Funded : $7,160 USD
(모금액 : 9,308,000 원 KRW )
Backers : 35 명
Funding period : Oct 19 2021 - Nov 18 2021 (30 days)
Created by : Goggas
An American's memoir of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising in S. Korea between citizens in support of democracy & the authoritarian regime.
킥스타터 : http://kck.st/3lnQINT
A Young American who joined Peace Corps Volunteer, to Make a Difference
After graduating from university, David was unsure about what he wanted to do with his life, but he knew for certain that whatever he did, he wanted his efforts to help make a positive change in the world. This led him to join the Peace Corps, a volunteer program run by the United States Government that contributes to international social and economic development. David was accepted into the Peace Corps and choose to go to South Korea to work for the Korean government’s tuberculosis program. After arriving in 1978, he immediately underwent training to learn the Korean language and culture. As he began his training, he was bestowed with a Korean name, Im Dae-oon, which was the name that he used throughout his time in Korea. He was assigned to serve as a tuberculosis worker in Yeongam, a town in Korea’s southwest, and as he learned more about Korea, he came to fall in love with the country’s food, scenery, and people.
On May 18, 1980, David was on his way home to Yeongam from another Peace Corps volunteer’s wedding ceremony when he arrived in Gwangju to transfer buses. As the bus pulled into the terminal, however, he could smell tear gas and immediately knew that something terrible was happening. Learning that a curfew had been imposed, preventing him from going home, David went downtown and encountered Tim Warnberg, a friend and fellow Peace Corps volunteer. Tim told him that a protest against martial law had occurred and that government troops were inflicting brutal violence against any young people seen in the streets. Assuming that Korean soldiers would not attack an American, Tim had courageously placed himself between the soldiers and their intended victims to prevent Koreans from getting seriously hurt.
Luckily, David was able to make it back to Yeongam, but he continued to worry for Tim and his Korean friends. In the following days he heard that the violence was getting worse, and then discovered that the phone lines to Gwangju had been cut. Rather than dissuade him, this convinced him to return to Gwangju, but as he set out for the city to check on his friends, he did not know he was walking into the turmoil of Korean history.
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