Christ told his disciples that, "You will always have the poor among you." (Matthew 26:11). In the most powerful and wealthy countries on earth there are still poor people and there are still homeless people. In the United States there are millions of people who experience homelessness year after year. I spent time with people who experienced homelessness in the states and was able to get a good idea of the circumstances that lead to homelessness and the problems assoiciated with homelessness. Now I am half way around the world in the very modern country of South Korea and the prevelance to homelessness is very visible to anyone who keeps their eyes open.
South Korea has the third largest economy in Asia behind China and Japan. They have very high standards for education and have a high standard of living. And they too like the United States face the ever percistant problem of poverty and homelessness amongst members of their society. And in both countries the appearence of the homeless people are about the same. Cardboard beds, dirty clothes, and alcohol seem to be a commonality between homeless people in the U.S. and homeless people here in South Korea. Even after volunteering in a soup kitchen here there seemed to be only similarities between the homeless people of South Korea and the homeless people of the United States. But the more Issac and I looked into the situation here there started to become more and more disconnects between the causes of homelessness and even the way we we approach the situation has to be different. I want to talk about the differences between the two countries but first I want to mention some of the similarities.
Similarities
The things that I have come to find out that are similar are that the homeless people are mostly male (I haven's seen any homeless women in South Korea), they are mostly over the age of fourty, they tend to find a place to stay and congregate there, and they tend to have a very hard time finding jobs. Because of their age, their appearence, and their background, most homeless people have a very hard time finding jobs. There are a lot of people who become homeless because of a disability that leads to them not being able to find a job that leads to homelessness. I would say that these people are in the toughest situation because they are affected by circumstances that outside their controll. There are also a lot of people who failed at buisness and now there are simply not enough jobs to go around. And if there are jobs they are taken by younger, cleaner looking, and more 'educated' people. Education plays a big role in poverty and wealth. People with less of an education are less likely to have higher paying jobs or find any type of work. Another similarity is that homeless people deal with the pain of being homeless through drinking. It is a very rough situation to be in and one that many of them would like to forget. Alcohol is a way for them to deal with the pain and to forget their situation. These are things that I have found to be similar between the two countries. But I have found many important differences as well in the circumstances surrounding homelessness and they way Issac and I are able to help.
Differences in Situations
When I talk about some of these differences between the two different countries I am trying to be as unbiased as possible. I am trying to make an accurate assessment of the two different homeless situations so please bear with me. The first issue I want to talk about is that of drugs. The United States consumes 70% of the world's drugs. I have encountered many people in the U.S. who have been directly impacted by drugs and they have said that drugs mostly led them to a life of homelessness. It is a very big problem in cities and a large reason there are many people that live in the streets, work in the streets, and will unfortunately die in the streets. South Korea does not have a very large drug problem at all. Drugs are only affordable to the very rich and it is normally a celeberty getting caught and not people living in the streets. They also do not have guns that add to the problem. Because the country is so small it is able to protect it's boarders very well against illegal gun and drug trading. Both of these things lead to gang violence and can lead to life on the streets as a homeless person.
In South Korea most of the homeless people here become homeless purely because of economic situations. Some of them tried to start a buisness that failed or lost work for some reason. Some of the men are older and used to work construction but are now restricted due to their age or physical condition. I know that there are people like this in the United States but I think it is a larger issue here. The country is very densly populated and there is a more competative atmosphere for jobs. Also a lot of employers here want to hire good looking young workers to make their buisness a better environment. Think of it like an airline, they will want to hire the more attractive flight attendance because it is shown to get more buisness. I don't think that this is right but I would have to agree that this is the way it is and this tends to not favor homeless people. Jobs are hard to find anyway let along trying to find one after living on the street and not having a place to stay.
Differences in Helping
These are some of the differences between the situations that lead to homelessness and the causes. So in response to different situations that lead to homelessness there is a difference in the way that homelessness is handled. In the United States there are many programs set up to feed homeless people, help them find jobs, and give them temporary housing. Most of these services are run by private organizations that are supported by local churches, government aid, or other sources but they are mostly private non-profite organizations. The United States government is involved by providing services like welfare and public housing projects. They also aim at helping schools in impoverished areas but don't seem to get personally involved in helping homeless people. In South Korea though, the majority of aid comes from government shelters. The shelters are funded mostly by the government but are run like non-profit organizations in the United States. There are about 40 shelters/soup kithcens that provide food, housing, job searches, and health care. So the major difference is private help verses governmental aid. But South Korea has an added obstacle when trying to help homeless people. Every person in South Korea has a 'social security' number, more like a government issued I.D, that is needed for pretty much everything; getting a job, getting housing, buying a cell phone, accessing wifi, etc. And this social security number is based apon residency. So obviously the issue is that homeless people do not have any residency and therefore do not have a social security number anymore to help them find jobs and break the cycle of homelessness. There is also a problem with the homeless people that still have a social security number getting their number stolen and used by a con artists, putting them in a bad situation. So because of this social security number it is hard for private organizations to help homeless people because they need the government to help them get a number. This affects the way that homeless people recieve help in breaking the cycle of homelessness from what I have been hearing it seems hard to get a social security number for a homeless person. I don't want to go too much farther on this because I am not a social worker or specialist and can only give a description on what I am observing and hearing. But another thing that Issac and I have observed is the reaction of the homeless people to general acts of kindness.
Differences in Responses
I would describe our generous acts of kindness as taking a homeless person out for a meal. We have taken three different homeless men out for a nice dinner near Seoul Station. We have also taken numerous amounts of homeless people out for dinner in Harrisburg and there has been a very clear difference in the way people respond. In the United States the reaction was mostly of gratitude and thanks. People would always say thank you and show a great deal of appraciation or say something like, 'you didn't have to do that.' In South Korea though the people respond with more guilt and appologize for taking up our time. Even though we would invite them along they were hesitant to go into restaurantes saying that they smell too bad. Issac has seen one of the homeless men two or three times after we took him out for a good meal and he apologized to Issac everytime saying that he was sorry he took up our time and money. Issac always told him it was okay and that we wanted to do it for him. It just seems like the self-esteem is completely different. In South Korea homeless people look down on themselves and see themselves as a burden and apologize. They seem sorry other people have to help them. I am not sure why this is but I think it is mostly the culture and a lot of people do look down upon homeless people. You can see evidence of this being a cultural thing after the 2007 incident where South Korean missionaries were taken hostage in Afganistan. After they were rescued they apologized greatly for the trouble they caused the nation and there was more apology than relief. I encourage you to read about that situation if you are unaware of it. But on the other hand in the United States homeless people seem to still have their self-esteem and some think of themselves very highly. In the United States we have met some people fighting for rights and demanding people help them more. I can't say which reaction is the right one but I can see a clear difference. When we were in Toronto, Canada we noticed that homeless people would sleep in the middle of the sidewalk as if they didn't care they were intefereing with foot traffic. I don't know what exactly they were thinking but it also didn't seem like any pedestrains walking by seemed to mind. It may not even be self-esteem but the way homeless people look at themselves and society are much different between the far east and far west. One issue that Issac and I have delt with here is bridging the gap between older people and younger people. In the United States it is very common to have a conversation with someone twenty or thirty years older than you are. So when we go into Harrisburg on Friday nights there is no problem stricking up a conversation with a homeless man in his fifties or sixties and having a good conversation while enjoying a pizza. The culture in South Korea is different. It is very rare and even odd for a younger person and an older person to have a long conversation or even speak at all. It is normally an older person talks to a younger person first. But when we try and take someone out for a nice meal or start a conversation it is very hard. The windows of communication are not fully open but only cracked a little bit to let a slight breeze of conversation pass through. It seems like only small talk and us asking questions and only getting a short reply. This is something that we are trying to figure out how to cross the boundaries and reach out to those who are older than us, we may just have to show them our love through our actions much more than through our conversations.
I hope this gives a good idea about the similarities and differences that we have observed. And I want to remind you that I am not an expert by any means. What I talked about here is from talking with homeless people, talking with people who work with homeless people, and from observations we have made while we are serving.
God Bless,
Andy Breighner
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