Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Keepongoing]

anyone have any suggestions on a situation where one can support/help support an orphan without adopting them? I am looking for something in-between adoption and donating to a charity. I want something more personal where I can be in communication with the child and know how the child is doing. Of course, if I pursued this course it would be as a commitment and not a transient whim. I do want to research it much more before making such a commitment.

[peppermint]

Do yyou mean like the sponsor a child programs? If so Christian Children's fund is the big one, but a google search should turn up a bunch. just be careful, some of those organizations push a lot of religion with their aid.

[peppergirl]

Not really supporting an orphan, but you do help a child financially and you can communicate with him/her through letters, small gifts.

http://www.plan-international.org/

[casey's moon]

The situation you described kind of happened to me, although I wasn't seeking it out. I volunteered at an orphanage, and one student in particular was interested in learning English (through e-mail and even phone calls) and we have become quite close. I visit her when I go back to Gunsan, and we are in contact regularly. My husband and I also give her money from time to time, and other gifts of things she needs. She's a high school student now.

You're right about it being a committment. At times it has been extremely tough -- worse than I ever imagined. But it is a wonderful feeling to know you really make a difference to someone.

Hope it works out for you too!

[jinglejangle]

Don't have to limit yourselves to orphans either mate. There are a lot of divorced women in this country who have really bad situations. Depending on how clean and above the board you want to come off though, you may want to be real careful about creating any appearance you might be interested in the mother. I've learned the hard way a couple of times that divorced Korean women with children and no family support -ie. the ones who really could use help- can be very oppurtunistic. No fault to them for that, the position this culture puts them in is bad, and one could argue that a loveless marraige to a western sugar daddy is better than a career in one of the very thinly disguised branches of prostitution here.
Also, they are frequently very lonely, and ostrascized, so any perception of affection from an eligible male may be taken way overboard, and they are less likely to exibit good judgement about it then you.

So be careful. Don't hurt anyone. I would say the best thing if you have an aquaintance like this would be to find acceptable situation to befriend the kid. Then you can offer tutoring, meeting in a place OUTSIDE their home, and IN PUBLIC VIEW. Libraries might be nice, just make sure you befriend a librarian or two so you have people who will testify on your behalf should anyone level undeserved accusations at you. I make it a point to behave in this fashion in any situation where I'm teaching one on one with children or females.

Mods, if this reply looks likely to be misconstrued by visiting Koreans, feel free to delete me.

[Swiss James]

http://yheesun.com/