Volunteers of Korea, unite!

The first time I lived in Korea was in 2005~2006, in a small city called Yeongju, located in the South-eastern part of the country. The school I worked for at that time, Wonderland Academy (yep, I want to make t-shirts that say I SURVIVED WONDERLAND), it is now called Yale School, was the place where my love for Korea started.

Basically, my co-worker/friend for life, DoKyoung Kim, has seen me transition through the past 7 years with my life struggles and triumphs. He's the one of the few who besides my family and friends, who could tell you my personality traits. His family took me in and treated me like family. I was shocked and awed that a Korean family would be so inviting to a Westerner. While I spent my time with his family, I bought groceries, helped wash the dishes, assisted on their farmland, paid for gas, etc. since that's what members of a family do, whether you are family by blood or if you just feel that comfortable with a person to call them family instead of friend~you do not think twice, you just flat-out help or are there for them simply because. Whoever is reading this, you might be able to relate to what I'm writing.

While working at Wonderland, I stumbled across a volunteer opportunity in Daegu for orphanages. I first asked my director if I was allowed to volunteer, mostly since being on a working Visa, you are "owned" by your employer and they are the ones who call the shots, most of the time. My director said no because it might involve teaching English. Anything that involves any kind of English being taught to others can constitute as a reason for deportation. Even if it is for no money. I still thought his reasoning was wrong, and still wrong. How could volunteering be bad?

Growing-up in the suburbs of NJ, my family and I have always done volunteer work for the community. My mother used to run street fairs and flea markets in both Nyack, NY and parts of Northern NJ. My dad was president of a civics organization in Fair Lawn (the place where I'm from). My brother and I received scholarships in High School for our volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity (building houses for those in need/low-income areas), we both started a CD drive at Xmas time one year for children who can't afford to buy music, and countless other charities and volunteer trips. On top this, I was instilled with the Jewish notion of tzadakah~charity~similar to the Islam, Hindu, Christian, etc. beliefs of just genuinely doing random acts of kindness.

Despite the no, my director clearly gave, DoKyoung and I still went. I brought a Dr. Seuss book with me, "Oh The Places You'll Go," which was given to me as a present for my big adventure of moving here. Not the best Seuss book like The Great Butter Battle, The Sneetches, or the Lorax~all that I have used in lessons involving ESL adults/students in terms of understanding some social morays, but the children still enjoyed hearing it being read.

When we arrived, the orphanage was full of ex-pats from various countries (Australia, South Africa, America, Canada, UK, New Zealand, etc.). The place felt warm and inviting. All the children were really fun. We started off with the game Red light, Green light, 1-2-3 and Mother May I. Afterwards, we all sat and listened to the story being read. In my heart, I truly wanted and still want to adopt one.

Little do people realize, in Asian countries, orphans are put into an orphanage for different reasons. Some have to do with the very frowned-upon divorces. Dad's get stuck with the children and decide to put them in there in hopes that mom will some day pick them up. Some are there because they were abandoned, bastards from U.S. military soldiers, etc. When you volunteer, you start to understand how they feel and all you want to do is just play silly games to help them take their mind off of their actual reality.

My director never found out about DoKyoung and I volunteering and really it should not matter, even now. It is technically illegal to volunteer in Korea~according to laws, but honestly, who would be that jerk to report someone for simply doing an act of kindness?

After a few years of living back in NJ, working at various part time jobs all in the field of education, including a teacher's assistant with Autistic Middle School students, and an ESL teacher at a Community College, I earned for full-time employment. I started applying for jobs elsewhere, such as D.C., NY, LA, etc. I wound up working in Newark, NJ for a brief time mostly because, I emotionally could not handle the amount of unnecessary paperwork, parents, lack of administrative support, on top of students telling me on a daily basis they want to kill me, throw a chair at me, rocks, gangs, racism, you name it~it happened to not only me, but to plenty of the other teachers I was working with. The one positive to come from this experience was being for that brief time, the debate team's coach. I lead 5 girls, who had no experience whatsoever, with a coach with no experience whatsoever, to various competitions around the city. I didn't mind volunteering my time on Saturdays for these girls who were complimented on their pose, pronunciation, composure, class, and showmanship by not just the judges, but by other competitor coaches and their parents. However, the factors in the classroom took a toll on me, so my heart was leading me back to the country I grew so fond of, on top of DoKyoung and I at one point talking about opening a school.

I moved to the city of Jeonju, known for bimbibop, food, and community. During my time in the city, I did various projects, such as, designed a literary/magazine where at the release party it grossed in 75,000 won that I donated to the Neighbourly orphanage fund rather than printing for the next issue at a Fish 'n Chips fundraiser, oh yeah, cooked at that event to a massive crowd full with the assistance of a well-organized kitchen staff. David Van Minnen and his wife were the ones who initiated the start of the orphanage visits for the ex-pat community to continue to enjoy today. To find out about most of these community service projects in Jeonju~just look for the Facebook group named Jeonju Knowledge or you might meet one of the volunteers out and about in Jeonju.

Throughout Korea, there are various animal shelters to go for visits or adopt a pet. For information about animal shelters, check out the website~  http://www.animalrescuekorea.org/

After going home and traveling for a few months, I had the opportunity to come back to Korea, to a different city called Uijeongbu and volunteer at the Greater Vision School~a school geared towards teaching English to North Korean refugees. This time, my director had no problem with the volunteer work, even though, I was honest with him about it involving English. He, himself, is the type of person who delivered juices to students who were in the hospital. Even now, with not working for him and although we had a pretty big falling-out, I still respect him as a person. I am greatful that he gave me the opportunity to work at his school and to volunteer with the refugees.

The Greater Vision School follows, aside from an English curriculumn, but is also Christian based. Yes, I mentioned I am Jewish, but as I also mentioned, it does not matter what religion you are, if you are the type of person who just gives without thinking twice and appreciates people of all walks of life, then religion goes out the window. My students were adults with ages in the early 20's to 30's. Their level was intermediate, but still very basic. Granted, they knew the alphabet, but I had to break-it-down with phonetical sounds. Plus, basic conversation was out the window. The first class, I went over the different ways of saying, "Hello. How are you?" to "Hey. What's up?!" No, I did not start to break it down by country with Canadian, "Hey buddy" or German, "Goodintach!"~simply saying the basics was the first step at conquering that challenge.

In my next classes, we consistently reviewed. Then, we started going into more than basic conversation by attaching the phrase, "Where are you from?" All of them replied Korea. Not North or South. Korea. This rang in my ears. A country has been divided since the early 1950's, and still no peace treaty, families have been misplaced, displaced, replaced, etc., and the people who come for the North see with hopeful eyes, such as myself and others that someday these two countries will unite and everyone can join my students in calling it Korea. There is not that much doubt behind it these days. Tourism has started to boom up there a long with various sporting, arts, and other events. Peace is possible. There is also the PSCORE organization in Seoul that I have been in contact with. At one point, I was considering starting a branch in Jeonju, but that ceased when I had no help or support from some members in the community. Stubborn thinkers. Not to mention, all the research that was involved with starting such a group~figuring out if there are even refugees in the community. Its not one of those things where you go door-to-door asking, "Are you from North Korea," throughout the peninsula. Imagine that though.

Volunteering with the refugees has opened my eyes more, aside from various hiking events and adventures that I recently have been on. You start to see things differently and appreciate the life you have, even if some people around you might not think you are worthy of being apart of a community no matter how much of your heart you give because that is just how some people are, I just keep on keeping on and I know who to turn to for support or for a laugh. Usually, I offer both to whoever wants it. I don't need to list here the things I have helped people with in terms of advice from love to saving a life. Mostly, it stems from my own personal experience of seeing some really good people and pets close to me die and always lending my hand to those in need of support. People do turn to me for help or advice just because they know they can always count on me even if I might not be on a friend's list or out at the bar, I know where my help is needed and I have been complimented on it and even, do I dare say, trusted.

There is also a group on FB for people living in Seoul who want to get involved with giving back to the homeless in the big city called PLUR~(Peace, Love, Unity, Respect). Recently, I had the opportunity to walk around the subway tunnels in the Seoul station area with the group during the cold winter nights distributing bags of food to those living in card-board boxes, sleeping on the floor, or underneath bridges.

If you would like to find out more information about volunteering in Korea, feel free to drop me an email: lorimich7@gmail.com. Or if you need advice about working in Korea, I do know some friendly folks who would be more than willing to help with job placement that I can put you in contact with.

In light of the holiday spirit~Happy Chanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, Happy New Year, and to those who are Atheist or Agnostic~have an awesome season! I'm glad to be donating my time to people who need to stay in good spirits and smiles. I am poor, not just saying that, to donate money.