Yesterday (September 30) was Orange Shirt Day in Canada, a time to remember the indigenous children who survived (and did not survive) the residential school experience in Canada. In Korea, it was also the first day of the three-day thanksgiving festival, Chuseok. While many other people in Korea were celebrating with their families, I was celebrating Chuseok with a few of my mission co-worker colleagues living here in Seoul, and I took advantage of the opportunity to tell them a little bit about the history of the residential school system in Canada. Usually when we get together we talk about the struggles in Korea or elsewhere in the world, and this gives me information and perspectives to relay back to people in Canada, but this time I found myself sharing information about Canada that my colleagues had very little awareness of. And it is only in recent times that we in Canada have become fully aware of the extent and impact of the residential schools: for over a century the C
John in Korea; The United Church of Canada and the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, in partnership with each other: for justice, peace, and reconciliation -- sharing in God's work of transformation -- in Korea, in Canada, and beyond . . .