Minister Martin Yoon can be described as a friend of the homeless community in Martin Place, Sydney. Every week, he goes to Martin Place at 7:30 pm on Monday. He eats, drinks, talks, laughs, and sheds tears with the homeless people.
“We can’t provide immense help to them, but we can listen to their stories, comfort them and weep in sympathy. These are the most of the work we do.” Minister Yoon says.
During the interview with the SBS Korean program, Minister Yoon wants to use a term Street People instead of homeless people because that is what his friends in the Martin Place prefer.
Martin Place is one of the places in Sydney offering free meals. A lot of organisations and individuals provide meals to people in need three times a day. The street people are usually dismissed when the mealtime finishes but here at the Martin Place around 100 people stay to have a chat.
Minister Martin Yoon and volunteers in Martin Place Source: Supplied
Minister Yoon says the street people welcomed him with such a warm heart and that was more than he thought.
“As they are in a position of lacking love and affection, when you come closer to them you can find out they offer you a lot of generosity and love more than you could think.”
“No one asks you where you came from, what passport or visa do you have, what ethnic group you belong to or even what do you do. They treat you as a human being, and you can have a human to a human conversation” Minister Yoon says.
Thankfully, according to Minister Yoon, most of the essential services have been already providing to the street people by the government, organisations and individual volunteers.
Therefore, Minister Yoon says offering and building a long-term friendship would be something the street people are needed at the moment.
The full interview with Martin Yoon is available on the podcast above.
Minister Martin Yoon at SBS Source: SBS Korean Program
