Sejong Camp helps Korean-Americans find themselves
Many of us struggle with finding our true identities and who we are.
At Sejong Camp in Blairstown, New Jersey, Korean-Americans and adoptees from two different worlds come together to feel an oneness that can't be found anywhere else.
Many of the children are on a very important journey, discovering who they are.
Sejong Camp in Blairstown, New Jersey is a national camp where Korean adoptees, who straddle two different worlds, can do just that and feel a one-ness with kids just like themselves.
Joy Lieberthal Rho is vice president of the camp and says the kids talk about feeling how camp is the one time they are truly themselves. “And to think they can only feel that way one week out of a year, it can be very emotional” he said.
James Rinearson, a former camper and now counselor says Sejong Camp helped fill a place in his heart where something was always missing. James says he didn't find his Korean side until his late teens. “But once I did, it made me feel more whole about whom I am,” he said.
It's a place where children can take their masks off, be real, be vulnerable and be supportive.
This Sejong Camp dance mixes traditional Korean costumes with K-pop in a dance that symbolizes two worlds becoming one. It’s a reality these children face every day.
It's a complicated, yet beautiful dance that many Korean-American children and adoptees say they've taken to heart.
Many children, tired of fighting stereotypes are now channeling that energy in a positive way.
And parents couldn't be prouder. Many were wearing their hearts on their sleeves or, in David’s case, on his arm. He was sporting a Korean tattoo that reads appa - or father.
He and his wife Martha couldn't be prouder of their two beautiful children, Eli and Lucy.
In the end, everyone celebrated by bonding over what else? Korean food, family style.
Filling bellies and hearts with love and friendship to last a lifetime.