Share your Six Word Memoirs

Year of Service - Lifetime of Change

What a great tag line!  The change happens not only to the YAVs, but to the family, supporters, the children they work with, PC(USA) community and to the site coordinators.  We learned a lot during the first year, and we know that we will learn a lot more during the coming year as well.  Now that Becky, Jenny and Katie have left we continue to learn.

After two weeks of empty nester life we welcomed Thomas Loyd, Anna Curl and Anna Shustizky to Korea.  They had spent a very hectic week at Stony Point Center getting ready for the year of service as best as they could.  Their long anticipated departure for Korea was delayed by two days due to Hurricane Irene and the subsequent chaos in air travel out of New York.  Thomas arrived on September 1 and the Annas the following day.  They were all to arrive on the same day, albeit on separate flights, but the flight for Annas were delayed in Chicago causing them to miss the connection in Tokyo further delaying the arrival by additional 15 hours.  But, they got a stamp(Japan) on their passport and got to eat and sleep at a nice hotel in Narita, compliments of the airline.

Each of the YAVs whose rooms this year's YAVs are inheriting left words of wisdom on many subjects.  Advices on using cell phones, public transportation, food preparation and ignoring mosses until they find their way into the ceiling light fixtures as their final resting place.  Those are nuggets, which reminded me of some Six Word Memoirs.

Watch your back, cover your bottom is not only for office life, but also useful for navigating through a foreign culture.

At our age, why smarter YAVs? It is always a challenge to counsel or supervise others who know more than we do.  We will enjoy the first days when the YAVs are like children before they can speak, at least in Korean, but we are prepared for challenging encounters.

Jet lags make young people old. When we say that we get up at four in the morning, all the young folks ask WHY?  During this week, I notice the YAVs logging onto skype at four, five and six in the morning.  Who knows how long that will last?  I hope they just don't oversleep their classes!!

I invite parents, friends, YAV alumni and current YAVs to share your Six Word Memoirs of YAV life with the YAV community.  Leave them as comments, and we will find a suitable place to share.

First day of Korean Language School

Do Christians have monopoly on hospitality?

Haejung and I just returned from a ten-day study trip to Japan with the YAVs, three students and a chaplain at the Hannam University.  It was a action packed trip, you can read them form the YAV blog postings.  I could never match their energy and flair for posting interesting articles.

My gifts are in planning and sometime in reflecting upon how things turn out. My goal was to make the trip interesting, educational, safe and affordable.  Anyone who traveled in Japan knows that the costs can escalate out of control quickly. 

I have to admit right off the errors I made in planning the trip.  I underestimated the small things that can go wrong when traveling with eight relatively inexperienced travelers via public transportation system which functions on two to three minute connections.  Build in too much slack, they complain about the wasted time when things go smoothly.  Too tight a schedule, we missed the appointed event.  All in all, the group was cooperative and adjusted well, although we had some close calls. 

I believed everyone would like some opportunity to interact with counterparts in Japan and share thoughts.  So I planned a series of forums with students at three Christian universities.  Apparently this part of the trip placed a significant burden on some of the members, detracting from the joy of visits.  I still am convinced that the overall value of the trip was enhanced by these encounters for most.  Beyond the formal functions, these forums naturally presented opportunities for our YAVs and Hannam students to meet and socialize with their cohorts in Japan.  Too often institutional exchanges are the events for the leaders and not engage the constituents (students) in any meaningful way.  I learned the young people would take care of the interactions if only given the opportunities.

At Kwansei Gakuin University with students and professors who hosted us.

These forums would not have happened had it not been for the amazing hospitality and efforts of the institutions in Japan.  Kwansei Gakuin University in Osaka, Kwassui Women’s College in Nagasaki,  Hiroshima Jogakuin College in Hiroshima, Yodogawa Christian Hospital in Osaka, and the Japan Mission of the Presbyterian Church in Kobe were the institutions who hosted us in many events.  Of course, institutions do not extend hospitality but the people do.  I do not know why, but they greeted us as if they were greeting the most important people on earth, perhaps Jesus.  I have been always showered with hospitality whenever I traveled to Japan, but this time we met some for the first time who showered with hospitality.  We are not in any position to help them in any tangible way.  Is hospitality inherent in Japanese culture?  Did all of us being Christians influenced their level of hospitality?  I do not know, but we all noticed that the Japanese Christian institutions were more conscientious of upholding their Christian ethos in their daily lives than the ones in Korea.  Japan’s Christian population is only 0.8% of the whole while Korea reports more than 25% self declared Christians.  Is the extreme minority status compelling them to live out their identity to the fullest?  I do not know whether it is the Japanese or Christian being, but I do want to learn and practice greater hospitality with joyful heart.

I also believe we were able to accomplish the educational goal to a large degree.  While we did not come up with profound answers to the questions on environment, discrimination and peace, we did learn that even the  “truth” might be multidimensional when seen through different life circumstances and cultural filters.  

The second educational objective was to challenge the young folks to face the unfamiliar and gain self-confidence.  I tried to cast a safety-net by equipping them with the ability to get back to the home base should anyone get separated from the group, and encouraged them to explore beyond the planned visits.  Within a few days they went from Kobe to Tokyo and each ventured out on their own and they did all get back safely.  They were even ready for the 8:00 a.m. departure for Hiroshima next morning. 

You might wonder how we could afford all the train rides across Japan where train fares are sometimes more expensive than airfares.  We used the JR Rail Pass that allowed unlimited rides on JR rail, bus and ferry system.  This pass is available to short-term visitors and must be purchased overseas.  It is not cheap but we recovered the cost on the first trip to Nagasaki, other trips were bonus.

Will I do this next year?  I do not know.  Let me think about it after I thank those who made it possible first.

Why do we have YAVs in Korea?

2011 just started and the Year of the Rabbits is not even here yet, but we are already busy with planning for the next class of YAVs.  The deadline for submitting articles for 2012 Mission Yearbook comes even before the Lunar New Year for 2011.  I wanted to share the first draft of the article Haejung and I are preparing for submission.   

Before we do the serious stuff...  I bragged to this year's YAVs about the beautiful autumn and mild winter weather in Korea, but we've been having the most extreme wet autumn and cold winter.  One saving grace is that they are not as extreme as they are in the Northeast and Midwest, it is cold nonetheless.  Japan should be better, but I do not want to jink it for our study trip to Japan this week.

2012 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook (first draft)

Presbyterian mission in Korea started in 1884 when the medical missionary H. N. Allen serving in China was reassigned to Korea.  Shortly thereafter many others came to Korea and shared God’s love with the people of the Land of Morning Calm.  In 2010 three young Presbyterians came to dynamic and global Korea as Young Adult Volunteers. 

Korea now sends more Christian missionaries overseas than any country other than the United States.  It is not surprising that both Americans and Koreans ask why we need Presbyterian missionaries in prosperous society like Korea where churches are strong.  That probably was a question our three YAVs had before they arrived here. 

As of this writing the YAVs have been here for less than six months, but we already learned many reasons why God sent them here.  They witness to the sisterhood of all Christians ministering to each other.  YAVs depend on the love and care of Korean brothers and sisters for their daily lives and work they came to do. 

In this competitive and success driven society wealth and power often hides God’s image, even in churches.  We are all made with God’s image and it is our duty to show God in us. Through daily interactions with children from poor families our YAVs regularly show the image of God in them. They do so while working hand in hand with Korean partners, thereby building up the community of faith in this land.  They not only share God’s image in them, but also help others to find God’s image in their own being.

 Just two examples of our YAVs in action.

They also share through their writings building up yet more communities.   The Young Adult Volunteers of our church today are building up the body of Christ the missionaries helped build more than a century ago and laying the foundation for the next century.  Thanks be to God.

After the shouting is over...

The newspaper headlines begin to tell stories other than the North Korean shelling of the YeonPyungdo-island.  It is not over by any means, the Defense Minister resigned shortly after the attack followed by the Army Chief of Staff.

The war of rhetoric between the right and the left within South Korea continues, although the right seems to have the upper hand for now.  Some hardliners, including conservative Christians, insist that military retaliation is the only response Kim Jong-il understands and fault the current regime for timid reactions.  There are many cautious calls for peace and reconciliation as well.  Today (Dec. 20) the army held a firing exercise in the waters near the disputed northern line.  While there have been many warnings from the North, it seems calm for now.  I am quite certain that this will not escalate into an immediate confrontation. Knock on wood.

Many of the NGOs helping the people of North Korea have virtually suspended their operations for now, both for safety and to avoid bad publicity. The people of North who have no voice in this matter are the true victims, as is the case in many dictatorial societies.  I am sure some of the low level officials in North Korea are also suffering from reduced cashflow, often called grease payment.  The South Korean government also has denied travel permits to the businessmen who have operations in the joint industrial complex in Kaesung, just north of the demilitarized zone.  The SK government fears that they may become hostages and severely limit their options should the conflict escalate.

None of these actions contributes to a long-term peaceful solution.  I wonder what would.  Most of the help SK provided over the years were short term immediate relief efforts for famine, flood and other disasters.  Some programs have been running for many years, but the nature of the programs are for immediate relief of the symptoms rather than building capacity for NK to handle the problems on their own.  Many stories of economic policy failures have leaked out.  Failed currency devaluation, erratic policies of free consumer market activities point to lack of human infra-structure to manage more open economic activities which, in my opinion is necessary for any meaningful economic development of the country. 

During the mid 90s I participated in a State Department funded program to train mid-level government bureaucrats from newly independent Central Asian countries on market based economy.  Of course they did not become market economy experts overnight, but we hoped that they would feel confident enough to allow community development workers into their countries.  PCUSA participates in such efforts by seconding our people to the NGOs working in the Central Asian countries.  I wonder whether this would be possible in North Korea.  No, I don't think NK will send hundreds of their officers to SK or US to learn market economy.  If they did send, it is likely that most of them would be intelligence agents rather than community leaders.

But there is a hopeful sign.  In October this year, the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology opened its doors to train tomorrow's leaders in science and industry including modern management systems.  It is largely a Christian community effort, but apolitical and non-proselytizing.  It is purely an effort to help a society to build up human capital to help themselves.  It took a long time, but the NK government is satisfied that the leaders of PUST do not have any hidden motives to cause trouble for the NK regime.  NK authorities selected the first class of around 150 students and they are in intensive English language training since all instructions will be in English.  I pray that this kind of efforts take root and help build ties that can withstand minor skirmishes.  Throughout mission history, education seems to have weathered social changes well, and I believe PUST will be successful as well.   I am gathering information as to how we might help.  I will share what I learn. You can learn about PUST a bit more here.

In the meanwhile we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Saber rattling only or a real thing?

The shelling of Yeonpyeong island by North Korean artillery battery has dominated the news all last week.  As all the YAVs have written, the situation is calmer than what was reported in the press, especially in the Western press.  Of course all is not well either.  How can shelling and killing people ever be normal? Over 90% of the island's civilian population evacuated to the mainland and  stories on the attack never yielded the top of first page on newspapers for two weeks and will probably continue for several weeks.

Politicians all claim that they deplore violence but blame each other, more than North Korea, for making situation worse.  Except for the news hour, television programs are back to usual soap operas and reality shows.  We see nothing that affects everyday life, but keep an watchful eye on the situation as we know North Korea will stir up trouble again.  Stock markets seem to take the situation in stride, and we do not see any panic among ordinary citizens.  Travels to North-South joint industrial zone was closed to the South Koreans for a while but it reopened in a limited way, another sign that a measure of normalcy is returning.

As site coordinators for the YAV program in Korea, we need to inform the YAVs and their family and friends.  We do not have any private information and no wisdom beyond anyone living in Korea.  Having lived in many countries with security concerns (DR Congo and Nepal) we are confident that the current situation in Korea is not a threat to personal safety for those in Daejeon.  Crazy drivers and exposed construction sites are clear and present danger, not to mention the high calorie and fat contents of the holiday feasts.  We will watch the situation and delay the field trip to the demilitarized zone and the Panmunjom until the tense situation passes.

We keep our eyes and ears open for signs that we should take caution and the YAVs will be the first to hear.  In the meanwhile we are preparing for the end of the first term and looking forward to holiday visits and travels.

Helping those in the margin

WARNING:  This post is heavy and rambling.  I am just thinking out loud and the things may not be related at all, just many things.

As a missionary I try to help those in the margin of the society.  Let it be economic, political, religious, racial or gender discriminations, it all involves struggle between the center and the margin.  The center, however, holds the power and once we have the power we can effect the change, so we need to occupy the center, so goes the argument.

Reflecting on my personal experiences I want to learn why it is so difficult to correct the wrongs and we seem so resistant to change.  It is right and noble to advocate for the welfare of the less privileged.  How should we go about it?  Should we try to get to the position of power and enact the change, or should we stand with those at the margin and demand changes?  Two short years ago, we welcomed Barak Obama into the most powerful seat sharing the hope for a change, only to blame him for all difficulties we face and the unrealized hope.  Yes, the Republicans and far-rights engineered and flamed the discontent for their political gains, but I do not believe they are all that smart and powerful.  The election results reflect a great deal of frustration, sense of betrayal and just plain anger.  How did that happen?

One very simple and naive theory is that once we reach the center, others become in the margin by definition.  When Obama became the president, those who were in the previous administration and their followers were pushed out to the margin, at least in their minds.  It probably was the first time in a very long while that they experienced seeing someone visually, socially and racially different from their own in the center.  They made the alienation complete by throwing in manufactured religious difference as well.  They wanted to justify their discomfort.  When the economy crashed and pushed many economic middle class into humiliating marginal lifestyle, they found a convenient excuse other than their own greed and selfishness.  Another reason may be that when Obama entered the seat of power, he found the necessity of housekeeping details took his energy and focus away.  One can be a one-issue candidate, but not one-issue president.

As the economy improves, there is always a lag, and seeing the new leadership in congress speaking loudly the sense of alienation will diminish and the extreme voices will lose their appeal, I pray.  The Republican leaders will claim that as their contribution, so be it.  But this note is not about U.S. politics, it is about missionaries working to help those in the margin.

When we enter into marginalized communities we bring our background, generally more privileged than the community, and access to resources and power.  We want to advocate for the people and to help equip the people to fight for themselves and improve their situation.  But here is the irony.  We are very reluctant to yield the center in this process.  That is, we do not want to play the supporting role in the fringes.  We want to help those in the margin, but do not want  to experience the margin within the marginalized community. We end up further marginalizing the people we want to help.  They wonder whether we really want to help, and we wonder whether they want to help themselves at all? Is it necessary for us to experience what it feels like to be marginalized, in order to become a part of the community and is it necessary to be a part of the community?  My personal opinion is yes and yes to these questions. We may not become a part of the community no matter how hard we try, but we must be willing.  When I served in Nepal, our organization was dedicated to serving the lower class folks in the caste system, whose voices were silenced by their religion, culture and political systems.  I could commiserate with them as I remembered the frustration and the accompanying low self-esteem when I was learning French before our assignment in DR Congo.  Shared experiences allow us to communicate in a higher or deeper level.

Another question is the effectiveness of enacting changes from the center.  Certainly power has privileges and quick structural changes possible, but provides energy and rationale for resistance.  I wondered what it would have been like if Dr. Martin Luther King became a governor or even the president rather than the voice in the wilderness.  Would he have had more influence on the equal rights of the racial minorities?  What if Jesus took the throne of King Herod?  I think they knew and chose to be the powerful voice rather than the secular power.

I have been in enough administrative positions to know that someone has to administer, I simply choose to be the voice.  I must be willing and do occasionally experience the 'marginalness" not to be complacent and energyless.  So help me God.

Trying to control water with a broom or multitasking

The YAVs been here in Korea for six weeks.  Language studies, children's center assignments, church groups, field trips...  All these while battling the initial onset of homesickness, exhaustion from nonstop activities during the month of adrenaline rush,  and changing weather is a lot of load for anyone.  It is a major task for a 64 year old who has been doing it for at least thirty years, but for those on the fresh side of twenty somethings... O Lord have mercy!!!

They have been remarkable troopers taking on tasks they are put to regardless of their talents or lack thereof.  But there is a method to this madness.  Successful multi-tasking requires a common thread that runs through all seemingly different tasks. Until we find the thread, keep working is like trying to control water by sweeping it with a broom.  We think we are pushing water in one direction only to find it rushing to another unintended direction.  We keep sweeping, yet we are not making any progress.

The solution is in pulling, not pushing water.  We need to find the center of gravity and nudge the water to the direction of the gravity.  Sometimes, the center of gravity is the unique personal talent and other times it is in the nature of the tasks at hand.  When the talent and task gravity centers match, it is the best job in the world.

My assignments for the Presbyterian Church (USA) are all over the lot.  Some say I am a disaster specialist (in assisting, not in causing I hope), property person, finance expert, trouble shooter, trouble maker or mediator.  I am sure there are a few more terms said in my absence.  Sometimes I take on many of these roles concurrently.  A coffee mug says "multitasking is a sure way to screw up both jobs".  The challenge is that we cannot always avoid multitasking, and we cannot avoid screwing up all the jobs, not for long anyway.

Allow me to share some tips that I don't practice well, but keep trying.

• Try to find a big picture that can hold multiple tasks we are involved in.  The remaining tasks should be dropped or the picture needs to be adjusted to include them.  Dropping some off the list is not a proof of failure, but keeping them assures failure.
• Are you comfortably in the picture or is it a wrong picture for you?  Think of your long-term goals and see if it is a goal mismatch or you just need to develop skill sets to be compatible with the picture.  If it is a goal mismatch, be prepared to walk away.
• Set benchmarks and develop ways to check the progress. If you don't know where you are going, you are never lost, but you won't ever get there either.
• What are the activities or relationships that runs through most of the tasks?  Can you handle them all on your own, or do you need others' help?
• Trust others and share the responsibilities.  TRUST and do not micromanage.
• Do not be overly anxious about setbacks, that's life.  My GPS navigation machine always points me to the new route to the destination when I go off the original route.
• Do not be concerned about getting credit personally, it destroys relationships.  When the tasks become more important than the people, the costs are more than the benefits.

Rabi Hillel, a Jewish sage of many years ago, spoke to my heart as I was starting my career as an accounting professor;
"If I am not for myself, then WHO is for me?  But, if I am not for others, then WHAT am I?"

Our American culture has and will teach us plenty about the "WHO" question.  The YAVs are seeking the answers to the "WHAT" question this year, and the struggles of these days will contribute to their quest.  I am sure it is in the big picture since God built us in His image.