African Folk Dance Team Talks about Korea - Both Good and Bad

˝You meet some bad people wherever you go. Having stayed at this human rights center, we now know that there are many good people in Korea, who can be friends to turn to.˝

The 10-member folks arts team from Cote d`Ivoire in Africa is waiting eagerly for the day they go back to their country. They came to Korea in June last year as a businessman who lives in Gyeonggi-do invited them, but things has gone wry since then and they have gone through great hardship.

Some employees at Incheon International Airport helped the six men and four women mostly in their 20s reach the human rights center for migrant workers, where they have stayed for four months. They will be able to be back at home by early next month.

They are now preparing to perform before the Korean audience under auspices of Korean Folk Arts Association, Incheon Civic Alliance for Reform and other human rights organizations. Determined to put the bitter memory behind, they hope to raise enough money to buy air tickets by giving a good performance.

The folk arts performance titled `Going Home..,` set to be staged at the Grand Hall of Incheon Culture and Art Center at 7:00 p.m. on March 5, will introduce traditional African dance and play various kinds of drums jointly with a Korean arts theater.

Being members of the National Traditional Arts School in Cote d`Ivoire, they were full of expectations when they first arrived. They thought they could introduce traditional African dance to Koreans and earned enough money for their families back home. But their hopes were soon shattered.

˝The businessman had agreed to pay $200 a month if we gave a performance once or twice a day, but he forced us to work as laborers when we got here,˝ said Noel Gueng, a 42-year-old-leader of the team.

Having stayed somewhere in Gyeonggi-do until October last year, they managed to get out with the help of the workers` rights center. ˝We now try to shake off the bad memory, jointly performing with Korean artists,˝ they said.

˝They often made international calls so I tried to deduct phone charges from their salaries. But they asked me for salary raises instead and neglected their duties,˝ countered the business that invited the folk dance team.

Hee-Jae Park min07@donga.com