A Visual Guide to The Seed of Joy - Part 3

The story of The Seed of Joy continues.

Let's have a look at one of my favorite places in Korea, St. Lazarus Village, on the outskirts of the city of Anyang. It's where Joel Reynoso, Paul's best friend, lives. He's a Peace Corps volunteer in the leprosy (more properly, Hansen's Disease) program. Here's how it's described in the book:

The ‘Hanguk Nabyong Yonguwon’—the Korean Leprosy Institute—gleamed clean and white and block-like before the shaggy mountainside against which it nestled, serenely poised within a small horseshoe-shaped valley near the city of Anyang, about twenty-five kilometres south of Seoul.
A cluster of houses, pig farms, and small factory workshops flanking the KLI and its hospital comprised the ‘leprosy re-settlement village’ called St Lazarus Village. Patients from all parts of Korea came to the hospital to be diagnosed and treated and, if Catholic, to live in the village. At the hospital they received antibiotics to render them non-infectious and physical therapy to ease the discomfort of their deformities. In the village they relied on Father Lee and his chapel for spiritual comfort and on eight Daughters of Charity for daily care. All who came to live there knew that they would die there, but no one seemed to mind. They were lucky, they believed, to live out their lives in the village—debilitated but happy in a little paradise of a valley far removed from bitter years of ostracism on the outside. It was better to live and die peacefully among one’s fellows than to endure a short living death in the outer world.

This is the entrance to the Village. It's a walk of about a mile from here to the KLI, but buses weren't routed there and most of the time you couldn't get a taxi driver to enter unless you insisted strenuously and paid extra. (Because of all the lepers in there, you know.) In all but the worst weather, though, it was a pleasant walk for a vigorous 20-something volunteer.

The valley was ringed with lovely low mountains that sported purple azaleas in the springtime, tawny colors in autumn, and a dusting of snow in winter.

The KLI sat in the middle of the valley against one of the hills. 

The most debilitated patients lived in the upper Village, up the valley from the KLI. There they were cared for by a group of about a dozen Catholic nuns. Sister Constance, an American nun of whom I grew quite fond, is the model for the character Sister Miriam in The Seed of Joy.

The chapel served the spiritual needs of all the residents of the Village. Like Paul in the book, I attended Christmas Eve Mass there in 1979 -- a deeply moving experience.

The grounds had several pieces of religious sculpture: the Crucifixion, the Virgin Mary, and the first Korean priest, among others. They were painted bright white and at night they seemed to glow. Sometimes, walking around after dark, I forgot they were there -- and seeing them out of the corner of my eye they scared the living crap out of me.

And finally, here are some miscellaneous shots from around the valley and the Village.

Thanks for reading. Next time we'll continue the story with a trip to Chindo and other locales. 

Don't forget to buy your very own copy of The Seed of Joy and tell your friends about it! It's available in Kindle and iTunes editions.

A Visual Guide to The Seed of Joy - Part 2

Picking up where we left off in Part 1, this is Han Mi Jin, the main female character in The Seed of Joy. She's an English teacher in a middle school in Mokpo, and she forms a relationship with Paul while she gives him Korean lessons. She dies at the end of the story. (This is not a spoiler! We learn this in the very first sentence of the book.)

Mi Jin is active in the democracy movement at her old alma mater, Chonnan University in Kwangju. She makes a weekend trip to Kwangju to join a large group of students in a tussle with the riot police:

"The crowd turned slowly and moved en masse toward the main gate of the campus a short distance away. A group of students unfurled a ten-yard wide banner that read ‘DEATH TO THE YUSHIN CONSTITUTION!’. Singing a rhythmic song that urged the people to rise up and free themselves from tyranny, they marched a dozen abreast in neat rows. A long green line of police in riot gear waited for them just outside the gate. They were dressed in heavy green fatigues and held rectangular shields. Wire grille face plates and helmets that hung down behind, covering their necks, made them look like modernised Japanese samurai in battle gear. Their faces were obscured by gas masks."

Upon her return to Mokpo, she begins teaching Paul to speak Korean. Their lessons are held in a tabang, or tea room. As Koreans typically do not entertain any but their closest friends in their homes, the multitude of tabangs in Korea serve as meeting places for conversation or business. Most tabangs, like this one, are comfortable and slightly tacky. These days, a tabang is more likely to be called a cafe.

On one memorable evening in Mokpo, Paul and Mi Jin climb the stairs leading to the top of Mt. Yudal to enjoy the cool ocean breeze. There are several small pavilions along the way where you can stop. And the view is breathtaking.

Paul returns to Seoul. This is the Peace Corps office, located in the Kwanghwa Mun district. It's around the corner and down the main street from the US Embassy and the Capitol building.

On October 26, 1979, while Paul is in Seoul, President Pak Chong Hui is assassinated by the chief of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) and his bodyguards at a dinner party in Seoul. News of the event was suppressed until the following morning, after tanks had been set up around the city.

People gathered on street corners, listening to the radio for news about the investigation and any movement by the North Koreans. Luckily, North Korea chose not to misbehave during the crisis.

Within a few days of the assassination, the Capitol and the Kwanghwa Gate were hung with black and white bunting.

Masses of people flowed down the sidewalk ...

To pay their respects (or to appear to do so) at the shrine that had been set up in President Pak's honor.

The funeral was broadcast live throughout the country.

Finally, Paul and the other volunteers in Seoul were cleared to travel back to their homes down-country. This is the model for Paul's house in Mokpo. It's of a traditional design and has the classic tile roof with the raised corners. Nowadays these "hanok" houses are seen as cultural treasures and many of those that remain are highly prized.

The death of President Pak ushered in a period of heightened security throughout South Korea. In Mokpo, the roof of the train station served as a platform for a pair of .50 caliber machine guns. I didn't know what the government hoped to accomplish with those guns up there, but they sure made me nervous. Maybe that was the point.

Eventually, the presidential assassin, Kim Jae Kyu, went on trial. He reenacted the shots he fired at the president at the dinner party that ended badly. For the president. Kim was hanged not long after.

Thanks for reading. There's much more to come from the world of The Seed of Joy: a trip to Chindo, wintertime, and the long buildup to the Kwangju Uprising.

And remember: Buying a copy of the book and recommending it to your friends is good karma and may bring about world peace and prosperity. We'll never know unless you try, will we?