Hello everyone
My name is Sean and people think of me as a social volunteer as already introduced by MC earlier
Nice to meet you all
It is our honor to invite you as the first guest to kick-off Talks at Google in Korea
It also means a lot to me for being invited to the very first event
What we are going to talk about today is donation and volunteer
Since you are deeply involved in these fields, I believe there is a lot we can learn from you today
But before talking about them, I would like to ask this question that everyone might be interested as well
Could you briefly share with us how you first become a rapper with Jinusean?
(Sean pointing at the audience) It all began like that..yeah just like that
First of all, it was a bit late when I was introduced into the world of music
I was 18 and the music I got in touch with was hip-hop
It happened when I lived in Guam (my family immigrated to Guam). I fell in love with hip-hop and I started to listen to music and dance
People are good at what they like. I was pretty good at dancing
One day, I visited Korea and I was dancing at a club
There, Seo Taiji and Boys, Lee Hyun Do from Deux and Hyun Jin Young etc. suggested me to become a singer
With the momentum, I started to pursue to be a professional singer
How Jinusean was formed goes back to 1995 when Seo Taiji and Boys was disbanded
And Yang Hyun Suk, one of the members, began his entertainment business and he suggested me to be a singer and that is how Jinusean began
How you became a singer seems like one of those movie scenes
where you were just dancing in a club, and all of sudden, you were asked to be a singer
Yeah...I was like one of those movie characters. I actually feel like a movie star now
However, the way to become a singer was not always smooth
I did not get trained under direct supervision of YG
Prior to 1995, I was trained at a different place..danced on stage..then back to training again. This process was repeating itself
Then I officially signed with YG in 1995 and that is how Jinusean began
Jinusean released too many hit songs and you are probably all aware of them
You were a rapper..and you used to wrap song such as Telephone Number and Tell Me (These are their hit songs)
Frankly speaking, donation and volunteer does not seem to go along with a general impression that a rapper or rap song has
Did you have an interest in donation or volunteer from the beginning? Or was there any triggering event?
Could you please explain more about the transition?
I was like everyone else
I was willing to make big donations when I become financially sufficient or affluent
Singers get paid in lump-sum rather than regular salaries
When I find to have a lump-sum payment during the closing process, then I shared a part of them with others
My wedding was the turning point of my life. It was the happiest moment and I still try to carry on that happiness day by day
The next day, I said to my wife that we were the happiest in the world yesterday and let us not hold that happiness among us
Instead, let us open our hands and make that happiness even bigger
We started quite small in the beginning
I suggested my wife to share $10 each day and she happily agreed
Every year on our anniversary, we donate what we saved each day to a soup kitchen and help them serve foods to homeless
So, was marriage your triggering point?
Certainly. I think you have to be happy to be able to share that happiness with anyone else
Just like love..You have to be loved by someone to give that love to others
Having a turning point makes it so much easier to get on to it
I know Sean personally..but what really got me curious when I first met him was
whether his acts of charity were meant to show off as a celebrity or is from his sincere heart
Of course, you can sense that it is from the bottom of his heart if you just listen to him
Adding to what you just shared with us, was there any reason you became interested to donation itself?
I became financially independent when I was 16 and I experienced moments of struggle
So, I know how thankful it is when someone treats me a meal, especially when I struggle in my life. I felt and I know it
With that, I wanted to be a person who can offer helping hands when I can financially afford it
Everyone probably has the same wish as well, but if you do not act, it is only a thought
I started it off small with my wife and this became a part of our live as we continued day by day
It used to be only a thought and dream, but our acts turned it to be a part of our life
I think it makes a big difference. Everyone knows that donation, volunteer and sharing are all good things
But if you do not act, you will never feel that happiness that comes from them
Start it off even at a small scale and the happiness that comes from it will be yours
I totally agree
The same goes to love
We all know that love is a great thing, but we will not know detailed feelings of love until we really fall in love with someone
It could be a love towards your children, wife, girlfriend or boyfriend
Whatever kind it may be, love will seem foreign until you experience it down to the bottom
With that being said, donation or volunteer will truly become yours when you start to act
Why do not we give him an applause
Why do not we move on to talk about your charity works?
You carry coal briquettes, you feed people and you make donations to children hospitals etc
Could you please share what kind of volunteer activities you are involved with?
I did not mean to do all these things..I think it is more like seasonal things
When the weather gets colder, I help delivering coal briquettes
When the weather gets warmer, I do charity work by playing exercise together
Our anniversary is in the fall when the weather cools down. As mentioned earlier, we help soup kitchens during the time
Other things that I get involved throughout the year is children rehab hospital and other things related to the children
Children rehab hospital brought my attention and I also personally volunteered with you
Could you please tell us more about it? How did you start? How and which hospital do you volunteer?
I did not even know that there is no children rehab hospital in Korea until I paid attention to the matter
There are 300,000 disabled children in Korea on record
There are more than 200 children rehab hospitals in Japan and there is none in Korea
There are children rehab center as a part of general hospitals, but a separate hospital for children rehab does not exist
The disabled children have to visit welfare centers in order to receive rehab treatments
It is hard just to get your name registered and even if you do, the maximum treatment you can get is 3 months. Then you are back on the waiting list for 1-2 years.
What is the most important in rehab is the timing. The treatments become less effective if the right timing is missed
For example, let us say that I got injured from playing sports and I need to get rehabs
If you wait for two years just to get your rehab, chances are your muscles will never be fully recovered
This is the reality for the majority of disabled children in Korea
I did not know anything about this when I did not pay much attention to them
One day, I was introduced to a child named Eunchong who was bor n with 6 incurable diseases
Even the doctor said he had a year to live, but the parents never gave up and he is now 16 years old
The doctor said he will never be able to walk, but his parents did everything they could to get him rehab and he started to walk at the age of 7
Encountering Eunchong made me pay more attention to disabled children and I started to ponder how I could help
Then I became aware of that Purme Foundation, a foundation for disabled children, announced to build the first children rehab hospital in Korea
I do not think things in complexity.
I thought that my wife and I could save $10 everyday just like we do to support soup kitchen and we can donate the money to help build the hospital
I also thought what if I find another 10,000 people who can do the same....
Then I called the director of the foundation to ask how much it would cost to build the hospital to offer supports
Normally, you would not know how much it costs to build a hospital. I also got curious and that is why I asked
The director cautiously said 32 million dollars...
I was not too surprised by the number and told him that I will help fundraising
Saving $10 per day becomes $3,650 per year and if you multiply that by 10,000, it becomes 36.5 million
So, building a hospital with $10 per day is possible
Then I launched a campaign called $10 Miracle and tried very hard to bring attention to people
And the MC also participated in the campaign as well
Is there any other donation or volunteer activity that you are more emotionally attached with?
I always find something new that touches me for every place I go.
For instance, elders that I help carry coal briquettes live in places where you may question whether these places can still exist in 2018.
Their place of living is built with unorganized bricks and as big as 3.3 square meters
I go there to volunteer because I am healthier and I have more to offer
In return, they give us candy or a cup of coffee to show their sincere appreciation, even if they barely have anything to offer
When I go volunteer with my kids, they adore them as well
When I go overseas with Compassion Korea, I witness miraculous things
I visited Uganda in 2016. I donate $45 per month for each kid I support in Uganda
I also make additional donations on their birthday and Christmas and teachers taking care of the kids that I support will buy their gifts with that money
Serena is one of the kids that I support and she bought a chicken with her birthday money
You might wonder WHY CHICKEN? It is because foods are that scarce in Uganda
She is 13 years old and she bought a chicken so that her family can eat eggs that the chicken lays
The chicken laid two eggs when I visited Uganda in 2016
She lives in a town where it takes 5 hours from where I stayed by bus
She came all the way to see me with the two eggs on her hands
When she saw me, she ran to me, gave me a hug and gave me the eggs with tears in her eyes
We tend to think that volunteer is about sharing my possession, but I always end up being filled up with greater things
It is wonderful. So, did you eat that eggs?
Yes. I fried the eggs on the next day to eat. It was very delicious. They are totally organic
Also, many of your charity events are sports themed. Running and bicycling etc...
Since you are a celebrity, I thought you are invited to those events to participate just like other celebrities
But what really surprised me was that you actually planned those charity events and encouraged people to participate and donate
Could you tell us more about it?
The reason I began to play sports for charity events was because of Eunchong that I mentioned earlier
In Korea, parents with disabled children tend to hide them from the public and rather stay at home
Koreans are not always supportive to handicaps
His parents must have been thankful because he survived for 16 years when the doctor said he only have one year to live at maximum
His father wanted to show him a bigger world and started to challenge himself by participating Triathlon with Eunchong
Once I became aware of his story, I thought about how I could support Eunchong and his family
The best way is running together. Financial supports definitely help, but no other thing is better than running with Eunchong side by side.
So, I started Triathlon as well. I thought I was literally dying and realized it is meant for iron man
The second and third triathlon competition were easier, but the very first one I did was no joke at all
You have to swim 1.5km at sea, then cycle 40km and finally run another 10km to cross the finish line and this is the easiest you can get
In the real triathlon, you swim 3.8km at sea, cycle 180km and run the full marathon and that is what I am getting ready for this year
I decided to run with him to support, and to make it even more meaningful, I decide to notate a dollar for every meter I run
The total distance of the first triathlon I challenged for was 51,500m and I donated $51,500 for building the children rehab hospital
Remember I mentioned earlier that I tried to find 10,000 people to join the campaign?
Guess what? The hospital was built on April 28, 2016
The hospital is now operational and 500 children visit every day for their treatments
I think miracle happens when every little step comes together
People dream of the miracle, but it is not happening because they are looking for grand slams
However, when all of us take that little one step together, we are capable enough to make the miracle come true
I personally participated $10 Miracle campaign, but there is also $1 Miracle campaign, in which the participants save $1 each day and donate $365 per year
If 100,000 people participates, it becomes $36.5 million
As of now, there is only one children rehab hospital in Korea and we definitely need to build more hospitals to treat 300,000 disabled children
The pilot hospital should be well managed so that more hospitals can be built, at least one at each metropolitan city
You cycle 20.18km these days to align with the year of 2018. What is that about?
Sometimes, unexpected but amazing opportunities have come to my life.
I was offered to be an ambassador for PyeongChang 2018 Olympics nearly as an athlete because I exercise too much
It is not easy for me to be in charge of something new because I do not want empty honor with the position and not doing anything
I always fully give out what I have when I am assigned to something. I only have 24 hours per day just like everyone else
I have to split the time wisely to take care of the things I am responsible for and I also need to look after my family. I have four children
Trying something new is not easy at all because I already have other priorities. So, I hesitated
I was like Will Korea ever to host another Olympics while I am alive?
Even if it does, will I be invited as an ambassador??
I thankfully accepted their offer. PyeongChang 2018 Olympics is around the corner. It is only 31 days away
I thought how I could be responsible for my position as an ambassador. The answer was to run again
Since D-100, I either have ran or cycled 20.18km everyday and posted it on my Instagram
My hope was to draw more attentions from the public on the Olympics
I am pretty sure that everyone in this room is inspired to donate or volunteer by now
Could you please share how we can participate in these wonderful activities?
Hard activities are not easy to follow. The easiest way is following my social media and try just one of the activities that I am involved with
Then it will be much easier for you to move on to the next step. Just give it a try or two and joining me will be a lot of fun
My third daughter did her first coal briquette volunteer with me when she was 5
The next day, she went to the kindergarten and told her friends that she found a very fun game called coal briquette volunteer game?
That night, my wife got calls from the parents of my daughters friends, asking whether the game is what they think it is
My wife answered that she recently volunteered with her dad and must have had a great time
On that weekend, we did another volunteer with my daughters friends and their parents
It might be hard to take the first step, but once you do, it is actually fun and fulfilling and taking the next steps become much easier
In a nutshell, FOLLOW MY SOCIAL MEDIA
In my opinion, some people might want to volunteer only once and wash their hands off
But they would still have that guilty feeling if they do not continue and that is why they might be hesitant to take the very first step
Do you have any word of advice?
Consistency is important of course. We do not eat just once
We eat three times a day and 365 days throughout the year. I think volunteering on a daily basis, regardless of the scale, is crucial
For instance, when you visit orphanages to volunteer, orphans do not easily open up their minds because they are hurt in many different ways
The fact they are in orphanage means that they are abandoned from their biological parents and it is a life-long wound
Many volunteers would spend a full day at orphanage and give out everything they have to the orphans and they would never come back again. This hurts orphans once again
If this repeat, orphans would no longer welcome the volunteers because they think today is probably the first and the last day I will see them
However, if you visit them repeatedly, they will start to open up their minds and see you like their family
There is one orphanage that I visit on a regular basis. Every time I visit, 30-40 orphans follow me saying Daddy Sean is here
I was not too close to them when I first visited. I mean they were excited to see a celebrity, but did not come too close
Consistency is very important to those we volunteer for. From the perspective of a giver, eating delicious food full makes you happy
The same goes to volunteer as well. You will not be fully satisfied with the first scoop
However, the joy grows as your volunteer continues and eventually become yours. Our ultimate goal is being happy
Consistent volunteering, even at a smaller scale, will ultimately do good for my own happiness
For Googlers, I will soon organize a volunteer event with Sean whether it is carrying coal briquettes or anything else
Sure. Anytime.
When it comes to donation, how much we donate is important. Of course, the more is the better
What is your view on amount of donation?
I think we cannot separate one donation from another based on their amount. Both a penny and a million dollar are sharing
We cannot argue one is better than the other based on their amount
Both a penny and a million dollar still belong to you until you take them out from your pocket
There are around 50 million people living in Korea now and if every single one of them decides to donate a dime, it becomes $5 million
If we do little things together, we can definitely make a miracle come true
It is not easy for one individual to donate $5 million, but if my dime becomes ours, it can be $5 million
I do not think you need to worry about how much to donate. The focus should be who I can help with my dime because miracle happens when we act together
Before moving on to Q&A session, let me ask you the last question
Could you please introduce charities you are planning this year, if there is any?
Like I said earlier, my charities are seasonal and I am focusing on delivering coal briquettes these days
What I plan this year is to build a hospital for the patients with Lou Gehrig's disease. There are about 2,000 Lou Gehrig patients in Korea
It is not too many. But, the disease is too painful to suffer
Often time, the entire family collapse if any of them suffers from the disease
This is because the entire muscles are paralyzed within 3 years and they cannot breathe on their own and rely on the oxygen hose pierced through their throat
In addition, someone needs to standby 24/7. This translates into no economic activity for the family, if family members stand by
Standing by 24/7 is tiring and that is when the family often collapse
However, if the patients can be cared by a hospital, we can at least prevent the family from collapsing
I co-represent Seungil Hope Foundation and I want to focus on building the hospital for Lou Gehrig patients
All of you know what Ice Bucket Challenge is right? Some of you might have participated
I like putting things in numbers because it simplifies
In Ice Bucket Challenge, one person dumps a bucket filled with iced water over the body and nominates the next three challengers and whoever is nominated must do the same within 24 hours and nominates the next three
Although it may look simple, one person grows to 88,573 in ten days, if every nominee participated within the time.
The rule was to donate $100 for non-participants. Instead, it could have been $885,730 if every participant donated $10.
Again, little things are potent, if they stay consistent.
Everyone opposed to my idea of building children rehab hospital and Lou Gehrig hospital
How could I have raised $32.5 million? But the hospital is there now and I have no doubt in building Lou Gehrig hospital, only if little things come together
This is my focus this year and I am keep going
Another goal of this year to run 100km non-stop in 12 hours. I want to challenge myself and turn that into a donation opportunity
Is this too much?
Can you guess how much he runs? Some of his toe nails ends up falling out every year from his run
But he puts bandages and continues to run. I think he even runs more than professional marathoners for the sake of good things
On the first day of 2013, I pledged to run/cycle 10,000km on my social media to fundraise for the children rehab hospital
I had to run 27.4km every day to reach the goal. It was too much so that I decide to run and cycle
One of my friends texted me saying ARE YOU A TAXI? How is it possible to run 10,000km?
But I did run 10,000km on that year and donated $10 for every kilometer I ran
I think drew more attention and donation from the public as such momentum kept going
This show will be available on YouTube and I wish many people will feel challenged
I am pretty sure many of you will have questions. Please feel free to raise your hand and ask if you have any
Hello. I currently work at Google and personally have been a Jinusean fan for 20 years
I appreciate what you shared with us today. One thing I promise you today as an employee of Google and your fan is to encourage people around me to join all the wonderful things you shared with us today
You initiated big efforts in building the children rehab hospital and Lou Gehrig hospital project is on-going
Is there any other area you wanted to reach out but have not yet?
Too many. You will see more people in needs once you start to volunteer and also get more requests
Since I am only an individual, not an organization, I just suggest options sometimes
Especially, I get many individual requests via social media
This might be one of the side effects that social media has since my accounts is publicly available and many people message me to explain their situations and ask for help
I try to contact them individually and help them if I can, but they are already too sensitive from their wounds
They misinterpret my intention to help so it could not really work out
I realized helping them individually is not too effective so I looked for foundations specialized in such tasks
I only support through the foundation that are good at their job such as Holt Foundation, Compassion, and Purme Foundation etc. They are all good at their job and do things transparently.
I sure you will start to see more areas to help once you take your first step and that is when the hesitation comes
Do not be too pressured by it, but just focus on things on your plate now. Pressure will make you only feel burdened
We also celebrate Give Week where google employees participates in volunteer works
About two years ago...? I recall Google made a big donation via Google Impact Challenge
We exceeded 50% by our target amount on that day and the fund was well utilized by a small foundation in need
Other questions?
Those new to volunteer are not much aware of information so they search on the internet to look for available options
Every organization do different things and it takes time to read to understand their mission. In my opinion, information is too scattered
I think it takes too much time to decide which option is suitable to my circumstance
Personally, I have an experience to have wasted too much energy just to look for the right options for me
I wonder if there is any organization or website that summarizes information of available volunteer works.
I think following my social media can answer your question
I think different foundations find it quite difficult to cooperate with volunteers, not from bad reasons
These days, one organization or foundation have multiple projects unlike to the past where each organization was specialized into certain area
For instance, one organization or foundation might support children in both Korea and overseas and feeding elders etc
Each of them is quite comprehensive so that summarizing their time table in a sheet is not practical
In addition, many organization does not accept individual volunteers because many of them pledge to visit but never show up
For instance, let us say we need to deliver 2,000 coal briquettes and 50 individuals applied but only 25 of them volunteered
It puts burdens on both volunteers and the foundation itself
After experiencing a series of such instances or similar, many organizations or foundations prefer group volunteers to individuals because it is easier to sort out
Summarizing the details of volunteer works at a page will be a very difficult job, but I post what I do on the social media looking for the joiners or suggest other available options
Just give it a try first. I was never good at this when I first tried, but I improved as I continued for 10 years
Take your first stride and you will come across what to do next
So, let us all follow him, okay?
I have two questions. The first question relates to instinct
I always go through internal struggle for every donation. I am like I am the one who needs donation
My parents still live on the ground floor. I often change the digit of the amounts to donate.
I wonder if you never went through this before. If you did, how did you handle it?
Secondly, I recently read an article that donation to the Salvation Army decreased
My friends who used to sponsor kids canceled their support after they found out a multiple donor was sponsoring the same child
The credibility of charity organizations has been more question than anytime before. Since you are an expert in this matter, do you have anything to say about this?
To answer your first question, it depends on how you frame it
I currently sponsor 900 children and a big portion of money is withdrawn from my account every month
So I cannot avoid doing math when I make additional donations. I have to account for my monthly sponsor, my own living cost etc. to see how much is left
When I do coal briquette delivery volunteer, I do fundraising as well
Two years ago, I wanted to fundraise 50,000 briquettes and personally match another 50,000
At that time, each piece cost 50 cents and 50,000 pieces become $25,000. The amount was burdensome to me
Since it was my personal idea anyway, I lowered that target to 10,000 pieces because I thought I could handle $5,000
I posted the idea to the social media and pledged to match another 10,000 pieces if 10,000 pieces are fundraised
Then I shared the idea with my kids and asked if they would be interested to donate $10
My first daughter brought her entire coin banks that have her annual savings. I said Are you sure?
You can leave some out if you want. But she said that she would give out all she had for elders
I felt ashamed. The little girl was willing to give out all she had
The next day, I edited the target on my posting to 50,000 and would match another 50,000 if the goal is met
The target was met within a week and we ended up donating 100,000 pieces. So, I learned a lot from my kids
I thought no one else can read my thought but it did not take long to find out that it is not true. I could do it because I am happy and fulfilled from what I did
To answer your question. Who can I trust?
Especially when the money I donated to help others was not used for what it meant to be. It is really sad and I am also being cautious about it
For example, when I encourage people to join coal briquette campaign, most of the participants do not do much research on the host foundation because they trust the things I do
I feel huge responsibility, and therefore, do much research on the organization that I want to be in partnership with before introducing to the public
Trust must be built up and I think the donors should be smarter as well
Every single penny is a valuable money to me. Any donation used to meet self-interest of someone is toxic
I suggest to do enough research on the organization before donating. You do not need to hurry
An easier way is to FOLLOW MY SOCIAL MEDIA. I spend months or up to a year to take a deep look into the organization before doing any charity
You will see various options on my social media so that you can choose one
Or you can do your personal research to see whether the expenditure is spent for what it is meant to
Even we go over every detail before using the credit card to gain additional benefits
We need a sense of ownership. We cannot just give out the money and expect them to use for its intention
We need to wrap up at this point due to time constraint
There is one more
Okay. We will take the last question
In addition to charity works, you are also very well known for having a happy and lovely family
You must be busy from charities and performing on the stage. I wonder how you manage the time to spend with your family
Your schedule is set based on your priority. If work is your priority, you do other things during non-working hours
If the family is your priority, you do other things during the time you do not spend with your family
Family is my top priority and the time I spend with my family is fixed. I work and volunteer during other times than spending time with my family. This is how my schedule is set up
For many times, I bring my children to volunteer. One of the reasons that I run with my kids is that my wife has to take care of four kids if I run alone
I try to bring at least two of them to help my wife
Also, kids also enjoy doing things with me and something special are built among us as we spend time together running
One day, I ran with a twin stroller with two kids in it. It took an hour and three minutes to run 10km
Kids ranging 4-5 year-old cannot seat on the same place more than 50 minutes for maximum
They started to talk a lot after 50-minute mark whereas I was exhausted for running 50 minutes
I thought that I should finish running within 50 minutes before they start to be chatty and I began to run faster
Now, I can run 10km in 43 minutes with a twin stroller and I was able to finish running while they still remain quiet
If you can find something that both you and your kids are interested whether it is volunteer or anything else, you can catch two birds with a stone
For my kids, volunteer or playing sports is a game to play with dad and good things naturally flow to them
It definitely has been thoughtful and insightful so far. Is there anything you want to say to close the show?
To me, sharing is an extension of happiness
As I said earlier, if your happiness overflows and you share it with others, your happiness will be always fully filled up
That is how you can be happy by sharing with others and that happiness will also be transmitted to those who receive
You might feel deplete as you try to be happy by sharing with others. Then you will question why you are doing it
You will be happy when you are thankful for the very moment. Happiness is not filled up with belongings
When you are thankful for what you have, you can transmit that happiness to others by sharing it. I wish all of you Googlers to be happy
Thank you very much Sean for sharing your incredible insights at the first Talks at Google Korea
We have a special Googly gift for you. This is an Android figure designed for Talks at Google
Only guest speakers at Talks at Google can have it. Let me present the very first Talks at Google figure to Sean
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