The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    US urged to respect Korea's position amid US-China chip war

  • 3

    Chinese carmakers challenge Hyundai Motor, Kia in global markets

  • 5

    Calls grow for regulations on AI technology on webcomics

  • 7

    China, Korea agree to strengthen talks on chip industry: Chinese commerce ministry

  • 9

    Mexico president eyes deals with China, Korea to combat fentanyl

  • 11

    ChatGPT: boon or bane for banking industry?

  • 13

    Africa Day celebrated in Korea with book talk

  • 15

    1 in 6 N. Korean children under 5 suffer from stunted growth: report

  • 17

    INTERVIEWKorean chef aims to change Hong Kong's dining scene

  • 19

    US diplomat to visit Korea for anti-proliferation meeting

  • 2

    Stray Kids, NCT's Taeyong, ATEEZ gear up for June releases

  • 4

    Korean culture as the solution

  • 6

    Temples celebrate Buddha's birthday

  • 8

    CJ, Shinsegae study temple food to expand vegan lineup

  • 10

    Biden says debt default deal 'very close' while deadline now set at June 5

  • 12

    Synth pop regains popularity with K-stars, riding retro boom

  • 14

    Russia's Lavrov tells China envoy 'serious obstacles' to Ukraine peace

  • 16

    Tech leads more gains on Wall Street

  • 18

    Presidential office denies Japanese news report on Yoon's possible visit to Ukraine

  • 20

    Bernadou's travels in Korea in 1884 Part 4 - Gaeseong's passive defiance

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
Mon, May 29, 2023 | 08:41
Multicultural Community
Friends of KoreaFinding 'home' in a leprosy settlement
Posted : 2020-12-01 20:30
Updated : 2020-12-02 10:22
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
Incoming Peace Corps Volunteers visit Benjamin Bryan in 1980. / Courtesy of Benjamin Bryan
Incoming Peace Corps Volunteers visit Benjamin Bryan in 1980. / Courtesy of Benjamin Bryan

By Benjamin Bryan

As a 21-year-old African American fresh out of college with a sociology degree, dreaming of faraway places and exotic cultures, I decided that it was time to see the world and to right all the wrongs in life.

To that end, I joined the Peace Corps more than a year later, and in March 1979 I was directed to the tiny leprosy settlement of So Ah Village in modern-day Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province. This experience completely transformed my life, and was the basis of enduring memories that bound me forever to this place and its people. My Peace Corps language instructors tried to assimilate our given names phonetically to Korean names, and I was renamed Park Myung-sik.

Incoming Peace Corps Volunteers visit Benjamin Bryan in 1980. / Courtesy of Benjamin Bryan
The home where Benjamin Bryan lived in the village, seen in 2006 / Courtesy of Benjamin Bryan

Despite having spent three months in a leprosy research center in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, immersed in extremely intensive cultural, language and medical instruction, it soon became obvious I did not have the practical skills I needed to be effective in my job. Neither was I prepared for the sight of weeping and malodorous sores, marked by gnarled, gangrenous appendages and paralysis.

Incoming Peace Corps Volunteers visit Benjamin Bryan in 1980. / Courtesy of Benjamin Bryan
Benjamin Bryan poses with a coworker at the health center in Jinju 1979. / Courtesy of Benjamin Bryan

Those were humbling times. Not only was I struggling to learn the practical skills that were required, but I had lost the little confidence I had gained in my knowledge of the Korean language and culture in this village of just 300 souls. They spoke a language dialect different from the language instruction we received in standard Korean, which is spoken primarily in Seoul. So there were some feelings of confusion and isolation until I began figuring out the dialect and ways to communicate.

Incoming Peace Corps Volunteers visit Benjamin Bryan in 1980. / Courtesy of Benjamin Bryan
A husband and wife, both leprosy patients, at the village community center in 1979 / Courtesy of Benjamin Bryan

Six months into my term found me struggling with an extreme case of depression over the perception of my flaws, but I now look back on that time as a turning point, as I determined to overcome the drowning negativity. My host "mom," who affectionately referred to me as Mr. Park, deserves a lot of credit for encouraging and nurturing me during this very difficult period.

Time passed, and I gradually began to understand the workings of the system, within which there was a definite hierarchy that was not always obvious. However, I slowly began to understand, by degrees, who I needed to approach to receive the care and supplies that were so desperately needed.

Incoming Peace Corps Volunteers visit Benjamin Bryan in 1980. / Courtesy of Benjamin Bryan
Village residents at the community building during a Health Center/clinic visit in 1980 / Courtesy of Benjamin Bryan

"Mom" would occasionally assist me with providing medical treatment to patients who came to our house, either in search of medicine or to change the dressing on a wound. She would also travel to the local market six days a week to sell eggs. My "father," a quiet man, spent his days preparing sermons for the Presbyterian Church of So Ah Village, where he was a deacon. My 11-year-old little "sister," Mi-kyung, left home before sunrise each morning to attend school.

Incoming Peace Corps Volunteers visit Benjamin Bryan in 1980. / Courtesy of Benjamin Bryan
Benjamin Bryan poses with his 11-year-old host sister in 1979. / Courtesy of Benjamin Bryan

Incoming Peace Corps Volunteers visit Benjamin Bryan in 1980. / Courtesy of Benjamin Bryan
Benjamin Bryan poses with his host sister and her son in 2006. / Courtesy of Benjamin Bryan

Just as I was beginning to adjust to Korean life, and to feel that I was finally making a difference in the lives and health of the villagers, it was time to return home. Two years had passed, and my service period had ended. Feeling I had only begun to achieve the expected results, I requested a one-year extension. This was denied as a result of Korea being phased out of the program in 1981. I was transferred instead to the Fiji Islands, where I would spend the next two years providing critical care for leprosy patients at the P.J Twomey Hospital in Suva.

Life continued, as I became fully absorbed with my work in Fiji. It was also there that I met my future wife, Joyce, who traveled back with me to the U.S. following our marriage in 1984. We have returned to Fiji multiple times since then to visit her family and to renew treasured memories.

However, it took a return visit in 2006, about 25 years after I left, to fulfill my promise to return to So Ah Village. By then, of course, my ability to converse in Korean had practically vanished. The countryside I so fondly remembered had also been completely transformed, and the dusty road I had traveled often to get back and forth from the health center in Jinju City proper was now a paved, two-lane expressway. The leprosy resettlement of patients was still there, and appears to have increased in the number of homes and population.

Incoming Peace Corps Volunteers visit Benjamin Bryan in 1980. / Courtesy of Benjamin Bryan
Benjamin Bryan visits the health center in Jinju during a return visit in 2011. / Courtesy of Benjamin Bryan

When I reunited with my Korean family, finally, it immediately became clear to me what a profound and lasting influence my two years with them had played in my life. In a single day, the past merged with the present. To my great relief my host parents both looked well, and my shy little sister was now happily married with three children.

Incoming Peace Corps Volunteers visit Benjamin Bryan in 1980. / Courtesy of Benjamin Bryan
Benjamin Bryan returns to visit his host mom and dad in 2006. / Courtesy of Benjamin Bryan

As I reluctantly left the village that evening, I remembered with a great deal of emotion how completely I was welcomed back by those villagers, many of whom I had cared for so many years ago. Again, and again, I was greeted with thanks, embraced with warmth and shown overwhelming kindness.

Incoming Peace Corps Volunteers visit Benjamin Bryan in 1980. / Courtesy of Benjamin Bryan
Benjamin Bryan visits village residents with leprosy during his return trip to the village in 2006. / Courtesy of Benjamin Bryan

It was finally, in that moment, that those incessant niggling doubts and nagging sense of guilt where I questioned whether I had made an appreciable difference in these people's lives, vanished with each exchange.

I had returned "home," and I was healed.


Benjamin Bryan lived in Korea from 1979 to 1981. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, he worked at the Jin Ju Clinic and Health Center as a health educator in leprosy. He currently resides in southern Maryland, and works for the Department of Homeland Security as a human resource specialist, providing workplace accommodation for employees with medical conditions. All proceeds from this column are donated to charities in Korea as part of the Friends of Korea Giving Back Initiative.


Emailjdunbar@koreatimes.co.kr Article ListMore articles by this reporter
 
wooribank
Top 10 Stories
1ChatGPT: boon or bane for banking industry? ChatGPT: boon or bane for banking industry?
2Man arrested for opening airplane emergency exit during flightMan arrested for opening airplane emergency exit during flight
3Korea walks fine line between US, China in chip warKorea walks fine line between US, China in chip war
4Jeju-based shamanism researcher documents connection between humans, crows Jeju-based shamanism researcher documents connection between humans, crows
5Labor unions seek to attract migrant workers at shipyards Labor unions seek to attract migrant workers at shipyards
6Hyundai Steel receives EPD certification for low-carbon H-beam products Hyundai Steel receives EPD certification for low-carbon H-beam products
7Half of medical tourists visiting Korea inspired by K-culture Half of medical tourists visiting Korea inspired by K-culture
8[RAS KOREA] Preserving memories at Cheongju City Archives RAS KOREAPreserving memories at Cheongju City Archives
9POSCO named sustainability champion for 2nd consecutive year POSCO named sustainability champion for 2nd consecutive year
10Gov't moves to assist 3,400 Koreans stranded in typhoon-hit GuamGov't moves to assist 3,400 Koreans stranded in typhoon-hit Guam
Top 5 Entertainment News
1Chun Woo-hee becomes chameleon con artist in 'Delightfully Deceitful' Chun Woo-hee becomes chameleon con artist in 'Delightfully Deceitful'
2Stray Kids, NCT's Taeyong, ATEEZ gear up for June releases Stray Kids, NCT's Taeyong, ATEEZ gear up for June releases
3[INTERVIEW] 'No more part-time jobs': VANNER talks about life after winning 'Peak Time' INTERVIEW'No more part-time jobs': VANNER talks about life after winning 'Peak Time'
4Competing to get married? 'Physical:100' writer to roll out marriage survival show Competing to get married? 'Physical:100' writer to roll out marriage survival show
5Ma Dong-seok goes all out to create iconic action hero in 'The Outlaws' threequel Ma Dong-seok goes all out to create iconic action hero in 'The Outlaws' threequel
DARKROOM
  • Turkey-Syria earthquake

    Turkey-Syria earthquake

  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group