House of Sharing

Up until now while I have been delayed in my posts, I've at least tried to keep them in chronological order; today that stops. This is only because I'm very excited about what I did today and want to write about it while it's still fresh in my mind. 

Today I went to the House of Sharing. My friend invited me to come with her and while I knew it was about comfort women from WWII I didn't know much more. Comfort women were the women forcefully conscripted and kidnapped by the Japanese during WWII to serve in their military's brothel system that stretched across Asia. I hadn't heard a lot about them past knowing that there are weekly protests held by the survivors outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul. The House of Sharing is a combination museum and home for the survivors. There are five survivors currently living there.

Entrance of the House of Sharing. Bronze busts of the survivors who have passed away.

When we first went to the complex we watched a short film then went through the museum. The film was about Kim, Hak-Soon, the first Korean survivor to come out publicly and speak about what she had been through. She came forward in 1991. All these women are in their 80s and older now and they still go to protest at the Japanese Embassy every Wednesday. It is the longest Human Rights protest in history and they just celebrated their 1,000 protest - this has been happening for over 20 years. The protest because the Japanese government denies it's role in military sexual slavery (despite overwhelming testimony and proof) and refuses to compensate the survivors.

A scene using clay dolls of the Halmoni (survivors) protesting. The t.v. above shows past news coverage of the protests.

After watching the documentary we went through the museum. The conditions and hardships the women endured were difficult to fathom. They had to serve 10 to 30 men a day; they were raped, beaten, and killed. 90% of the comfort women were Korean and they were shipped all across Asia. Japan set up the system of comfort houses after the rape of Nanjing to prevent something of that scale from happening again. The system they set up though, required forcibly taking thousands of women to "work". They said it's estimated that between 50,000 and 200,000 women across Asia were taken. They were brought to countries they couldn't speak the language in, and kept in small rooms. Many were killed at the end of the war (if they survived that long) to prevent their story from getting out. The museum was fascinating and horrible.

Portraits of the Halmoni. The shadowed pictures represent women who have passed away or who, for various reasons, feel like they can not come forward.

One of the most moving parts of the day was after the museum when we got to meet some of the women. We sat on the floor as they chatted with our Korean-speaking guide and she translated. The one woman we talked to the most reminded me of my grandma. She was this little old woman but she was so feisty and kept talking politically about the Japanese. The guide told us to ask her questions but reminded us that she had been telling her story for over 20 years (most likely) and to ask other questions too. Some guys started asking her questions and we ended up talking about hiking and what she likes to grow in her garden. She just seemed so much like a grandmother.

When it was time for us to leave everyone would bow a little and say goodbye. I asked the guide if I could give the Halmoni (the term they use for the survivors, it means grandmother) a hug. I don't know why I felt like I really wanted to give her a hug but I thought if it was a weird request she would just say no. At first the Halmoni said she was too old and that a hug was not needed :) I told her she just reminded me of my grandmother and as I was turning to go she smiled at me, stood up, and gave me a hug. It made me really happy. They are amazing women and I feel honored to have met them.

If you're interested in reading more about the House of Sharing the website is http://www.houseofsharing.org/