When did you first take an interest in your birth culture, and who helped develop that interest further?

I didn’t take an interest in my birth culture until I reached high school.  I had to do a report on my family tree during my junior year, so I had to stand in front of my class and discuss where I came from.  Also at school I had some friends who were Asian and adopted as well.  So it was easy to talk about that kind of thing.

In elementary and junior high, my sister and I were the only adopted Asians in our class, so we avoided the subject.  My friends would ask from time to time if I ever thought about meeting my biological parents and I became interested in the idea.  My mother has kept me well informed over the years of who and where I came from.  If I asked any questions about my culture, my mom has always been there to talk about it.  I remember when I was little and my mom would take my sister and me to the Korean church in town.  I know I have four older sisters in Pusan, Korea, and my mom says that my biological mother is about the same age as her, so there is a possibility she may be alive.

I think that’s kind of exciting.  Also I’m curious where I get my features.  I did have an opportunity to travel to Korea this summer, but due to financial reasons my sister and I were unable to go.  I was pretty bummed, but I know I still have a lot of time to take this trip.

~Allison Burley

I didn’t take an interest in my birth culture until I reached high school.  I had to do a report on my family tree during my junior year, so I had to stand in front of my class and discuss where I came from.  Also at school I had some friends who were Asian and adopted as well.  So it was easy to talk about that kind of thing.

I first started to take an interest in my birth culture, Korea, when I started getting older and noticed that I didn’t look like my parents.  I asked my parents where I came from and learned that I had four older biological sisters and that the family I came from was poor.
I remember attending this Korean dinner and meeting other adopted kids.  I remember this vividly because that’s where I almost choked on these rubber-like noodles!

I am so grateful for having gotten to know the Sissons, a family that I baby-sit for that has a daughter adopted from Korea named Mimi.  They helped deepen my interest in Korea when they had my sister and me over for dinner one evening.  We were able to taste authentic Korean food and also meet one of their friends – an older Korean adoptee who had returned to Korea to search for her birthfamily and learn about the culture.  She was able to tell us what it was like in Korea.  My sister and I had planned to take a trip to Korea this year through Holt.  We were not able to make it, but I know that sometime in my life I will make the trip back to my birth culture.

Kari Su Lane (Kim Keum Sook) was born in Pusan, Korea, and was adopted at age 7 ½ years old.  She lives in Davis, Calif.  She was the photographer for this year’s KAAN Conference in Seattle.

At age 15, I went for a first physical examination and the doctor asked me many questions about my family medical history and I was unable to answer him.  The doctor thought I was lying and demanded that I tell him promptly.  I went home upset and told my adoptive mother what happened.  My mother was not happy either.  She said, “We are your family and you know that your sister has a lazy eye and you could have told the doctor that.”

I was overcome with shame and no longer shared my personal feelings to my adoptive mother.  However, it did prompt me to question my biological family’s medical history and the first question came to me, “Who am I?”  And the only person that I longed for who could give me some answers was Sally, a Peace Corps worker who I had befriended at the orphanage in Korea.  I decided to begin praying from that day forward that some day I would find her.  Thirty years later, we were reunited through the Internet and began e-mailing in 1998.

Another person who fostered my interest in Korea was Dr. Luke Kim, whom I met at an Asian Mental Health Seminar at UC Davis when he slipped his business card into my hand.  When I called him, he invited me to dinner at his home and I met his lovely wife, Grace.  Both of them began sharing their personal and profound stories of experiencing the Korean War firsthand.  I spent many hours with them enchanted by their knowledge of Korean history and its culture.  I began to feel very safe and protected when I was in their presence.  I went home that night with many handouts and information of both their professional and personal papers that pertained to Korean identity, mental health issues, and being a part of the 1.5 generation individual.

The Kims also were the ones who first told me about the KAAN conference.   After returning from my third KAAN conference recently, I asked my daughter if she would like to go to Korea with me someday.  Surprisingly, she put her hand on her hip and exclaimed, “It’s about time you start liking your culture, Mom!  Did you know that in my fifth grade class, I did a family tree and I put down that you were born in Korea and that Luke and Grace Kim are my grandparents?  Come on Mom, I know more about Korea than you do.”

After hearing my daughter’s lecture, I guess I will be going to Korea very soon.

~ Sarah Burley