Korean Lint: Korean Photographs at Changwon's Art Museum

 The Korean War Baby was struck at this photo he found on the net. He just got permission to use it and link to the Changwon Art Museum that was exhibited last year in April, 2009.



Korean Lint: Korean Photographs at Changwon's Art Museum

"Photo note: This brochure scan of the 1950 original doesn't do the photograph justice. The haunting look in his eyes in the real photograph remined me of that Afghani girl on the cover of National Geographic. I've never seen a black an white shot with such a variety of striking textures either. You can't see it in the scan so much, but his skin is dry and cracked, with skin and tattered clothing contrasting sharply with a smooth, grimy, almost oily look to most of the fabric. This was the best shot in the whole exhibit."

 Dailybellybuttonlint.blogspot

Tyler Beal, Colorado, United States

 

Strongs Bible Dictionary of Greek/Hebrew-H3490
יםתו
yâthôm
yaw-thome'
From an unused root meaning to be lonely; a bereaved person: - fatherless (child), orphan.

 

Who knows what happened to this lonely, fatherless, motherless, street orphan. I hope and pray that he was gathered by the photographer and taken to an orphanage that very day. Was he "Lucky"? Did he get robbed of his Korean culture and heritage? Does he miss the utter poverty of post-war Korea, where hundreds of thousands struggled to eat, find shelter, clothing, warmth, protection? Families were separated from each other not knowing if they were even dead, taken to the north, or dead.

 

Yes, Korea has come a long way. Reasons for Inter-Country Adoption have changed over each decade, yet the Korean people continue to be ashamed and embarrassed about relinquishing their children. Some reasons remain the same but it is no longer the issue of poverty. It is the Language of Blood relationship importance and pride that will not accept a daughter that refuses to Abort her child. 

This is why we see One out of Three babies born in 2008 from unwed mothers who chose to keep their baby a significant improvement. Yet the two other babies were then waiting for adoption secretly by Domestic Adoption and half of them are selected. The remaining one third are then available for Inter-Country Adoption.

Some Adoptees get upset or even angry when curious but naive people make unwittingly a comment like "Wow, you were lucky to be adopted"!!! OH, the shock, the insult! Well...let's get a grip and think about it.

A revolver usually has Six 'rounds' in the cylinder. It "Revolves" thus revolvers were first known as "Six-shooters" for obvious reasons. Many have seen the famous movie about Vietnam called "Deer Hunter" where American POW's were forced to 'play a game' with one round in the cylinder, then spun around. The prisoner must put the revolver to his head and squeeze the trigger to Fire (Mao!!). The Odds are One out of Six of finding the chamber with the live round, uh thus losing your head. (My bad...before I had math deficiency-said six to one). *Additional note: Please do NOT try this game, ESPECIALLY with an Automatic pistol, you know, the one with a SLIDE and Magazine inserted into it. Guaranteed, you will lose!!!

Now suppose that you had a "Paint Ball Revolver" with different colors, say Green for "Stay with Mother", Blue for "Secret Domestic Adoption", and Orange for "Inter-Country Adoption". You take TWO rounds (Paint Balls come in many colors).

 

Paint Ball ammo comes in many colors, used for 'teams'.

So are you following? To keep the ratio we must put Two Greens, Two Orange, Two Blues, and Spin the cylinder to randomly decide where every baby goes.

 

WAIT a minute!! The Green stays with Mother. So we only have Blue and Orange paintballs to chose WHAT BABY stays in Korea, what baby goes Overseas. Are you getting the PICTURE? 

Not to scale but 33% of Babies born

goes to each group. A-Mother, B-Domestic, C-InterCountry

 

 

The Korean War Baby doesn't want to call it Luck, but maybe FATE or CHANCE fits better. At this present time in the year of a new Decade, 2010 a baby has 1 out of 3 Odds to be in one group or another.

 

This Chart comes from  KUMSN

Korean Unwed Mother Support Network.

TrackBack Link 

Table 2> Destination of Out-of-Wedlock Births: Adopted, With Mothers, and Unidentified                         (Unit: Person)
		1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996
	Ⓐ Out-of-Wedlock Births	7,259	8,304	8,799	9,272	8,748	6,290
	Ⓑ Adopted	2,758	2,717	2,980	2,913	2,699	2,822
	Ⓒ With Mother	472	548	590	630	604	440
	Ⓓ Unidentified	4,029	5,039	5,229	5,729	5,445	3,028
		1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
	Ⓐ Out-of-Wedlock Births	4,196	4,428	4,716	5,540	5,330	5,184
	Ⓑ Adopted	3,082	3,338	3,622	3,706	3,862	3,708
	Ⓒ With Mother	298	319	391	476	586	839
	Ⓓ Unidentified	816	771	703	1,358	882	637
		2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	-
	Ⓐ Out-of-Wedlock Births	6,082	6,116	6,459	6,805	7,774	-
	Ⓑ Adopted	1,778	1,863	2,048	2,241	2,656	-
	Ⓒ With Mother	1,299	1,622	2,048	2,157	2,464	--
	Ⓓ Unidentified	1,319	987	1,247	1,747	3,014	-

Sources : Ⓑ Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family 2008. Total Number of Adopted Children

within and outside Korea

  Ⓒ Estimated Number of Children raised by their own Mothers

Ⓓ Unidentified Children = Ⓐ - (Ⓑ + Ⓒ)

          Note  :   Ⓒis estimated based on previous survey results.   The percentage of unwed mothers wishing to keep their children is  this: 5.8% /1984, 7.2%/1998, 8.3%/1999, 8.6%/2000,   11%/2001, 31.7%/2005.

 

Again, just do the math...Until the numbers shift, there is a need for Both Domestic and Inter-Country Adoption. When the government and society, plus the family support rises and Unwed Mothers ALL choose to keep their Babies, then other options will continue.

 

It is a "Numbers game" where a baby goes...We who were Adopted, must learn the facts, continue on with healing, forgiveness, finding self-esteem and identity.