Farewell, Inequality
Mission Statement
We strive to bring equality to our communities by raising awareness of welfare opportunities to the underprivileged and of the digital alienation and socioeconomic gap present in our society.
About Farewell Inequality
The Power of Small Changes
We strive to bring equality to our communities by raising awareness of welfare opportunities to the underprivileged and of the digital alienation and socioeconomic gap present in our society.
We are rooted in the value of equality. We believe that everyone, regardless of gender, race, class, or age, should be given the opportunity to escape poverty and obtain social mobility.
We believe the same for those who wish to make a difference in the world. We believe that everyone, regardless of gender, race, class, or age, can be able to change the world. Even though our team is made up of students, we believe that our age will not impede our willingness and ambition to make a positive difference and inspire a concerted movement towards our values. We believe in the power of small changes.
Our Story,
Everyone's Story
In 2014, a family of a single mother and two daughters met a tragic ending, forced by their financial struggles and extreme poverty: suicide. With a huge debt, the death of the father, and diseases untreatable due to the financial burden of medical care, the family was no longer financially sustainable. These were their last written words.
“This is the last rent and utility bills. We’re really sorry.”
This family is not alone. According to the news source Hankyoreh, 18 incidents of suicides and familial murder-suicides took the life of at least 70 people—only in South Korea, in the year 2019 (Lee 2020).
These people are not alien to us. These are actual, living, breathing fellow human beings that are in our communities. These are real people who need immediate help.
On the surface level, it may appear as though this is a widely neglected issue. By the contrary, there are a total of 10,300 registered government subsidies, as of November 2022.
While government-led institutions are implementing various measures to discover these families in need and alleviate the problem, the sheer number of people considered to be in “the blind spot,” or invisible to the government’s effort—an estimated 1.17 million South Koreans—make it impossible for the government to find all households in need.
Another problem is the fact that a lot of these efforts are done online. While the government’s 보조금24 platform serves as a useful tool to discover subsidies available for the user based on their place of residence, gender, age, and income, this is only available online. With the polarization of information and the digital alienation—both which discriminate based on age and class—makes it increasingly difficult for the underprivileged to find help in their communities. Isn’t it ironic that those who need help the most are the ones who know the least about available help?
With this information, we wondered. How can we solve this? How can us, students, make a difference to alleviate this crisis and make these governmental efforts more known to those in need?
This is where our organization, Farewell Inequality, begins. We, a student-led, nonprofit organization, attempt to bring a change in this world by raising awareness on available welfare programs—especially among the underprivileged, by whatever means possible. We envision a fair and equal society—one where everyone, regardless of gender, race, class, or age, is able to work towards social mobility, towards a better life. We believe this is possible. We will make this our future.