Our visit to the orphanage

*I should preface any story that involves me conversing with Koreans with the fact that there is about a 20% chance that I misunderstood or misspoke, as my Korean language skills are that of a kindergartner (I am being generous at that!).

I wanted to show Craig the orphanage in Gwnagju that I visited with other native English speakers nearly every Saturday during my year in Naju. The Sungbin Girls Orphanage houses about 80-100 girls between the ages of one and eighteen. I had introduced the girls to my parents and brother when they visited me in 2003. During those visits, like my regular Saturday visits, we played and sang and giggled together in the cafeteria/multipurpose room of the facility.

I jumped at the first opportunity Craig and I had to visit the girls, which was Sunday evening just after 7pm. At that time, however, everyone was up in the dormitory part of the building getting ready for bed. Craig and I were invited to say hello, and we shared the gifts I'd brought from the US, as well as the candies we'd bought on our way over. We invited the girls to practice some English and we played games and we giggled in the girls' rooms (one little girl got a kick out of Craig's leg hair-- I was unable to catch a photo of her staring and twirling his leg hair in her little finger, but it was pretty funny).

We learned that three girls sleep in a one room (Korean style- on mats on the floor). There is usually one older girl with two younger ones, but the age range differed from room to room: a 17 year old, for instance, rooms with two six year olds, and a 14 year old rooms with two eight year olds (ie, the younger the girls, the older their thriod roommate).

Though we saw smiles as we laughed with the girls, the reality of the situation was harder to ignore. When I used to meet the girls in the cafeteria/multipurpose room, it almost seemed like camp or a school. But watching the girls brush their teethe and get ready for bed was hard.

The most challenging part of the visit came when Craig and I visited the last bedroom. There, an adult supervised a bunch of girls of all ages watching television. I explained to the adult, in Korean, why we were there: I lived in Naju seven years ago. At that time, I visited the orphanage nearly every Saturday. Now I am in Korea on vacation with my husband and I wanted to show him the place.
"You husband?" she asked?
"Yes," I replied and gestured towards Craig, who was playing with a few girls despite the language barrier.
"You're married?
"Yes," I said assuming the language barrier necessitated her to verify my marital status.
"Do you have any children?"
"Not yet," I said, not at all surprised, since Koreans have no problem asking strangers about their family planning.
"How about this one?" the woman said, pointing to the smallest girl in the room who could not have been more than three years old.
I smiled politely and said that we were just visiting. My hear broke a bit, though, as the weight of her genuine offer set in.

I previously associated my visits to the orphanage with giggles and smiles (how naive, I know). This visit left me with a different impression (a more real one, perhaps). I am comforted to know, however, that Saturday visits continue with new native English speakers who live in the area.

For more info, see here: http://www.sungbinkids.org