There are those certain days in life you will just always remember, and the day I went to the Orphanage here in Korea is one of those days. My friend Alexandra took the initiative and finally looked into some orphanages we could volunteer at here in Korea. It had been on our "bucket list" of things to do this year and with the start of the new year, it was time we actually acted on this.
After asking some of our friends if they were interested in coming as well there ended up being a total of 8 of us girls who went to the orphanage here in Daegu to play with the kids for about two hours one saturday. I really didn't know what to expect. In fact I remember thinking that it really hadn't even sank in or registered with me that we were going to an orphanage until about 10 miinutes before we actually went. But, this shouldn't surprise me because that is usually the case with things for me. I just do things without thinking and then it hits me later when I stop and actually reflect on it.
So around 1:45 pm. Saturday afternoon all 8 of us meet outside Costco, grab a slice of pizza and walk over to the orphanage which was about 5 minutes away from there. On the walk over I began picturing in my head what it would be like. I think it was similar to the corrupted orphanage or child labor place in the movie Slumdog Millionare. I knew deep down Korea was far too kind for something like that, but I truly had no idea.
We walked down a side street and passed this broken down shed-like building, but my friend directed us past it, so I took a deep breath and thought "Thank God." I just would be too heart broken if that was actually where children were living.
Well much to my surprise, we walk up this driveway with pictures, colors and many child like images drawn on the walls leading up to two big buildings with a playground outside. Wow, so I guess I actually shouldn't believe everything in the movies afterall? HA.
I instantly got excited. This looked like a great place! My friend made sure the coordinator of the place could speak enough English before we arrived or it would have been a bit of a disaster communicating with them.
As we walk up to the door we see about 15 eager, anxious, curious and absolutely adorable small faces staring at us through the window. The ages ranged from 3 years old to about 14 years old. We walk inside and they all stare at us and analyze our every move. The inside was an old church turned into a small kind of classroom. There were still all the pews lined up and pictures of Jesus on the wall, and a long table where all the children were sitting. There were 3 Korean women coordinators who had broken English and then one main woman who could speak pretty good English. They had all 8 of us girls sit in a pew facing all the students and then there was a few minutes of silence and we all looked at each other like uhhhh? What now?
We suggested maybe the children introduce themselves to us and then we can as well. Each child stood up and said their name and age. It was so cute. Age is extremely confusing in Korea because they consider you 1 year old in the womb, so you're always a year older here. So I'm 23 in America, but here they consider me 24. Also, middle school; 7th, 8th and 9th grade is considered 1st, 2nd and 3rd, so it's a bit confusing. So, when some of the children stood up they would say their name then say "2" and we would all look at each other confused, like "there is no way this boy who looks at least 10 years old is 2 years old." We all started smirking and holding back laughter as some of the older kids would say like "1" or "3". We then realized they were actually saying what grade they were in and not their age. Ha lack of communication in Korea makes for some questionable but hilarious moments.
After the introductions we divided into groups with the children and played, colored, and drew with them a bit. The moment I walked into the place I immediately fell in love with this cute little special education boy and then this tiny 3 year old girl with giant glasses sliding off her face resting on the tip of her nose. I just kept watching them and cracking up. So they were put in the first group and me and my friend Gemme immediately jumped up and went over to play with them. We began drawing pictures and trying to teach them how to say heart, tree, rainbow, or whatever picture we would draw in English. They loved the colors and freedom of drawing. The adorable special education boy began drawing all sorts of things. He would smile and laugh and say something in Korean so it was hard to understand, but we would just nod and smile like we understood. Well he drew this one picture and I asked "who is that?" and he smiled and said "Opa" meaning his "daddy." My heart nearly broke. After talking with the coordinators we found out that he came from a single parent home with only a father and it was too much for the father to handle along with his special education so that is why he is there. Also many other of the kids came from abusive families or single parent or divorced homes so we concluded that maybe this was more of a foster home than an orphanage. The name of this place was "House of Hope." It seemed like the most fitting name for this place to me.
After we finished coloring the groups joined up and we taught them how to make paper airplanes which they just thought was the best thing in the world. There were planes flying everywhere and it was chaos but they were loving it so it was perfect. Next thing ya know everyone is running outside to play some soccer on a small dirt field near the playground with two rusty nets. Of course I get really into the game and end up covered in mud and sweat by the end of it all. It was worth it! Some kids were really good and others just ran around and watched and cheered the others on. By that point it was already 4 o'clock. Time had flown by and it was time to leave.
The expressions on the children's faces looked like someone had just told them they could never eat chocolate again. It broke my heart to see had they looked when we were leavng, but we promised them we would be back, and that is a promise I intend to keep. We gathered our things and headed back down the hill. The eager and anxious faces that once greeted us stared and watched us through the window as we headed home. I couldn't look back or I would have lost it! For the rest of the time I am here I intend to go back at least for a few hours every saturday. They may think that we bring them a little bit of joy to their lives when we come and play with them, but they will never understand the joy they bring to ours.
RSS Feed