Kee, Kevin, and Joe going over some cases the first day visiting hospitals.
My 11th grade class in Phnom Pehn excited to write their friendship sonnets for the North Korean students. They all wrote a little note saying hello and introduced who they are.
Sunrise in Pyongyang, North Korea. Every morning we had the opportunity to take walks or runs along the river.
Let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
Matthew 5:16
Our family had the opportunity to go to Pyongyang, North Korea a few weeks back. We went with a delegation of 15 people some of whom were physicians, a surgical equipment CEO, nurse practitioner, and medical students from the US. Every one on our team served the North Korean people in different ways. The doctors worked with other doctors and shared skills and brought many supplies for the patients of North Korea.
I had the amazing opportunity to visit a language school and teach a10th grade English class. I had come from Cambodia with a handful of sonnets that my 11th grade English class wrote for the students in Pyongyang. The theme was on friendship, and my students in Cambodia wrote little notes of encouragement and friendship to the recipients of their sonnets. I was able to teach the North Korean students a little on sonnet writing but more importantly, they were so thrilled to have received notes and friendship poems from abroad. The North Korean students wrote notes back, and many of them mentioned that their desire was that the two Koreas be one. They expressed how much they would love to meet my students in North Korea. They said this because they knew there is very little chance for them to travel to Cambodia. I did find out that many professionals do get a chance to travel abroad, receive some training in a certain field and then return to North Korea. One of my North Korean students had actually spent a few years in Phnom Penh, Cambodia because his Dad was studying in Cambodia.
Pyongyang Theatre
From this short trip to North Korea, I developed a short but sweet relationship with my guide. She is a mother, wife, and guide for visitors who come into North Korea. I enjoyed speaking with her and hearing about her sweet family. Sophie enjoyed meeting four students her age and hearing about their lives when she accompanied me to a language school. Isabelle and I attended a primary performing arts school and visited the students who live there during the week while their parents work while their kids learn how to sing, dance, and perform. Camille took pictures in the operating room with Dad.
I left North Korea realizing that I take my freedom for granted. That many people all over the globe would do anything for the freedom we have in the US. I also experienced a nostalgic kinship in an odd way with the North Korean people I met because they too are Korean. We spoke practically the same Korean, looked similar, and in a strange way, flashbacks of my childhood and my uncles and aunts came into mind as the North Koreans welcomed us and wished for our return reminding of the family gatherings I grew up with my big family in Pennsylvania.The Koreans we left behind two weeks ago seem a world a part in many ways, but they still had the same smiles of people I know and warm wishes that could warm any heart.
A guard in our hotel about 20 years old played with a chubby boy about 6 years old. I witnessed a wedding ceremony, a beginning of a new life and marriage for a lovely young couple. Two lovely ladies embraced Isabelle and showered her with snacks and juice every day. It has been a few weeks now since our return to Phnom Penh. My students here loved receiving notes from the North Korean students. Since our return, our family has been busy going to school and preparing for the next days of work and school. Life continues, but as I reflect on my amazing experience a few weeks ago, I wonder how our guide is doing? How her son that she fondly spoke about is growing? If the guard at the hotel who played with the chubby boy still plays hide and seek each day? I wonder how the kind doctors we met at the hospitals are doing? How the bus driver who tried to teach Isabelle a popular Korean song is doing, the same song I heard growing up. How are the 10th grade students I had the pleasure of meeting and hearing them say with sincerity that they wished they could meet all my students who lived in Cambodia. We are all the same, God’s children needing the Lord, friendship, fellowship, and support. It was an incredible trip.
A guard in our hotel about 20 years old played with a chubby boy about 6 years old. I witnessed a wedding ceremony, a beginning of a new life and marriage for a lovely young couple. Two lovely ladies embraced Isabelle and showered her with snacks and juice every day. It has been a few weeks now since our return to Phnom Penh. My students here loved receiving notes from the North Korean students. Since our return, our family has been busy going to school and preparing for the next days of work and school. Life continues, but as I reflect on my amazing experience a few weeks ago, I wonder how our guide is doing? How her son that she fondly spoke about is growing? If the guard at the hotel who played with the chubby boy still plays hide and seek each day? I wonder how the kind doctors we met at the hospitals are doing? How the bus driver who tried to teach Isabelle a popular Korean song is doing, the same song I heard growing up. How are the 10th grade students I had the pleasure of meeting and hearing them say with sincerity that they wished they could meet all my students who lived in Cambodia. We are all the same, God’s children needing the Lord, friendship, fellowship, and support. It was an incredible trip.
May I pray? Jesus, I pray for the North Korean country. That you Lord would make a way there....that you would one day in your perfect time open up this country and bring your light and love into every corner there. I pray for the relationships we made while we were there and that you would touch those lives in a remarkable way. I pray for the students I met that you would bless each one and their families and that you would be glorified in this country one day! Please send more medical teams to North Korea, and in this way your love shared! In Jesus name, Amen.
The 10th grade students who received the friendship sonnets and wrote notes back to their new friends in Cambodia!
