Group Photo Credit: Hanho Daily 

In order to commemorate the "World CODA Day" that falls on April 30th, the Korean Cultural Centre Australia (KCCAU) invited four CODA (Children of Deaf Adults) to experience Korean culture at its venue on Monday, 27th April from 6 to 8pm. 

Four Australian CODA members and a Korean-Australian immigrant, Young-joo Park, participated in the event, which included an introduction to the cultural center and Hanok, trying on Hanbok, learning to offer Sebae, tasting traditional Korean snacks, and learning basic Korean and Hangeul. Young-Joo Park, who is a mentor in Australian Sign Language (Auslan) for Signpedia, a deaf services provider, also taught Korean Sign Language to the participating CODA members.

Two of the four CODA members who participated in the event are scheduled to attend the "2023 CODA International Conference" to be held in Incheon at the end of June as representatives of Australia. In addition, "Auslan" has been added to the official curriculum in New South Wales this year.

Participants shared sincere conversations about their lives as CODAs and childhood memories, and expressed their gratitude for being able to experience various aspects of Korean culture at the cultural center in light of the upcoming CODA International Conference in Korea.

The highlight of the event was the Auslan performance by the CODA members, who had practiced in advance to BTS's "Permission to Dance" before participating in the event. Although Korean language and culture were still unfamiliar to them, they enjoyed a pleasant time sharing their interest and affection for Korean Netflix programs and K-pop.

The KCCAU plans to continue planning various events to embody social values in Australia in the future.