Emil Bredahl is a rare breed of volunteer in Yeongdeungpo, southern Seoul.

The Danish man and his friends take to a rundown street every week to give out donated winter clothes to homeless people. Many of them are defensive and wary of strangers, especially foreigners.

“We move in small groups as to not intimidate the homeless. Two of us carry bags of clothes, and one of us talks to the homeless in Korean,” Bredahl, 29, told The Korea Herald in an interview.

Consistency and building relationships is crucial to his work involving street dwellers.

“To help the homeless, we must visit them frequently and regularly so they don’t think that it is only a one-time event.”

The 29-year-old theology student and English teacher leads “Project Yongdongpo,” a small group of volunteer expats in the district.

He came to Korea in 2004 through the International Cultural Youth Exchange, but at the time Bredahl had not worked with the homeless and did not know anything about Korea either.

Then he worked with the poor and homeless in the nearby Omokgyo district in Yeongdeungpo for a year. Following that in 2005, he was offered a full-time job in a nursing home back in Denmark.

“So I returned, but after a year I just had a strong desire to go back to Korea.”

In 2007, Bredahl came back to Korea to study theology at Hansei University. One night in 2008, as he was on a bus in Yeongdeungpo, where he had been many times before, he noticed for the first time all the homeless people who needed help.

“I wanted to do something. I couldn’t just be a foreigner living in Korea and not doing anything to help others,” he said. “So I talked to my friend from New Zealand, and we started to visit the area every Sunday. 

“Then quickly, people became very excited about the project. They donated money and clothes for our program. Within the first year, there were seven of us expats visiting Yeongdeungpo two times a week.”

However, the program faced its share of difficulties. In 2009, many volunteers including Bredahl’s best friend left Korea, so their number fell to two. Then in 2011, Bredahl had to return to Denmark for seven months for health reasons, leaving his fiance Seo Yu-min in Korea. However, even in Denmark Bredahl worked with the homeless through Teen Challenge, an international volunteer organization for the homeless.

In 2012, Bredahl was well enough to return to Korea and marry his wife. With that, Project Yeongdeungpo was back in full swing with four dedicated expat members.

“Our goal is to talk to these people, let them know that they are valued. The homeless people frequently ask us why we expats help them, and many of them assume I want to convert their religion. But that is not our goal. I want to show them love and help them understand that there is an alternative out of homelessness.

“In Denmark and most places around the world, people fear the homeless. However, the homeless are only those who faced crises in life they could not overcome. In such difficulty, it is too easy for us to lose our footing in society, especially if we do not have a strong network to support us. Then we fall out from society and become homeless. I want to form a deep relationship with the homeless, create a network for them so they can integrate back into society.”

Currently, the project members are giving out winter clothes. They receive donated items from friends and others who hear about their work. In addition, they take toys for children in homeless families as well as pick up trash and clean the streets.

“Also, we have started providing baby clothes for the sex laborers in the area. But for many years before that, we have been giving clothes to grandmothers who recruit customers, because they have to stand in the cold for a long time. There is one particular grandmother I have been trying to reach for many years. All this time she had been shutting me out, but last weekend she said one sentence. ‘I have been here for five years.’ It takes years of effort to reach a person,” he said.

“There are many bad perceptions regarding expats, and I want to help break that. There really are many expats in Korea who love this country. My role is to link them to a program and encourage them to volunteer.”

Bredahl says the group has big dreams which include repairing a broken staircase where homeless people often fall and hurt themselves; painting the walls in the area to brighten their spirit; and holding meetings in bakeries to listen to their stories, similar to a program he did in Denmark.

Bredahl is currently a student at Asian Center for Theological Studies and Mission. To support himself and his wife, Bredahl also teaches English at the Seoul English Science Edu-Center, a municipal education center for children and youth.

“I am here for many years to come with my wife Yu-min. I hope that one day we can have a center in Yeongdeungpo so we can run programs to help the homeless and sex laborers rehabilitate and rejoin the society. The best thing is that we are open to everyone, and we can always try new plans to better help the homeless.”

To join Bredahl and Yu-min’s efforts to help the homeless in Yeongdeungpo, look up “Project Yongdongpo” on Facebook.

By Lee Sang-ju (sjlee370@heraldcorp.com)