My trip to a Korean Shanty Town

So, I have spent 14 months in Korea so far. And almost all of that time has been spent in one of the most prosperous areas of the city. There are tons of big buildings, expensive shops and restaurants, not to mention countless Louis Vuitton bags gracing the arms of the perpetual stream of passersby. Because of this I am often astonished when my students insist on calling Korea a 3rd world country. I always correct them and tell them I think Korea is on the cusp of being a 1st world country... but that there is less responsibility involved in being 3rd world, so they are hanging on a little longer to their lower status. However, my experience yesterday is really changing my opinion.

A few months ago I told me recruiter that I want to volunteer to teach English to poor kids once a week somewhere in Seoul. He found an organisation called Hope and I contacted them and got a gig set up recently that began yesterday. Hope is a non-profit organisation set up by a Canadian guy here in Seoul to help poor kids.

A little info about the Korean education system for those of you who don't live here. Education is free for elementary school kids, but there is a small tuition for middle and high schools. From what my students tell me, the tuition isn't much, but I think they are looking at it from the rich folk perspective, so I'm not really sure about the cost. But, on top of paying school tuition, most parents also pay hagwon tuition. A Hagwon is an after-school school, where kids go to REALLY learn things like: English, math, music, English, science, history, English, art, swimming... did I mention English? Almost every parent I Have talked to sends their kids to an English hagwon, where the kids get more one-on-one time with an English speaker, often a foreigner, something that isn't too common in the schools. But, these hagwons are not cheap... from what I have heard, the average parent spends about $10,000 a year on hagwons for their kids. Now, this is what my upper-middle class and outrageously rich students tell me, so I'm not totally sure of its accuracy, again there could be some class based bias here, but I doubt they are far off. I work at a rather expensive hagwon (full one-on-one instruction) and students can easily spend $400 or more a month at my place. And that's if you only come for 2 hours a week... Most kids will spend at least 10 hours a week at hagwons.

SO... needless to say, there are poor people in Seoul who cannot afford to send their kids to hagwon... big deal right? They can still learn in school right? Well, yeah, if they want a job collecting garbage then they will be fine... but... here in Korea after high school kids have to take a VERY difficult exam to get into college. And without a college degree in Korea its almost impossible to get a job. Even with a college degree the unemployment rate is through the roof... depending on the source it is anywhere from 7%-17%. In comparison to America's which when I last looked was at around 4% that's pretty bad. So, I think its important to try and help kids get some hagwon time even if their parents cant afford it.

So, I set up a meeting with the volunteer coordinator, she told me there would be 7-10 kids waiting for me at some study room set up by a nun. So I was actually expecting to be going to a church... boy was I surprised. I REALLY wish I had a small spy camera to take pictures of everything I saw... this place was amazing.

First we got off the bus and walked into what looked like a scrap heap and an outdoor recycling center. There was no smell of trash, so its not really a dump, but there were huge piles of cars, and bed frames, and paper, all sorted out. And in between all of these places were tiny structures that turned out to be a mixture of houses, shops and restaurants along with a couple churches with red neon crosses as signs.

It was about a 10 min walk through the shanty town, up-hill before I got to the study room. The place was filled with cabbage gardens (for making kimchi I suppose) and where there was no room for a garden there were pots with cabbage growing in them. There were several dogs wondering around, no cats like my neighborhood. Not a lot of people outside, but it was a little cold. There were also a lot of cars... this surprised me... but I guess a car is a lot cheaper than a good apartment, especially here in Seoul.

We finally found the nun, she was so tiny and sweet looking. After a short talk with the coordinator (in Korean of course... I picked up a little, but not much) we walked down a short hill through a narrow alley to a tiny shanty. Of course, its Korean style, so we take off our shoes at the door and walk inside. I guess I was expecting small frightened children... I had no idea what poor kids in Korea would look like, since they keep them far away from the hustle and bustle of Korean life. But, of course, just like in America poor Korean kids are no different from rich Korean kids. Same smiles, same cell phones, same interests, and the same teenage drama kids endure and adults reminisce about.

I had no idea what their English level was, and they range in age from 12-17 so there are gunna be times where some are confused and others are bored, but that's ok. Yesterday there were 5 girls and 2 boys. 2 of the girls were really good at writing English and one of them was really good at speaking. I think I could get her up to speed quickly if I could get her one-on-one time. The other girl is just shy now, so we shall see if she can open up more later. I didn't do a very good job of learning their names this time, so I will try better next time.

We had fun in class, the students were impressed with my knowledge of Korean language. I could understand what they were asking even if it wasn't in English (I was a little impressed too!) The nun sat there the whole time and came over to the kids when they were working to watch them. And she took a copy of the work for herself, I thought that was so cute! I was thinking she should join the class, I would totally teach her English, she seems like such a nice lady. And she lives here in this shanty town with these kids and I think we were in her church/home. It was a small room... maybe big enough to fit 20 people if they all sit with their legs crossed, Korean style, so that means no personal space. There was really no furniture. One chair and three small Korean style tables that we all sat around. Korean tables have no space for chairs, so you sit on the floor. And there was a small room in the back where the nun and the coordinator went in the beginning to chat, I think that might be the nuns bedroom or something. But anyway, the place wasn't much bigger than my one-room apartment.

I told the kids to email me a homework assignment since next Saturday I will be in America, and I will email them some extra work. They all had cell phones, so I assume they all have myspace too. There are computers at school and I assume some of the shantys even have computers. I mean they have cars and ipods, why not a laptop or two.

But this gets at what poverty looks like in 1st world countries. Its not always about the price of goods. It becomes more about the price of a good education and a safe home. Many people who live in the ghettos of America have electronics, nice clothes and a decent car, but they live in a ramshackle house with boarded up windows and no couch. Even though we have so much property in America (which is not the case in Korea) we still have people who cant afford to live in a safe place. Here in Korea its a bit worse. Everywhere is pretty much safe (at least compared to most American cities) but if you live in a poor area, then your kids go to a poor school. And if you cant afford to send your kids to hagwon, then there is little chance they can perform well on the college entrance exam. It costs about $10,000 a year here to go to college. There is one public university that costs about $3000 a year.... its almost impossible to get into that school without a very high score on the afore mentioned test. So you can see how a good education and a good job may seem a little out of reach for poor people here.

Fortunately these kids don't seem to mind... they are trying hard even though the cards are stacked against them, I think that's great. Kids are great... I cant believe I went more than a year without teaching them... I really missed it.

Here is a link to some pictures of another Korean shanty town. The one I went to was not as nice as this one... the roofs were mostly all sheet metal. The shanty town in the pictures is also abandoned because the government tore it down this spring. The Korean government and developers are trying to do that to the shanty town I was in today as well... some places were already destroyed and there are signs all over in protest. I hope to learn more about this situation this week when I talk to my students.

I wish I could spend more time with these kids, but I can only meet them once a week. but I hope by next summer I can have a chat with all of them, that would be awesome :)