Korean Beat Boxer Rocks the IKAA Gathering

It wasn't all work at the IKAA gathering in Seoul. Here's a kick-a** beat box performance that totally rocked the final Gala dinner sponsored by Samsung. Check out how he produces more than one sound at a time. Enjoy the clip, especially since it was filmed by one of our very own!
(Yes, a Canadian!).

Media Coverage of the 2007 IKAA Gathering in Seoul

It is always interesting to watch how the media covers international adoption. As feed back from the most recent gathering in Seoul starts to trickle in, the initial response from the online community to the media coverage is mixed. Some people are objecting to the angle the media is choosing to take by suggesting the existence of a great rift among adoptees concerning the practise of international adoption. Take this report by NPR's Jason Strother. He interviews Kim Stoker representative for ASK, Adoptee Solidarity Korea, who are adamently against international adoption, and Sandra McClaughlin, director of Bethany Christian Services in Pennsylvania, who maintains that adoption from Korea is still a viable solution to current social conditions. By offering only the extreme opinions on the issue, coverage often overlooks other important issues, i.e. what, if any, changes to Korea's social welfare system have occurred; and misrepresents facts, i.e. the status of children left in state care. By calling state care facilities "orphanages", it implies that the child's parents are dead. In Korea, this is most often not the reason children are in care. According to the good people over at Harlow's Monkey, the main reason children are abandoned is not due to unwed mothers, as this report claims, but to divorcing couples, where either the father does not want to assume responsibility or the mother cannot support them on her own.
We don't know if all the facts are in on this one, but it's good to see discussion abound on this very important topic. Weigh in for yourself by checking out Strother's report.

Trailer for new Daniel Henney movie, My Father

Here's the trailer for that new Daniel Henney movie, My Father. He plays a Korean American adoptee searching for his birth father in Korea. When he finds him, he discovers that he's on death row.

Globe and Mail Article

Check out this article from the July 31st edition of the Globe and Mail's Family and Relationships section, titled Unearthing the Roots of Adoption. The main point of the article is that adoption agencies, such as Children's Bridge, are mandating support programs for adoptive parents based on the experience of the first wave of international adoptees. It's reassuring to know that the word is getting out there. And having had first hand experience with the awesome people at Children's Bridge, I know that this is grounding breaking work. These innovations to adoption support are in large part due to the testimonials of adoptees and the advocacy work that they do. Foremost among them is Mihee-Nathalie Lemoine, based in Montreal, who founded GOAL, Global Overseas Adoptees' Link in Seoul. If you are not familiar with GOAL, go to our Links section and find out about all the amazing supports and opportunities they provide. Many birth parent searches begin with them.

Daniel Henney and his Umma

We're going to make a quick foray into the States for a minute to look at a Korean-American actor bringing adoption issues to Korean pop culture. For those of you who don't know, Daniel Henney started off as a model and later went on to make it big in Korea.
Check him out with Gwyneth Paltrow in this commercial for Korean TV. Although he doesn't speak a lot of Korean, he managed to land a role in the popular Korean drama My Lovely Sam Soon. His current film (2007) My Father is about an adoptee who comes to Korea to look for his biological parents and how he eventually reunites with his father.
This topic is not foreign to him as his mother is a Korean American adoptee. Watch him and his Umma on her first trip back to Korea in this profile on Henney for Korean TV.

Teaching Opportunities for Korean-Canadian Adoptees in Pohang, Korea

Grace, headteacher of YMA in Pohang, sent this email:

"This is Grace Park from Pohang, Korea. I work for a private language institute as headteacher. I'm writing this..because I'd like to have some grownup adoptees take a chance to teach English to our students. Doing this, the Korean-Canadians or Korean-Americans may learn their forgotten culture and language. Furthermore, they may get a help finding their own identity while communicating with the Korean teenagers. One thing I do this is..the job here, in my school is not so much demanding and we provide a very warm friendly working environment. With a university degree, everyone can help the kids learn English. Besides, we give some teaching skills for the novice. If you happen to see someone who shows a great interest in the job, please pass my email address and let them know this opportunity. Millions thanks in advance. Looking forward to hearing."

If you are interested, please email Grace at: yma_ssam@yahoo.co.kr

First Gathering of Canadian Korean Adoptee Network - CKAN

Aug. 24- Aug. 26, 2007

Welcome to the first gathering of CKAN - Canadian Korean Adoptee Network! We are the first gathering that we are aware of to occur in Canada. Adult Korean adoptees, from Montreal and the Toronto area, came together in Toronto to discuss how we can best serve the needs of our small community here in Canada.

Coming together was the first step! On Friday, we met for supper at a hip watering spot in Toronto. Getting to know other Korean adoptees in Canada was the initial ice breaker for those of us who had never met other adoptees before. The discussion was lively and provided a balanced spectrum of opinions and ideas. It was the first meeting of what will hopefully become an active, vibrant community!

On Saturday, we drove up to East Gwillimbury to attend KCCA's (Korean Canadian Children's Association) Culture Camp. We were treated to a delicious spread of Korean food and participated in some pretty strenuous camp activities. Connecting with families and young adoptees was an important link for many of us to make.

On Sunday, we met for brunch and watched a video of the recent IKAA (International Korean Adoptee Association) gathering in Seoul. Seeing the more than 500 participants from 17 different countries was really inspiring. It also reinforced the need for a Canadian contingent as there were only 4 Canadians among them!

As a group, we identified some CKAN objectives:

1. To be a resource for the adoption community.


2. To develop a CKAN blog with links to the adoption community in Canada, Korea and abroad.
   
3. To increase our network of Korean adoptees in Canada.


4. To develop a support network for adult Korean adoptees in Canada.

Saying good bye was hard but we all left feeling positive about the new connections we had made. We are happy to ride the wave of momentum from the IKAA gatherings and feel the time is right for a similar initiative to start in Canada. We need to spread the word and represent!

If this is your first time exploring Korean adoption issues in Canada, we encourage you to drop us a line.

If you know someone adopted from Korea who might be interested in getting in touch, please let them know about us.

We hope you'll stay along for the ride. Or even better, come join us!