Orphanages

My command has two orphanages that we do volunteer work with - the Miewon Orphanage and the Sung Ae Won Orphanage.  Visiting these kids is one of my absolute favorite things to do in Korea.

MSCO Korea has had a relationship with the Miewon Orphanage since 1954, when the command sponsored the very first Christmas Party for the orphans.  Miewon really is a success story.  Over the years, MSCO Korea has built bedding facilities, a library and even brought indoor plumbing to the orphanage.  We do fundraisers throughout the year to pay for food, clothing, toys and heating oil for these needy children.  We also sponsor a couple of big events every year for them like the Christmas Party, a summer outing and other events.  With our help and help from other sponsors and the government, Miewon is doing pretty well these days.  It really is a nice success story.  Here are some old pictures of the kids at Miewon Orphanage:

I love this picture.

This was during a tour of one of the MSC ships.

Unlike me, these kids weren't afraid of the mustache one bit.

Another ship tour

This is the library that MSCO Korea helped build and fund.

And now more recent pictures.  This was from the 2008 summer camp up in the mountains.  That's CJ hanging out with the kids.  I think this was CJ's second day in Korea.

The kids don't get to have soda too often.  They loved the Dew!

The different orphanages are run by different rules.  Miewon is the type of orphanage where the kids are not adopted.  Miewon has infants through 18 year olds.  They stay here until they are adults basically.  It gives new meaning to the phrase, "one big happy family."  I think the kids take pretty good care of each other, as do all the assistants and caretakers.

That's me presenting a check to the Director of the orphanage.  This money paid for the heating oil during the cold winter months.  The gentleman in the middle is Walt Christiansen, the Director of the United Seamen's Service Center in Busan.  Several years back, Walt and his wife Sue adopted two Korean girls of their own.  The girls are now adults residing in the US.  MSCO Korea and USS work together in their support of Miewon.

Miewon Summer Outing 2008

Future gymnast

So here are pictures of the Sung Ae Won orphanage.  Sung Ae Won is home to newborns and kids all the way up to 5 years old.  When the kids get to school age, they have to go to another orphanage.  Unlike Miewon, you can adopt kids from Sung Ae Won.  This is during the exercise Key Resolve.  MSCO Korea, along with our Navy Reservists and crewmembers of the USNS POMEROY visited the orphanage.  We put on a nice pizza party for the kids.  It was a lot of fun.  The Captain of the POMEROY even brought ship ballcaps for each of the kids.

The older couple in the background are the Directors of Sung Ae Won.  They are a very warm couple with big hearts.  You can tell that they really love the children.  They made sure to tell us to give the kids a lot of love and physical contact.  They told our group something that I thought was very nice:  FAMILY stands for Father And Mother - I Love You.

That's Xavier, our Operations Officer.  Most of the volunteers are women so the Director of  Sung Ae Won was happy to see so many male role models for the kids to spend time with.  Can't think of a better role model than X.  He is the man.

Here's the half Russian, half Korean girl that steals my heart every time I see her.

She loves playing with stickers, to include putting them on your face.

Having fun!

With both orphanages, what started out as a small endeavor evolved into a very significant volunteering effort.  Miewon now has several sponsors and volunteers that keep it up and running.  Sung Ae Won started with a small group from the Busan International Women's Association (BIWA).  Carol is a member of BIWA so that's how I got connected with Sung Ae Won.  I expanded it out to MSCO Korea, our Reservists, other commands at Pier 8 and even the Army folks in Daegu.  We also have groups from our church going regularly.  It's great to see so many more folks involved.

So why am I posting about these orphanages?  Well, if you get the opportunity to visit and just spend a little bit of time with these kids or kids at your local orphanage, I think that would be a great thing.  Maybe get involved in a program like Big Brothers or Big Sisters.  I think there are a bunch of people out there that have huge hearts for volunteering - they just don't know it yet.  Stop making excuses and get out there!  Until next time -- C2