MY STORY

I was abandoned in a street in Seoul, S. Korea when I was one month old. On April 20th, 1967, I was taken to City Baby Home; an orphanage run by Holt International Children's Services. I spent several months in the orphanage, and then with a foster mother. On November 29th, 1967, When I was eight months old; I was on a plane bound for Seattle, Washington. A business man held me on the flight and handed me to my waiting parents in the Seattle/Tacoma International Airport.

This picture is of me when I arrived at City Baby Home. No name, just a number pinned to my little chest.



After I was given a physical (by Dr. Cho), and taken in by Holt, I was given the name "Kim, Chang-Hee" and a birth date was decided on as well. The sir name "Kim" came from the man running the orphanage at the time.

My first trip back to Korea was with my parents in 2000. Holt set-up a meeting for us with Dr. Byung-Kuk Cho. She was the head pediatrician at the orphanage back in 1967. It was an amazing link to my past. It was conveyed to my parents that I was probably Amer-Asian or half-Korean. My documents said I was a "Korean White Female."  I asked Dr. Cho what she thought? She looked right at me and without hesitation said, "you are full Korean." She explained how back then, they would say we were "white" or "fair skinned" in order to get us adopted.

Myself, my parents and Dr. Cho went to a tea house to sit and talk. All the time she touched me, hugged me, and told me I was one of her babies! which I very much felt like.

(my mother, Dr. Cho and our interpreter/guide Kee-Chol)

At the end of our visit, Dr. Cho gave me a small pair of silk shoes. She told me these were to symbolize the journey I made back to Korea and into her arms again. Dr. Cho is the "godmother of adopted children." She has since retired from her medical practice, but still volunteers with Holt to this day.

I am hopeful that during this trip, I will be reunited with Dr. Cho; and I hope to make her proud that I came back to volunteer at Ilsan Center.