Pictured above: Korean countryside, with Sisters Roberta Ryan, Laurentia Harvey, Teresa Marie Moley, and Ellen Keating
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We continue to celebrate the 70th anniversary of our cherished association and connection with Korea with reflections of Sisters who spent time there over the decades. We have also found some wonderful old photos in the treasure trove of our Archives to share.
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The First Challenge – Language
One of the greatest challenges I faced in Korea was learning the language. Language is the expression of a people’s soul, the deeply cherished channel of their culture, values and beliefs.
To work at the language is to show that one is willing to pay the cost that opens the door to relating with those among whom we have come to live, work and share life. But knowing this doesn’t always make learning it any easier!
Learning Korean: is exciting, challenging, difficult, a chore and when it comes to repetition –a bore!
In truth: it is a laborious task.
It requires: motivation, perseverance and effort.
Causes: frustration, heartache, headaches and Joy when, little by little, progress is made.
Holds: its own rewards and insights as it opens up new ways of seeing, being and relating to others.
Consolation: Remembering that 80% of communication is non-verbal! People take us to their hearts not because we speak the language well, but because of how we make them feel – accepted, respected, valued, appreciated…etc
Two examples of its difficulty: Telling the time, the hours are in Korean numbers and the minutes and seconds are in Chinese numbers so you need to know both sets of numbers to answer, ‘what time is it?’
Grammatical Structure is subject, objective, verb. You have to wait for the verb which comes at the end of the sentence, to discover is it past, present or future tense, and by the time you get to it, you have already forgotten what went before it!
Facing the Challenge of Changing Times
In the early 90’s there were over 60,000 illegal migrant workers, from other Asian countries, working in Korea. Back in the poverty of their home countries, unscrupulous job brokers spun tales of Korea’s economic miracle and promised workers that they too could share in it. All they had to do was find $1,500 to pay the Broker for arranging travel and employment, and the gates to paradise would fly open.
With job opportunities at home practically non-existent and with large extended families to support, rear and educate, it is not surprising that many considered this option an answer to their prayers. But for the great majority, their dreams turned to nightmares! Work permits never materialised and 8 hour days stretched to 11 or more. Job opportunities, irrespective of degrees and skills, only embraced the 3 ‘D’s – Dirty, Difficult and Dangerous. On top of this, migrant workers found themselves strangers in a foreign land where language, food, customs and work attitudes differed from their own. Classified as Illegal aliens, fear becomes the dominant emotion: fear of being caught, fear of being reported and the most gripping fear of all being deported. Add loneliness and the inability to communicate with others to the anxiety of when they would be paid, and you have in a nut-shell the plight of the illegal foreign worker. Knowing about a problem is one thing, doing something about it is quite another.
When I returned to Korea in early 1990, my life stood at a crossroads. I had already been in Korea over 15 years having worked as a nurse in our Hospital and Clinics and in an outreach program to those suffering from Hansen’s Disease, formerly known as leprosy. Would I take up work I was familiar and comfortable with or risk responding to the call to work in uncharted waters?
As Columban missionaries we are continually being challenged to respond to the real needs of our times. For me, this has meant joining and working with a small group of Sisters, lay people and priests already involved in helping migrant workers. We were of varied nationalities which means we each brought different gifts and talents to the task of responding to the needs and pleading the cause of Korea’s illegal foreign workers. Saying ‘Yes’ to this work has radically transformed my own life any way of being in mission.
Widening the Space of our Tent
When the Columban Sisters first came to Korea in 1955 they saw their missionary contribution as helping to nurture and build up the Local Korean Church following the devastation caused by the Korean War. Over the years, some young women expressed interest in sharing in our Columban missionary life but we encouraged them to consider Congregations working specifically in Korea as our focus was on cross-cultural mission. Following requests from the Korean Region permission was granted by our Congregational Leadership in 1985 to begin Formation for Korean Women in Korea.
One of my greatest joys was to host, for a number of years, a monthly search in/open day for those interested in learning more about our Columban missionary commitment and way of life. All who came had a growing awareness that no matter where they lived or what they did, mission was at the heart of their Christian call. I was often truly inspired by their faith-filled sharing and depth of perception. They came to appreciate that there were many ways of following Jesus and each one had to discern where the Lord was calling them. A few chose to move forward in their discernment by entering our Columban formation programme conscious that this challenge would also include learning English, our Congregational language, and possibly another foreign language in the country to which, in time, they would be missioned.
Today, we have Korean Columban Sisters on mission in Korea, England, Ireland, Myanmar, the Philippines and Pakistan responding to the on-going challenges of our times.
‘Freely you have received, freely give.
Go in my name and because you believe
others will know that I live.’
Sr Roberta Ryan
Mokpo 1950s with Sr Stephanie King
