We have a new site at www.houseofsharing.org! Please visit for the latest info about upcoming visits, film screenings, and other events.
Please email us at sharinghouse -@- gmail.com to get on our email list so we can alert you when we are visiting Sharing House.
News articles about the ‘comfort women’ issue will be posted on this blog here at –Comfort Women News–
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The House of Sharing (www.nanum.org) is a safe house for former Korean “Comfort Women” (women who were forced into sexual slavery during WWII under Japanese military rule). Until 2006, tours had only been available in Japanese or Korean, but now a group of international volunteers runs a visit every month in order to make this amazing place accessible to English speakers.
If you join us on a visit, you can expect to watch a short documentary about one of the halmonis* and walk through the history museum on a semi-guided tour. Depending on the health of the halmonis and their availability, visitors might also get to listen to one of the halmonis speak about her experiences. Please understand that they are quite frail — fewer and fewer halmonis are able to give testimonies on a regular basis but are often happy to chat with and otherwise meet visitors. *(halmoni means grandmother in Korean and is the preferred and respectful term used when referring to the survivors, who are in their 70s and 80s.)
We are not professional historians but simply regular people like you, who thought that it was extremely important to bring as many people as possible to Sharing House to meet the halmonis. Many people are moved to write after meeting the halmonis; one woman published her thoughts as an article for the JoongAng Daily. You can read volunteers’ impression of their visit to Sharing House here and here.
What responsibility do we have to survivors?… Do we listen to history? The volunteer organizers of what hopes to be a monthly visit to the House of Sharing for English speakers in Korea offered this disclaimer: We are not experts, we are not historians, we are not tour guides. But we are here to educate ourselves together.
Maria wrote this after her first visit in March 2006:
As I was translating halmoni’s testimony, it was hard for me to continue… Words were glued to my throat as I was trying to take in the enormity of her story and trying to interpret it for others. How can you possibly translate the million feelings passing through her mind during the brief pauses and tears? How can you translate the unsaid?
… The fact that us human beings can commit the most atrocious things possible to another human being is appalling… But we also possess the power to speak the truth and share our sufferings with others. As human beings, we are also able to shed tears for a complete stranger. In that instant, we are not strangers anymore: Halmoni is our loving grandma, and we are her beloved grandsons and granddaughters that she could never have.
Please contact us at sharinghouse -@- gmail.com with any questions. We are also always looking for help in publicizing and organizing these visits, so please don’t be shy if you have the time to help out!
- The volunteers, Andrea, Angela, Annie, Dan, Han, Heather, Joh, Juwan, Jyoung-Ah, Malcolm, Maria, Sanghyun, Stacey and Steve
Where to meet? Meet at inside Gangbyeon Station at Exit #1 (Subway Line #2) at 10am (the museum is a 40 minute bus ride on Bus 1113 or Bus 1113-1 from there). Please be on time so you don’t make others wait for you!
How long will the visit take? We return to Gangbyeon at around 4pm.
What should I bring? Please pack a lunch as there is no place to buy food. You will also need to bring about 8,000 won (small bills please, the buses do not accept T-money cards!) for roundtrip transportation fare (using public buses and group taxi). We ask you to donate to the Sharing House as much as you are inspired to, no minimum and no maximum. Please do keep in mind that the cost of museum entrance and a comprehensive English language booklet on the history of comfort women is normally 8,000 won. Additional donations are always welcome! There is a small souvenir/bookshop located in the museum. If you are interested in buying postcards, books, etc, please bring some extra money with that in mind.
What do I need to do? RSVP required. First come first serve basis, capped at 35 people per visit. Email your name and cell phone number to sharinghouse -@- gmail.com.
May 18, 2007 at 2:27 pm
im very interested in learning more about the sharing house. please call me as soon as possible. my telephone number is 010-726-49498.
i would like to attend the on may 19. Is it possible to meet at the subway and attend if space is open?
thank you
candy
June 2, 2007 at 8:58 am
i am interested in going to the June 17th visit to the sharing house! i already emailed sharinghouse@gmail.com my number, and i’m hoping to get a response soon. thank you!
August 20, 2007 at 7:50 pm
Dear Sharing House,
Thank you for an excellent trip, it was a truly valuable experience. Stay in touch.
Best wishes to all of you,
Louise
October 27, 2007 at 1:08 am
Hi,
I’m interested in your Nov. 18th visit. Can you email me more informaton at littlelisaswings at gmail (dot) com?
Lisa
November 18, 2007 at 11:36 am
Hi,
Thanks for hosting us today at the Sharing House. I’m the Korea Herald copy editor and writer who will write a story about the facility. Can you tell me where the woman came from whose videotaped testimony we watched today, in lieu of an in-person testimony? Her name, I think, is Moon Pil Gi. I didn’t find a profile of her on your website. I plan to write this story soon.
Thanks from Keith Fitzgerald in Ilsan
May 4, 2008 at 11:40 am
I am very interested in going to the Sharing House on 17th May. I have a phone in my apartment and that is: 02 9650806
So mnay thanks
May 21, 2008 at 8:29 am
I’m very interested in visiting on June 28, 2008. After attending “Hotel Splendid,” I can’t help but be moved, and I want to use the remaining months left in Korea to help volunteer. Cell phone #: 02-5805-7665.
June 27, 2008 at 8:11 am
Hello,
I am a graduate student from Taiwan, and I am going to visit South Korea from 6/29 to 7/7.
I desperately hope that I can pay a visit to the house of sharing, but I really don’t know how to get there. I have never been to Korea and the information Nanum provides is still confusing; I can’t read Korean and I just can’t figure out how to get to the house of sharing. My scheduled date to visit the house is 7/4. I wonder if any of you could give me specific information such as where to take the bus and which stop to get off the bus. I tried to add your email to my contacts, but it just didn’t work. So I leave a message here. I wish you could do me a favor, please. Many many thanks.
August 19, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Hello, my name is Maria Suarez and I am a journalist in Costa Rica whoworked with Yayori Matzui in the past and also helped organize the Women Tribunal in viena where Kim Boc Dong testified.
Now I am involved in a Spanish theatre production and would like to have permission touse the drawings of the women during II WW for the show. Please help!
Maria Suarez at maria2003@racsa.co.cr
September 1, 2008 at 4:19 am
Women around thee world should make it their moral responsibilty to visit this place and support these women! Excellent website and work.
Thanks,
Marga Jann, RIBA, AIA, NCARB
Principal, Poetic License / http://www.PoeticLicenseIntl.com
Adjunct Associate Professor, U. Hawai’i D. Arch. Program
Visiting Professor, Duksung University
Suyu-4 dong, 572-11 / A-dong 302
Gangbuk-gu, Seoul, Korea 142-073
Tel: 82-2-901-8428 (off) / 010-7265-8428 (mobile)
http://www.duksung.ac.kr/
서울시 강북구 수유 4동 572-11
덕성여대 외국인 사택
November 30, 2008 at 9:22 am
My visit to the House of Sharing was: empowering and educational. We need to continue to educate ourselves so that sexual slavery (throughout the world) can cease. We should not only educate ourselves but we should act against sexual slavery and abuse wherever we encounter it. As Yi Ok-seon halmoni said to us on 29 Nov 08. “….. you need to educate yourselves and be the foundation in your nations so that you can be strong to fight this (sexual slavery) wherever you find it….”
The halmoni makes me proud to spell my name W-O-M-A-N
P.Alexander
December 26, 2008 at 10:40 am
Hi there I have just found your site and would like to know and learn more. I see you do tours and I have missed December’s. Do you have any plans to do more tours for 2009. If so please let me know my email is
catekiwi@yahoo.com
Thanks and take care
C
April 14, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Да, похоже что в действительности – так оно и есть. P.S. Сайт, кстати, у вас прикольно сверстан
April 25, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Отличный пост, прочитав несколько статей на эту тему понял, что всё таки не посмотрел с другой стороны, а пост как-то очень заинтересовал.
April 27, 2009 at 1:34 am
Я в принципе, мало, что смыслю в этм посте, но постараюсь все таки понять.
April 27, 2009 at 12:59 pm
А Вы не задумывались о том, чтобы параллельно завести еще один блог, на смежную тему? У Вас неплохо получается
May 1, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Огромное вам человеческое спасибо, очень актуальная заметка.
May 3, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Я в принципе, мало, что смыслю в этм посте, но постараюсь все таки понять.
May 8, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Классная статья, кстати автору хочу предложить установить от яндекс.денег фишку на сайт “Дай рубль”. Я бы дал, так сказать на поддержание.
May 10, 2009 at 7:00 pm
У моего друга Юрий точно такой же почти
May 20, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Outstanding info.. i will come back again=)
May 21, 2009 at 9:20 am
Офигеть просто! Все, блин, всё знают, кроме меня
May 21, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Да,aleks,побороть лень, действительно иногда очень сложно..
May 22, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Нет,по настоящиму улыбнул 8 пункт,просто представил такую ситуацию ))).
May 23, 2009 at 7:03 am
Очень хороший пост! Спасибо за проделанную работу!
May 23, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Даже и не докопаешься.
May 24, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Ой, благодарю
May 24, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Отличная подборка! Но мен больше всего понравились
здесь видел ет gamebulletin.ru
May 26, 2009 at 4:52 am
Не понимаю причину такого ажиотажа. Ничего нового и мнения разные.
September 9, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Основная задача Яндекса — давать ответы на вопросы пользователей!
September 28, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Привет. Интересует покупка небольшого рекламного блока в шапке сайте.
Если немного денежек интересует – пиши на webmaster(a)eqdevils.ru, пожалуйста.