[FRIENDS OF KOREA] How one Peace Corps Volunteer helped deaf Koreans find their voice
As I trudged across Sinchon Rotary and up the steep walkway to Severance Hospital, I kept repeating to myself a phrase from a childhood story about a train engine: “I think I can, I think I can.” It was a bitter cold winter morning in 1969. Today was the day that I was to come to the hospital and show the doctors in the ear, nose and throat section of the hospital that I could, indeed, get a deaf…
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On a bitter cold morning in 1969, a 23-year-old Peace Corps Volunteer found herself at the door of Severance Hospital in Korea, determined to help deaf children find their voice. The Volunteer, fresh off her arrival in Korea, had caught the attention of Peace Corps Korea Director Kevin O Donnell due to her background as a speech therapist for the deaf.
At the time, Korea lacked a dedicated speech pathology center. George Worth, an American missionary in Korea, had introduced her to staff at both Seoul National University Hospital and Severance Hospital. These two hospitals were eager to establish a program but needed proof of its feasibility, so they invited her back the next day, with a deaf child in tow, to demonstrate her abilities.
Armed with unwavering confidence, the Volunteer stepped into the audiology center, ready to put her skills to the test.
Written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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- [FRIENDS OF KOREA] An American teenager in Seoul in 1967 koreatimes.co.kr
