The Good and Bad of Korean Culture.
Dropbox is a current and widely used app for uploading and sharing files. What if you could upload humans? Putting humans in a Dropbox is a reality, a reality of sadness and happiness. In Seoul, South Korea a baby drop box exists. Anyone whom has a baby they cannot care for can leave their baby in this drop box, where they can remain anonymous. This baby drop box is located at the Jusarang community church, created by Pastor Lee. He also retrieves these babies and delivers them to hospitals where they can be treated and placed into homes.
The mother’s don’t bring their babies into hospitals or orphanages because it is recorded as their child. The problem with it being recorded is that Korean society heavily looks down upon those who have had children out of wedlock. If it is found out they are commonly banned from high schools (if they are young), outcast by their families and friends, and labelled as promiscuous by society. All the main support systems in their life are taken away, leaving them with one solution: abandon the child. They then must carry the burden of their secret alone, likely for their entire lives.
“If you look at the current situation, without the baby box, many children would be dying. That’s a really scary thought. If the country could safely protect their lives, then of course I will take down the baby box.” Pastor Lee expressed this in a documentary called The Drop Box Film which highlights his work and involvement with this issue. He exposes that there is need for the society to help, which requires a change in the cultures thinking and heart.
Written for Wooree English by Mark Taleski
