When I leave…
Friday, April 18th, 2008It is spring in Korea, and summer is probably just a week or two away. It makes me think about when I’m planning to leave. My contract finishes at the end of August. That’s more than 4 months from now, but of course will come much faster than I expect.
Anyway, it brings up an important issue regarding the orphanage. Those kids are used to seeing me on a regular basis over the past two years, and soon enough, I won’t be coming around at all. So I am starting to think about how I can make my exit without causing a lot of trauma. There isn’t a lot of consistency in their lives, and the mere fact thay live at an orphanage means that some deal with abandonment issues, so it is no simple matter to extract myself from their lives and leave them with some positive memories.
I’d love hear what your thoughts about this are. These kids are pretty resilient, they will survive just fine without me, but I do want to minimize any fallout.
So, what do you think?
Posted by 오민 (Austin) in General Announcements |
April 19th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
응… 정말 맞아. 네가 떠나면 아이들은 정말 많이 슬퍼할 거라고 생각해.
다른 사람이 와서 네 빈 자리를 채워 주어도 좋지만, I know it’s not going to be too simple. Maybe telling them in advance… 여러 번… that you’ll be leaving sometime in Summer might be a shock absorber, I guess?
April 19th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I agree that you should tell them as soon as possible, so that they have time to process it.
Is there some small gift you can give them? I don’t know how many kids we’re talking about here. Something as simple as a little blank notebook, and you could write them each a personal message inside the cover.
Is it possible to send postcards or letters from time to time? In their situation I don’t know if that could be arranged, but if it could, that would be something they could look forward to.
I’m sorry if these things aren’t helpful or doable…they just came to my mind.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:25 am
I’ll have to agree on that… dropping a “bomb” on them probably wouldn’t be the best. But leaving in any way for form would be difficult anyway.
Do you plan on contacting the orphanage when you’re away from Korea?