JC
The Korea Times reports on Brenda Sanders, a mixed teacher who returns to Korea to give back….in the form of financial support and hair straightener.

A daughter of an African-American serviceman stationed in Pyongtaek and a Korean mother, Sanders lost contact with her father shortly after she entered elementary school, and lived in difficult conditions afterwards on the little money her mother could provide to support them. Fortunately, mother and daughter received financial backing from Pearl S. Buck International Korea (PSBIK), a nonprofit organization established to help biracial children living in Korea.

Last November, Sanders happened to come across a newspaper article on Kang Min-jung, a 17-year-old biracial high school student living in Songtan, Kyonggi Province, and decided that it was her turn to return the love and support she received. “I was astounded that biracial kids in Korea are still grappling with acute poverty and social prejudice. I assumed that they would be living better lives than mine 25 years back,” she said.

Since December last year, Sanders has sent an average of $700 a month, including contributions from Korean American church members, to support five kids including Min-jung.

Yesterday, Min-jung and Sanders finally got to meet each other, and it was the protege who first burst into tears. “I am just so happy that I’ve finally met her, and I am so thankful for her,” she said when asked why she was crying.

“I hope we could continue the relationship like that of an aunt and a niece - after all, don’t we look alike?” Sanders said. Sanders also handed a number of gifts to Min-jung, most of them hair-care products for straightening hair. In one of her letters to Min-jung, Sanders wrote, “Don’t let anybody put you down.” Biracial kids born of an American father and a Korean mother are the responsibility of both Korea and the U.S., but they are neglected to such a degree that many of them become “lost,” she said.