety of community service activities going forward."
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