I had the opportunity to visit an orphanage here in Seoul on Children's Day (May 5th), and wanted to share some of my photos with all of you. As I spend hours at my desk, writing about this little four-year-old boy, it's sometimes easy to forget just how little that is. Having the chance to just spend time with these kids has really helped bring him to life for me. I'd be feeding the toddlers and thinking, "This is how old Jimmy was when his mom died," or playing with the older boys and girls and thinking, "This is how old Jimmy was when he was going down to the market by himself." As many of you probably know, most children who are in Korean orphanages today come from single moms who feel that they don't have any other option (more about that in tomorrow's post ... ), but seeing a mixed-race little girl in the orphanage - perhaps the child of a GI just like Jimmy - really got me thinking about how so much about Korea has transformed since the 1950s, but how below the surface, much remains the same.
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Misty,
ReplyDeleteMy husband is also one of those mixed-race children. His GI "father" took off when he was only 2 years old and his mother struggled to provide for him in Korea for the next 8 years. He was adopted to America at age 10 in 1980 - thirty years after the Korean War. I can't adequately express the trauma he experienced as a result.
It breaks my heart that these children are still ending up in orphanages today and it makes me really angry that the US Army still makes it almost impossible for these childrens' mothers to get any child support for them.
Thank you for raising awareness about the plight these children are left in.
Kate