Peace Corps couple recalls service at Korean mixed-race orphanage
Posted : 2023-11-11
Children smile together at St. Vincent Home for Amerasian Children in Incheon's Bupyeong District, sometime in 1979 or 1980.
Courtesy of Bow and Ann Seltzer
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Heartbreaking, heartwarming times at St. Vincent Home for Amerasian Children in 1979-80
By Jon Dunbar
It had been over 40 years since Bow and Ann Seltzer had last set foot in Korea. They were pretty sure the orphanage where they had volunteered was long gone, but they held out hope they would find some familiar traces in Incheon’s Bupyeong District of their 21-month posting here with the Peace Corps, from March 1979 to November 1980.
"Our understanding is that the orphanage closed in the mid-1980s," Ann wrote in a document for the Korea Foundation (KF) shared with The Korea Times. "We lived in the home of a Korean woman that worked at the orphanage named Elizabeth. She lived a couple of blocks away from the orphanage; it would be wonderful to see her if she is still alive. There was another Korean woman named Monica who worked at the home. She spoke very good English and she and I often went to the U.S. Embassy together to try to secure visas for the kids who had been adopted by families in the U.S."
Unfortunately, those two English names weren't enough to help KF track the women down. All the Seltzers had to go on was a photo of the muddy, unpaved street where St. Vincent Home for Amerasian Children once stood, housing children of mixed-race heritage who had been given up by their birth mothers.
A dirt road in Incheon's Bupyeong District in 1979 or 1980 / Courtesy of Bow and Ann Seltzer
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During their site visit, the Seltzers encountered an elderly woman who had lived in the area for 40 years, who told them that this particular area now housed a Hyundai factory. How did that make them feel, to know that the physical evidence of their service area in Korea had been erased? Maybe a bit sentimental, but also perhaps a sensation of a burden being lifted, as Korea was healing from the deep wounds of its past.
The couple also visited nearby Camp Market, a former U.S. Forces Korea installation that served primarily as a logistics depot. Much of the land has been returned to Korea in recent years, and part of it was reopened as a public park in 2020. When they found an old baseball diamond in one corner of the park, all the emotions came flooding back. This was where, over 40 years ago, they had occasionally had the opportunity to bring the Amerasian children of the orphanage on post for a game of baseball.
The Seltzers were back in Korea last month for a Peace Corps Revisit program hosted by KF. Peace Corps volunteers in Korea typically were posted as English teachers at middle schools or universities, or in health education or care, especially working on either tuberculosis control or with leprosy patients. None of the other volunteers had ever worked at an orphanage in Korea, and most were quite surprised that any of their colleagues had.
Children sit on tricycles at St. Vincent Home for Amerasian Children in Incheon's Bupyeong District in 1979 or 1980. Courtesy of Bow and Ann Seltzer
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In an informal introduction during the Revisit's orientation event on Oct. 22, the Seltzers thanked Jim Mayer, the country director for Peace Corps Korea from 1979 until the end of its mission here in 1981, for the unique opportunity.
"Regarding Ann and Bow — my memory is sketchy — basically the Peace Corps had never placed volunteers at an orphanage before, to my memory/understanding),"
Mayer, now in his early 80s but still going strong, told The Korea Times afterward. "At that time, Amerasians were not accepted in Korean society (strong prejudice against them). The Peace Corps wasn't all that keen in having two volunteers assigned to an Amerasian orphanage. I went to HQ to make my case of why I thought it was a good assignment. After some hemming and hawing, HQ signed off... and Ann and Bow did the rest. That's about all I recall."
K-48 group
Bow and Ann, who just celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary on Nov. 6, had been married just four months before moving to Korea.
Bow and Ann Seltzer pose in front of their home in Incheon's Bupyeong District in 1979 or 1980. Courtesy of Bow and Ann Seltzer
"I had wanted to join the Peace Corp since I was in high school," Bow said in a document shared with The Korea Times by KF. "I wanted to serve in the tropics and work with children. I was scheduled to leave for the Peace Corps in the Philippines when I met the woman I was to marry. She had also wanted to join the Peace Corps so I stepped back from the Philippine assignment, married Ann and together we applied for an assignment together! Four months after we married, we were sent to Korea with a group of other volunteers. "
Bow and Ann Seltzer pose with a child in Incheon's Bupyeong District sometime in 1979 or 1980. Courtesy of Bow and Ann Seltzer.
===
They were part of the K-48 group of Peace Corps volunteers, arriving in 1979. Their first six weeks here were spent in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province.
"Our six weeks in Chuncheon was the best," Bow said. "Our host family was so kind and wanted to please us. The mother had practiced making eggs and toast to serve us for breakfast. The first night in their home we wanted to have a bath since we had been traveling for 20 hours. They showed us to the bathroom, just off the living room, and there was already water in the tub. We got in the tub! We later learned the correct way to bathe: scoop water from the tub and pour over the body and onto the floor. We learned that the family had to drain all the remaining water after we had got in, wash the tub and then refill it with fresh water. Oops!"
After that, he said they did most of their bathing at bathhouses, which they learned to love, especially during winter. "At first the ladies stared at me and poked at my skin, but eventually they welcomed me to their bathing world," Ann said.
Their time in Chuncheon was spent with language training, which was geared toward preparing them for work at a tuberculosis clinic, their initial assignment in Korea.
"The one Korean phrase that still leaps to my mind if we meet a Korean is 'please cough up sputum into this cup.' I always catch myself before I let it out of my mouth. It is not a useful phrase for general conversation!" Ann said.
But in their seventh or eighth week of training, before they could set foot in a TB clinic, they got the new assignment at St. Vincent.
"We were thrilled to be reassigned to the orphanage," Ann said. "These children were born into a world that did not want them and it was our honor to meet the mothers that gave up their children for a better world. At the time, Korea was a patriarchal society. A mixed-race child with a non-Korean father simply would never be accepted into Korean society."
As to what exactly was expected of the American couple, either according to the needs of the orphanage or a Peace Corps mission objective, neither Mayer nor the Seltzers could remember any specifics.
"I don't believe there was a real 'vision' in assigning them to St. Vincent," Mayer clarified. "I think it was more a matter of wanting to find a proper fit for their service. To my memory it was intended for them to simply provide help — and I imagine English language classes — not necessarily preparing the orphans for transition to a new home (abroad) but help to better prepare them for life."
They may not have set out with a list of deliverables to accomplish, but just being present could reasonably be expected have made a difference in the children's lives.
"Perhaps as a young married couple we also served as an example of some kind of normalcy in a husband/wife relationship, but maybe that didn’t matter at all," Bow said. "I just recall we did the best we could in everything we tried to accomplish as part of this large, thrown-together family that was constantly losing and gaining members."
Children sit around a picnic table at St. Vincent Home for Amerasian Children in Incheon's Bupyeong District in 1979 or 1980. Courtesy of Bow and Ann Seltzer
But they provided more than just a domestic presence.
They also worked with the U.S. government in an effort to change the immigration status of these children from "non-preferred" to "preferred." The law was later changed in 1982 to make it possible for Amerasian children to attain U.S. citizenship. "One of our kids from the orphanage was at President Reagan's side when he signed the bill into law," Ann added.
Ann admitted that she and Bow weren't great at speaking Korean, despite the six weeks spent preparing in Chuncheon.
Bow Seltzer teaches an English class for children from St. Vincent Home for Amerasian Children in Incheon's Bupyeong District in 1979 or 1980. Courtesy of Bow and Ann Seltzer
"At the orphanage, the kids gradually learned our Koreanglish," she said. "Supposedly we spoke in banmal but even that distinction is generous. Really it was a combination of Korean and English mashed together. The kids at the orphanage quickly learned our 'language.' They understood what we said with lots of giggles and pantomime. As new children were brought to the orphanage, the kids who were there 'translated' what we were saying. Gradually the new kids learned our 'language' and eventually translated for the next group of kids. It was always sweet to watch them gently explain what the heck we were saying."
Ann Seltzer works in the kitchen at her home in Incheon's Bupyeong District sometime in 1979 or 1980. Courtesy of Bow and Ann Seltzer
===
Ann said working at the orphanage gave her insights into Korean daily life.
"We all participated making kimchi (yum), scrambling for the hard rice at the bottom of the pot and serving ramen to 30 kids," she said. "I loved shopping for meat and vegetables in the market and helping to cook for a huge household."
Pigpen
"Working at St. Vincent Home for Amerasians meant doing many things through the course of a day," Bow said. "But, one day was different."
On that day, he was tasked with riding a bus to the Busan area, where he would pick up an 18-month-old girl who was being given up for adoption by her young Korean mother. The father was a Black American soldier who had returned to the U.S.
"It was a cultural fact that mixed-race kids would have a difficult life in Korea," Bow said. "This was especially true for Black/Korean children."
He recalled the handoff being extremely difficult and emotional for the mother, the child and for himself.
"The child and I boarded the bus for a six-hour ride north. I was a young white American with an inconsolable mixed-race little girl," he said.
Halfway back to Incheon, he was desperate for a pit stop.
"I carried the child with me to the front of the bus and begged the bus driver to stop," he said. "It took sign language and pantomime but eventually he understood my request and pulled over. I handed him the child and he refused to hold her. I handed her to several others who all refused to help me. Finally, I just set her in someone's lap and dashed out of the bus. I stood as close as I could to the bus thinking I could have some privacy and then I realized the bus was leaning towards me. Everyone on the bus moved to that side to watch me!"
After he finished, he returned to the bus and took the girl back to their seat at the back.
"I don't remember much more about that adventure, but I certainly grew to love that sweet child until she left the orphanage for her new life and family in the U.S.," he said. "Sadly, I don't remember her real name, but my wife and I affectionately called her Pigpen because she was happiest playing in the dirt!"
A child plays on a mound of dirt in a road somewhere in Incheon's Bupyeong District, in 1979 or 1980. Courtesy of Bow and Ann Seltzer
Made in Korea
In their time at the orphanage, they had many farewells with the children once they were placed with adoptive families. Children that were adopted to the U.S. would have to be flown to their new families accompanied by a guardian, usually another American headed back to the U.S.
This was a widespread practice at the time, with Americans heading stateside being offered discounts on their flight tickets in exchange for accompanying the children and looking after them on the flight. The Seltzers saw many children from their orphanage depart with American guardians headed overseas to meet their new adoptive families.
When it was the the Seltzers' time to leave Korea, they also traveled with children from other orphanages. They accompanied 12 children who were being sent to their new adoptive families waiting on the other side of the ocean.
Additionally, Ann was eight months pregnant at the time of their departure. "Somewhere we have a photo of our daughter wearing a T-shirt that says 'Made in Korea,'" she said.
Children play on a jungle gym at St. Vincent's Home for Amerasian Children in Incheon's Bupyeong District in 1979 or 1980. Courtesy of Bow and Ann Seltzer
Whenever possible, the Seltzers tried to provide children being adopted overseas with as much information about their histories as they could. This information was accepted with gratitude by the adopting families in all cases except one memorable time, in which a family refused the information, not wanting their adopted child to have anything to do with the homeland that had cast them out.
Children play basketball at St. Vincent Home for Amerasian Children in Incheon's Bupyeong District in 1979 or 1980. Courtesy of Bow and Ann Seltzer
===
K-48 group
Bow and Ann, who just celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary on Nov. 6, had been married just four months before moving to Korea.
Bow and Ann Seltzer pose in front of their home in Incheon's Bupyeong District in 1979 or 1980. Courtesy of Bow and Ann Seltzer
"I had wanted to join the Peace Corp since I was in high school," Bow said in a document shared with The Korea Times by KF. "I wanted to serve in the tropics and work with children. I was scheduled to leave for the Peace Corps in the Philippines when I met the woman I was to marry. She had also wanted to join the Peace Corps so I stepped back from the Philippine assignment, married Ann and together we applied for an assignment together! Four months after we married, we were sent to Korea with a group of other volunteers. "
Bow and Ann Seltzer pose with a child in Incheon's Bupyeong District sometime in 1979 or 1980. Courtesy of Bow and Ann Seltzer.
===
They were part of the K-48 group of Peace Corps volunteers, arriving in 1979. Their first six weeks here were spent in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province.
"Our six weeks in Chuncheon was the best," Bow said. "Our host family was so kind and wanted to please us. The mother had practiced making eggs and toast to serve us for breakfast. The first night in their home we wanted to have a bath since we had been traveling for 20 hours. They showed us to the bathroom, just off the living room, and there was already water in the tub. We got in the tub! We later learned the correct way to bathe: scoop water from the tub and pour over the body and onto the floor. We learned that the family had to drain all the remaining water after we had got in, wash the tub and then refill it with fresh water. Oops!"
After that, he said they did most of their bathing at bathhouses, which they learned to love, especially during winter. "At first the ladies stared at me and poked at my skin, but eventually they welcomed me to their bathing world," Ann said.
Their time in Chuncheon was spent with language training, which was geared toward preparing them for work at a tuberculosis clinic, their initial assignment in Korea.
"The one Korean phrase that still leaps to my mind if we meet a Korean is 'please cough up sputum into this cup.' I always catch myself before I let it out of my mouth. It is not a useful phrase for general conversation!" Ann said.
But in their seventh or eighth week of training, before they could set foot in a TB clinic, they got the new assignment at St. Vincent.
"We were thrilled to be reassigned to the orphanage," Ann said. "These children were born into a world that did not want them and it was our honor to meet the mothers that gave up their children for a better world. At the time, Korea was a patriarchal society. A mixed-race child with a non-Korean father simply would never be accepted into Korean society."
As to what exactly was expected of the American couple, either according to the needs of the orphanage or a Peace Corps mission objective, neither Mayer nor the Seltzers could remember any specifics.
"I don't believe there was a real 'vision' in assigning them to St. Vincent," Mayer clarified. "I think it was more a matter of wanting to find a proper fit for their service. To my memory it was intended for them to simply provide help — and I imagine English language classes — not necessarily preparing the orphans for transition to a new home (abroad) but help to better prepare them for life."
They may not have set out with a list of deliverables to accomplish, but just being present could reasonably be expected have made a difference in the children's lives.
"Perhaps as a young married couple we also served as an example of some kind of normalcy in a husband/wife relationship, but maybe that didn’t matter at all," Bow said. "I just recall we did the best we could in everything we tried to accomplish as part of this large, thrown-together family that was constantly losing and gaining members."
Children sit around a picnic table at St. Vincent Home for Amerasian Children in Incheon's Bupyeong District in 1979 or 1980. Courtesy of Bow and Ann Seltzer
But they provided more than just a domestic presence.
They also worked with the U.S. government in an effort to change the immigration status of these children from "non-preferred" to "preferred." The law was later changed in 1982 to make it possible for Amerasian children to attain U.S. citizenship. "One of our kids from the orphanage was at President Reagan's side when he signed the bill into law," Ann added.
Ann admitted that she and Bow weren't great at speaking Korean, despite the six weeks spent preparing in Chuncheon.
Bow Seltzer teaches an English class for children from St. Vincent Home for Amerasian Children in Incheon's Bupyeong District in 1979 or 1980. Courtesy of Bow and Ann Seltzer
"At the orphanage, the kids gradually learned our Koreanglish," she said. "Supposedly we spoke in banmal but even that distinction is generous. Really it was a combination of Korean and English mashed together. The kids at the orphanage quickly learned our 'language.' They understood what we said with lots of giggles and pantomime. As new children were brought to the orphanage, the kids who were there 'translated' what we were saying. Gradually the new kids learned our 'language' and eventually translated for the next group of kids. It was always sweet to watch them gently explain what the heck we were saying."
Ann Seltzer works in the kitchen at her home in Incheon's Bupyeong District sometime in 1979 or 1980. Courtesy of Bow and Ann Seltzer
===
Ann said working at the orphanage gave her insights into Korean daily life.
"We all participated making kimchi (yum), scrambling for the hard rice at the bottom of the pot and serving ramen to 30 kids," she said. "I loved shopping for meat and vegetables in the market and helping to cook for a huge household."
Pigpen
"Working at St. Vincent Home for Amerasians meant doing many things through the course of a day," Bow said. "But, one day was different."
On that day, he was tasked with riding a bus to the Busan area, where he would pick up an 18-month-old girl who was being given up for adoption by her young Korean mother. The father was a Black American soldier who had returned to the U.S.
"It was a cultural fact that mixed-race kids would have a difficult life in Korea," Bow said. "This was especially true for Black/Korean children."
He recalled the handoff being extremely difficult and emotional for the mother, the child and for himself.
"The child and I boarded the bus for a six-hour ride north. I was a young white American with an inconsolable mixed-race little girl," he said.
Halfway back to Incheon, he was desperate for a pit stop.
"I carried the child with me to the front of the bus and begged the bus driver to stop," he said. "It took sign language and pantomime but eventually he understood my request and pulled over. I handed him the child and he refused to hold her. I handed her to several others who all refused to help me. Finally, I just set her in someone's lap and dashed out of the bus. I stood as close as I could to the bus thinking I could have some privacy and then I realized the bus was leaning towards me. Everyone on the bus moved to that side to watch me!"
After he finished, he returned to the bus and took the girl back to their seat at the back.
"I don't remember much more about that adventure, but I certainly grew to love that sweet child until she left the orphanage for her new life and family in the U.S.," he said. "Sadly, I don't remember her real name, but my wife and I affectionately called her Pigpen because she was happiest playing in the dirt!"
A child plays on a mound of dirt in a road somewhere in Incheon's Bupyeong District, in 1979 or 1980. Courtesy of Bow and Ann Seltzer
Made in Korea
In their time at the orphanage, they had many farewells with the children once they were placed with adoptive families. Children that were adopted to the U.S. would have to be flown to their new families accompanied by a guardian, usually another American headed back to the U.S.
This was a widespread practice at the time, with Americans heading stateside being offered discounts on their flight tickets in exchange for accompanying the children and looking after them on the flight. The Seltzers saw many children from their orphanage depart with American guardians headed overseas to meet their new adoptive families.
When it was the the Seltzers' time to leave Korea, they also traveled with children from other orphanages. They accompanied 12 children who were being sent to their new adoptive families waiting on the other side of the ocean.
Additionally, Ann was eight months pregnant at the time of their departure. "Somewhere we have a photo of our daughter wearing a T-shirt that says 'Made in Korea,'" she said.
Children play on a jungle gym at St. Vincent's Home for Amerasian Children in Incheon's Bupyeong District in 1979 or 1980. Courtesy of Bow and Ann Seltzer
Whenever possible, the Seltzers tried to provide children being adopted overseas with as much information about their histories as they could. This information was accepted with gratitude by the adopting families in all cases except one memorable time, in which a family refused the information, not wanting their adopted child to have anything to do with the homeland that had cast them out.
Children play basketball at St. Vincent Home for Amerasian Children in Incheon's Bupyeong District in 1979 or 1980. Courtesy of Bow and Ann Seltzer
===
After over 40 years have passed, the kids at St. Vincent are still in the Seltzers' hearts — and many remain in their lives.
"These kids now are in their 50s and have children of their own," Ann said. She and her husband have even attended the weddings of some of the kids. She said one of the children grew up to become a professor at Harvard University.
"I am grateful for the opportunity to have served in Korea," Ann said.
"We are so grateful for the time we spent in Korea," Bow added.
As far as they know, nobody else from the Peace Corps was ever assigned to St. Vincent again after them.
