I Have A Dream

This Saturday I attended a festival entitled, "I Have A Dream". The festival was to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Heavenly Dream School. The Heavenly Dream School was the first alternative school for North Korean Defectors and all of the students I tutor in Seoul on Saturday attend the school. The festival was an incredible experience.

When I first arrived I was treated to a North Korean meal that all of the students at the school prepared. They made bibimbap, which is also a South Korean food. I didn't really notice a difference between this bibimbap and other bibimbap I have eaten but apparently bibimbap in North Korea is much spicier. During the meal I was able to see some of my students who were so excited to have me there. I was really glad I got to see them because over 300 people were in attendance. After the meal we moved into an auditorium and saw a series of performances.

The students made several videos to demonstrate their daily life at the school and the videos were very well done. All of the students live at the school as do the teachers. The school therefore, serves as a family of sorts for the students, many of who escaped to South Korea without their family. Current students and alumni also performed several songs and dances. The students are blessed with a strong volunteer presence at the school so famous conductors and orchestras teach the students music. The Eurasian Orchestra is one of the groups and they also performed after the children.

I also never knew the school was founded by a church but that was made very clear during the festival. A very famous pastor in Korea gave the opening remarks and during the festival we all were asked to join hands and pray for unification. It was extremely moving.

My favorite aspect of the night was when one student talked about her experience at the Heavenly Dream School. The student had just been accepted to university and wanted to discuss how she got to this point in her life. She began her story with her arrival at the Heavenly Dream School. She was the only member of her family in South Korea and eagerly engaged in all of the schools offerings. Then she discovered that her father, who lived in North Korea, had died and she discussed how she slipped into a deep depression. At several times she even considered suicide. The student then discussed how the Heavenly Dream School helped her discover God and she gradually overcame her depression and began to use religion to cope with the difficulties in her life. Now she is graduating from the school and going on to University. She discussed how she aspires to become a Human Rights lawyer so that she can fight for the rights of North Koreans. I was touched by how many of the students dream of returning to North Korea in various capacities. Some wish to return as teachers, doctors or lawyers after unification, whereas others simply want to return as chefs and be able to cook a meal for their friends and family.

I wish I could share some of my pictures from the event but I am unable to. I doubt that anyone of significance would see the pictures but nevertheless it is extremely dangerous to put pictures of North Korean defectors online and could put the students or their families in North Korea at risk.

The festival really forced me to consider the difficulties my students have overcome. I always am aware that they have very dark pasts but it is easy to forget this when they seem so happy and well-adjusted in class. I was also reminded how often I think of North Korea as a crazy, outlandish country and laugh at the oddities of it without considering the 24,000,000 people who are suffering and dying at the hands of the North Korean government. I fear I often consider only the government when I think of North Korea and don't consider the effects the government has on individuals. Saturday night gave me a meaningful way to understand the experiences of many North Koreans and furthered my understanding of the division of the Korean Peninsula. The night focused so much on unification, which is a beautiful and wonderful goal but I fear unification is a more complex than the festival portrayed. The ramifications of unification socially and economically for South Korea would be crippling. Additionally, I don't believe unification is feasible until China believes it is in their best interest for Korea to be unified and I'm not sure when or if that will occur. I guess I can only hope that conditions in North Korea and services for North Korean defectors improve until unification is possible. And I hope that all of the students who shared their dreams with me on Saturday night live to see their dreams fulfilled.