Special Needs Home Visit/Party! (The Peace House 평강 의집)

A few weeks ago, I decided to take part in a party at the Peace House that the AVA (Andong Volunteers Association) organized. The Peace House is a special needs home on the outskirts of Andong that a man and his family run. A good amount of foreigners here are affiliated with the local Christian church, whom donate money to the Peace House, which is in turn, how the foreign community came to find out about it. Since then, AVA has organized monthly visits. Unfortunately I always had something going on during those weekends, so this was the first time I had actually visited the home.

Side note: Serious kudos to Meredith Stein, president of AVA and a big reason as to why this all came together.

A little bit about the residents:
They range in age from 5 months old to about their 30 or 40's. I spent most of my time with two different residents. One 16 yr-old girl (who developmentally, looked about 8 or 9.) She is incapable of walking on her own and is most comfortable on her back resting on your legs. She is unable to speak well but had the biggest, most beautiful smile. This girl was all about the balloon we were passing around, and kept trying to hit it. I also spent some time with a 9 yr old, who again, physically looked like he was no more than 3 years old. He was just the cutest little boy. He sat between my legs the whole time, playing with my bracelets and a fan I gave him. During one of the games he was screaming and laughing and so full of life. There was another girl who walks on her knees, and is damn good at it I must say! She has such a light in her eyes. So much of the world can learn from her. I never once saw her frown, and she was just gliding across that floor so effortlessly. So full of life that one.

Lee Ji-wan, is an adorable baby boy who was given up by his parents because of his medical conditions. He has a condition called Congenital Anomaly Facial Cleft #7. This means that he has lateral facial cleft and ear deformities. Despite these conditions, his brain is a normally-functioning brain. Therefore, he has a bright future and a normal one at that. This home took him in and is their youngest resident at just five months old. The AVA was informed that he will need 3 surgeries total,  and the first one is roughly the cost of one foreign teacher's monthly salary (2,000,000won- 3,000,000won). The AVA decided to open up a separate bank account solely for Ji-wan. After a few short months of fundraisers and getting the word out, the Korean and foreign community of Andong has raised 2,300,000won ($2,072). As of a few days ago, we received news that Ji-wan will go to Seoul in a few weeks for his final evaluation and surgery. It really is quite amazing when a community of people, despite your culture, background, religion, beliefs, race, sex, etc. can come together for something simply because it's the right thing to do.

As of a few weeks ago, Ji-wan's father has very abruptly come back into his life. Now, I am about to say only what I've heard. Serious topics like this, can get misconstrued very easily. You have to keep in mind translation issues and Korea's "saving face" culture. Apparently from what we gathered, the father found out about what we were doing and how much money we raised, and he now wants the rights to his account, he wants to take Ji-wan to his surgery by himself (He made it clear he does not want anyone to go with him.) After the surgery he intends to take Ji-wan out of the Peace House and take him back home with him. Now, we all have very mixed feeling about this, but in the end it all comes back to the one similar conclusion... he most likely wants the money for himself, and even if he does get his son the surgery, he has no idea what the recovery will entail. Most importantly, we believe he does not have any right to this child after literally dumping him and leaving him for basically dead, just because he was too damn arrogant to love, care for him, and accept him as his own. But let's not fret- The AVA has complete rights over Ji-wan's funds and will not be handing them over that easily. OK. END OF RANT.

Ji-wan and our friend Gospel

   
We had organized a few different games and activities for the party, including face painting and Pass the Parcel, where we sat in a big circle and passed around a huge wrapped gift. Each layer of paper had to be torn away to reveal a smaller gift, and the last layer contained a huge package of tooth brushes for everyone in the house. We had a Fishing for Fish game in a small inflatable pool, in which the residents got socks as prizes. We finished with handing out juice boxes and popcorn, and popped in a movie as we quietly slipped out the door. They get very emotional when we leave them, so we thought it best to be a little sneaky this time..

Photo cred: Chris Colverd

Photo cred: Chris Colverd

Photo cred: Chris Colverd

Photo cred: Chris Colverd

Photo cred: Chris Colverd

Photo cred: Chris Colverd

Photo cred: Chris Colverd

Photo cred: Chris Colverd

Overall, it was a great day full of special little moments that I will take with me when I leave this country. I also realized that despite me not having a direct relationship with the Andong Church and its members, I am very grateful to them, especially to Sunny, our main connection. They have included us in this city; they have kept us informed; they have made us feel like we matter and that we are respected here. Sunny is a big reason for connecting the Korean and Foreign community. Without the help from this church, a lot of what we have done here in Andong would not have been possible.

Finally, I was overwhelmed with the amount of residents (about 40) that live in this home and the dedication and selflessness this man shows in order to care for them. The Andong government gives the home 1,000,000won ($1,000) per month. They rely on donations for the rest of their finances, mostly from churches. My co-teacher didn't even know this place existed when I told her about it. $1,000 is less than half of my monthly paycheck. Less than half! Put that into perspective for a second. It's wrong on every level. It really is just unbelievable that they don't get more support. Most of these children and adults residing in this home are disconnected from their families because of their conditions. They either did not know how to care for them or did they did not want to.

A developmental disability does not mean a crappy life. It's sad that it is 2013, and so much of the world is still thinking this way. Where are the resources? Where is the mindset? Where is the education? Where is the selflessness? The open-minded-ness? The educated? The high expectations? Is it up to the minority here to show the compassion and the time, so that it eventually triggers some sort of change? I really do hope so. I hope sooner rather than later- people change. People start to learn.

Hope.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has.”- Margaret Mead

I recently became involved in the Andong Volunteers Association (AVA). This group started one year ago and consists of Korean and Foreign teachers/Andong community members. With every event the main members set up, there is a committee of us that join it to be in charge of that specific event. That's how I became involved with the River Clean Up Event for Earth Day. When I was in New Zealand, our main job was conservation work and reforestation, so this was right up my ally. The 낙동강 (Nakdong River) runs through most of eastern Gyeongsangbuk-do Province and empties out into the Korean Strait near Busan. The committee consisted of myself, Suzanne, Andrew, Tom, and Lisa. We spent about a month planning and pulling the event together, with major help from Kwan Sang-In, Suzanne's co-teacher, who also happens to be the English teacher at my second school (Pung Cheun) the four days a week I'm not there.

Fundraising!

Our awesome t-shirts!

cutie!

This kid wanted a dragon on his cheek. Lisa made it happen

Cassie, me, Lisa, and Meredith

Another precious one

These kids wanted everything!

Jae-ik, Tae-keun, and Lisa listening to Andrew explain the rules

Jae-ik

Tom and his new bff

Cassie, San-in, and Andrew really getting in there

I was in charge of getting a powerpoint together for every Andong Native teacher to show to their students, to get them interested in Earth Day. We also had awesome t-shirts made, that I sold to.. ready for it.. 6 of my students! bahaha. Yeah it's nothing, but it's better than I was expecting. We did last minute fundraising the weekend before, during the last day of the Cherry Blossom Festival, where we did everything from hair wraps, to face painting, to selling handmade jewelery (All help to Meredith, Cassie and the rest of the AVA main members.)

Tae-keun- "맥주!" "mekju" (beer)

The Cleanup was planned to be on April 22nd, Earth Day, but the forecast was rain all day. Of course we wake up, and what is the weather... absolutely beautiful. Haha but it all worked out, because we held it that next Saturday and it was wonderful. Not a lot of appearance, but a few of the others' students showed up, as well as two of my 4th grade boys, Tae-keun and Jae-ik. They were so into it, picking up all this garbage, playing around, having a great old time. It was fun to see them outside of school, where their personalities were brought out. They were absolutely hysterical. It's amazing how much of a language barrier there is between us, but then how much can still be communicated through facial expression, short phrases, laughs and smiles. Overall, a great day! Were we expecting more people? Of course. But we spent a Saturday morning making a little bit of a difference in our community, which was more worthwhile and rewarding than a lazy Saturday morning doing absolutely nothing to help our planet.

Skipping back to a week before the River Cleanup, there was another AVA Event. Open Mic! Which I performed in! Ahhhh. My very first one. I was iffy about it in the beginning. Anyone who knows me, knows that I've been singing forever, but once I hit college, regretfully I stopped joining any serious groups. I decided to sing Kate Voegele's version of Leonard Cohen's, "Hallelujah." Ryan, another native teacher here from Canada, was a saint, and agreed to accompany me on guitar. It was a great night, filled with awesome musicians, poetry, and a Korean girl deciding last minute to sing a number. Everyone said I did great, and that I "made the room silent," so I'll go with that. haha. There's a video on my facebook of the ending, but I was told that there will be a full video of all the performances being posted soon, so when I get that I will try to put it on here for all you non-fb users.

Me and Ryan

Adorable baby putting on a show the entire open mic