[Kim Jong-han] Korean volunteers in Cambodia

The Korea Herald

26th April, 2012

Several weeks ago, I had an opportunity to accompany my wife and teenage daughter on their mission trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Siem Reap is well-known to tourists worldwide for Cambodia’s treasured temple, Angkor Wat, and the Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. It is also a home to Phnom Krom, one of the poorest communities of Cambodia.

I was not supposed to be on that trip due to my conflicting working schedule. Taking a mission trip (even if for only a few days) seemed like a luxury I could not afford given my heavy workload. Nevertheless, it was difficult to rebuff incessant requests from my wife. When my wife pleaded that it was a father’s duty and obligation to accompany his young daughter on her first mission trip ever, I had lost my cause. My stubbornness could not stand up against a guilty feeling so effectively planted by my wife deep in my heart.

Although I had traveled frequently to many destinations around the world on business, I had never been to Cambodia (let alone Indochina). I have seen Cambodia only in photos that my wife had brought back from her previous mission trips to that nation. My wife is actually the leader of a U.S. charitable organization and has been deeply involved in supporting a charitable cause in Cambodia. She has been supporting various altruistic causes in Siem Reap, ranging from the construction of a well for safe drinking water to the construction of small fishing boats to support the livelihood of the destitute people of Phnom Krom, who fish for their livelihood on Tonle Sap Lake. My daughter, who, herself, has organized a charitable club called Ark of Hope, has followed my wife in a cause to help the people of Phnom Krom.

So began my unforgettable journey into the interiors of Siem Reap.

First, I did not know what to expect. The photos my wife had brought back from her previous mission trips showed widespread poverty. The images from the 1984 Hollywood movie “The Killing Fields” also frightened me somewhat. Although dictator Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge are long gone and peace reigns in Cambodia, I couldn’t help but thinking about the safety of my family.

Once I arrived in Siem Reap, I quickly realized that safety was not a concern. In fact, much of Siem Reap is a vibrant tourist town full of Western and Asian (mostly Korean) tourists who came to see the great Angkor Wat or Tonle Sap Lake. As we ventured outside Siem Reap toward Phnom Krom, however, we saw destitution, and the scenes were reminiscent of South Korea after the Korean War. The streets were unpaved, homes were made out of huts, and children were poorly clothed or some had no clothes at all.

In the midst of such unspeakable poverty, there stood a small concrete building manned by young volunteers from Korea wearing bright green vests. It was a Dail Community Center. Dail Community is a Christ-based charitable organization founded in Korea. It’s well-known in Korea for its Baffor Sharing Movement Center, which started in 1988 by Pastor Choi Il-do by serving free noodles to the homeless at Cheongnyangni Train Station in Seoul. Today, Dail Community’s Bapsang (Meal Table) Community in Dongdaemun-gu serves hot meals for approximately 1,000 to 1,500 homeless and elderly everyday.

Dail Community has transplanted their sharing community to the poorest neighborhood in Cambodia. Through donations received mostly from Koreans and Korean-Americans, Dail Community was serving daily hot lunches to nearly 700 Cambodian children and seniors living near Phnom Krom. From their modest center, they were not only feeding the Cambodian children, but they were also teaching them taekwondo and English and providing other cultural and educational services, all free of charge.

As I spent time with Dail Community in Cambodia, what was so striking was not so much the hunger and poverty, but the love and passion that the young volunteers from Korea had for the children and the country of Cambodia. So far from their home, these young men and women of Korea who would surely be studying, dating and clubbing in Seoul were passionately and humbly serving their Cambodian brethren. Their religion commanded them to “love one another,” but I thought that this commandment was a cliche confined inside the church. However, these beautiful young Koreans were practicing in real life with people they have never met before, thousands of miles from home.

As I dug deeper into the backgrounds of these young Korean volunteers, however, to my great surprise, I learned that some of them are actually members of Korea International Cooperation Agency which is an agency under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. KOICA implements Korea’s foreign aid to developing countries. When KOICA was created in 1991, my impression was that it was a cheap copycat of America’s Peace Corps. Poorly funded and a lack of passion, I harbored deep suspicion that it would soon disappear quietly after its initial publicity.

My suspicions were both unfair and misguided. Young men and women of KOICA were serving the people of Cambodia with compassion and love that I have not witnessed anywhere. While we were there, one senior KOICA member, a former nurse in the South Korean Army, who had been working at Dail Community in Siem Reap, decided to relocate further into a jungle so that she can serve and care for the people living in communities that are not easily reached.

As our family departed Cambodia exhausted after our short but intense experience, we wondered how these young volunteers of Dail Community and KOICA have the strength, courage and passion to do their services every day. Our family was enriched by this unexpected journey and returned with compassion for the people of Cambodia, the love for these young volunteers from Korea and admiration for the great human spirit.

By Kim Jong-han

Kim Jong-han is a Hong Kong-based partner at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, an international law firm. He is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and its law school. ― Ed.