A quarter of 2021 has already passed and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) remains a subject of fear for the world. In particular, business districts all over the country have faced serious financial hardship. Anam, a second home for many Korea University (KU) students, has not been an exception to this. An area that was once overflowing with students has been deserted for more than a year due to COVID-19, and restaurant and café owners in Anam have been under extreme pressure. However, just when the situation seemed hopeless, three students from KU inspired everyone with their innovative project Babshim.

Have you heard of the Korean saying “Koreans live off of babshim?” Here, the term babshim is defined as the energy gained from eating bab, the Korean word for rice or meals. This saying highlights the huge importance Koreans place on their daily meals as a source of energy. The Babshim team decided to act on the widely-held wisdom that bab helps to energize people, launching an ingenious project that has offered a reason to stay positive and hopeful amid hardship.

The Start of Babshim

Babshim is a project that was launched by three KU students, Jung Junha (‘14, Materials Science Engineering), Bang Euijin (‘13, English Language and Literature), and Lee Songyeon (‘16, Sociology), who had the common goal of reviving the business district of Anam, especially food-related businesses. The project involves three stages: the selling of Babshim’s unique products to the KU community, the purchase of foods from six different restaurants in Anam from the funds raised, and the delivery of these foods to welfare centers and doctors. Jung remarked, “We named this project Babshim because we wanted to support the people that we care about through bab.”

Jung explained that the team was formed through a recruitment notice he posted on Koreapas. Lee joined the team because she wished to give back the love and care she received from Anam, and Bang, who is a graduate of KU, joined solely based on her affection for her alma mater. The team’s ultimate goal, as Jung puts it, was to “overcome the hardship caused by social distancing through Babshim’s unique methods.” The members hoped to support the business district of Anam, and at the same time, become closer to the people who face hardship due to COVID-19. Also, Jung added that “although the people of KU are physically apart at the moment, we wished to bring their hearts together through this project.”

Jung explained that the Babshim project was an idea he developed when he took the course Entrepreneurship and Leadership at school. The course required students to suggest a project that fostered social values. As a senior at KU who returned to school at the beginning of the year, Jung was heartbroken to witness the malaise that was devouring Anam. Therefore, after Jung attended a special lecture on how an American non-profit organization was supporting doctors and firefighters by providing food, he decided to introduce a similar project to Anam. Jung took a step further than merely submitting his ideas as a course assignment and decided to launch the Babshim project.

Babshim on a Mission

The Babshim project was launched in December 2020 with a sponsorship of 3,380,000 Korean won. On December 23, 2020, the fundraising campaign began, during which the Babshim team sold their uniquely designed products to members of the KU community. The products included stickers, badges, key rings, and reusable fabric bags, all of which included the adorable tiger mascot of the Babshim team. The fundraising continued for a month and ended on January 23. According to Bang, by the end of the fundraising stage, the team had procured 1,721,280 Korean won for their project’s next stage.

On January 25, the Babshim team purchased food from six different restaurants in Anam. All of the profits earned from the fundraising were used for the purchase of this food, with the delivery to welfare centers and doctors beginning on January 27 and ending on February 10. Lee shared that, during the project, the team encountered several unexpected challenges. For example, because there were not many children at the children’s center due to COVID-19, the team could not deliver food to them as they had planned. Lee remarked that the team felt this situation was a shame, but they later managed to deliver food to children under emergency care and in other programs. 

The Next Step for Babshim

Despite its challenges, the project carried out by the Babshim team was a huge success. This success is attributable to the members’ genuine care and love for their home Anam and their drive to increase social value. The Babshim team has certainly made a change with their project. The people of KU were able to be involved in a good cause with the purchase of products that offered both utility and aesthetics, and the restaurants and welfare centers involved could feel the love and appreciation of their community.

The team members announced that, after some reorganization, they will continue with the Babshim project. Bang stated, “We went through a process of trial and error with this project, during which we received a lot of feedback and learned from it. I hope this project will be a long-term one and continue to support restaurants and people in need.” Lee also expressed her passion to be more actively involved in the project when she shared that she is constantly looking into funding websites where the team can attract a larger number of people to be involved.

Jung commented, “I hope there will be many more projects like ours in the future because there still are a lot of people that need help.” The Babshim team showed that, even amid the pandemic, which seems like a wall impossible to overcome, there are steps that can be taken by individuals to help, no matter how big or small. The duty of the KU community now, in order to save Anam, seems to be to join the Babshim team in making positive changes for the area and the people around them.

Q&A with Babshim

The following is a special Q&A section prepared to highlight the details behind the story of Babshim.

GT: How did you decide to conduct your project the way you did?

Babshim: Our initial plan for fundraising did not involve the selling of products, but after a series of developments on our initial idea, we decided to sell products to raise funds for this project. At first, we were planning to give out products such as badges and stickers as a reward for donation. We thought, since our target audience would mainly be KU students and graduates, such a method of fundraising seemed like an appropriate method, so we looked more into it. As we were doing research on this, we came across the concept of “Good Goods.” We learned that there already are various kinds of “Good Goods” out there such as the Save the Children Bracelet and thought that we could draw people’s empathy if our products also have the characteristics of “Good Goods.” After this consideration, we went through a series of research and discussion to raise funds through the sales of our own Babshim products.

GT: Can you tell us more about the process of designing and creating the Babshim products?

Babshim: We wanted to create a mascot that really represented the central message of the Babshim project, which is to energize people through bab. We wanted the mascot to look cute and reliable so that people who saw it were energized. Therefore, from the beginning of our project, we were thinking about making a happy-looking tiger mascot with a mouth full of bab. We thought this tiger mascot would be well-received by the KU students as it is our school symbol, and it went well with our central message.

We decided to call this tiger Babshimi. When the creation of our mascot was finalized, we decided to give it a little background story. Babshimi is a fourth-year student at KU and it knows every restaurant around school. On our Babshim products, there are images where Babshimi is wearing a graduation cap or a KU jumper, drinking a can of beer. In addition to creating and including Babshimi, we decided to design the products with various menus you can find in Anam. All the designs on the Babshim products have been designed by all three of us. It is a result of a series of discussion and feedback on how to position Babshimi and what facial expressions to give the mascot. We put a lot of effort into creating Babshimi and really tried to represent Anam through this character so that many people would empathize with our project.

GT: How did you choose which restaurants in Anam to cooperate with?

Babshim: We tried to select symbolic restaurants of Anam. Since the three of us have lived in Anam for a long time and we all know which of the restaurants have been popular, we began by selecting some of the restaurants that we wanted to help. After selecting some restaurants based on team discussion, we asked some KU students about some of their favorite restaurants in Anam. During this process, we noticed some overlaps in students’ favorite places; of those, we selected six restaurants. We then called each restaurant for their opinion and consent. After that, we visited them in person and told them our specific plans.

GT: Did you encounter any challenges or unexpected situations on this project?

Babshim: Yes. In fact, there were quite a few. To begin with, when we first received the sample versions of our products, they were far from what we had expected, so we had to go through multiple rounds of alterations to make sure the products came out the way we wanted. We even had to switch our vendors multiple times. Nevertheless, we think this process was meaningful as our products were well-received.

We also created our own Instagram account. We were supposed to find a way to follow KU students, but were lost on where to begin. We made use of Everytime and Koreapas to upload various posts with the link to our Instagram page and also held events, through which we made our Instagram page known to many students. Through these efforts, we could gain more than 1,000 followers.

GT: Lastly, please share your thoughts and comments regarding your successful launch of Babshim project!

Lee: As I participated in this project, I felt really excited and passionate about helping others. Before, I used to think that my grades and qualifications made up and determined who I am. However, when I took a closer look at my surroundings and actually did something to help Anam, I felt really happy. The more funds were raised and the followers on our Instagram page increased, the more I was driven to put in more effort. This is because I sincerely wanted to put in more of my time and effort in this project. I will never forget the memory of getting to help other people, and because all three of us had come together with a common goal, we could work together despite the difference in our major, age, and circumstances. Even after graduation, I wish to participate in activities to help Anam and KU.

Bang: I have felt warmth from restaurant owners and workers at welfare centers during this project. Even amidst this hardship, they never lost their smile and were devoted to providing us with more help and support. They have shown genuine gratitude, with some of the restaurants providing us more food than we had ordered. I think I gained much more than what I had invested in this project.

Jung: This project helped me look back on my surroundings and also myself. I was used to a crowded Anam. However, when I returned to school after my military service last year, I was heartbroken to see how it had changed. When we visited the restaurants in Anam that I used to visit with my friends in the past as we planned and executed this project, I was touched by the restaurant owners’ sincerity and care they have for KU students, even in this difficult situation. It made me reflect upon myself a lot, “Have I been taking the people around me for granted?”; “Am I giving back to my surroundings?” I also wish there will be other projects similar to ours in the future. Hopefully, our project has inspired other students to start these kinds of projects for our society.