Since DPRK’s borders closed in February 2020, IGNIS Community has been unable to return to Pyongyang and resume treatment for children with developmental disabilities. Although North Korean doctors have continued to treat pediatric patients to the best of their abilities, foreigners have not been able to contribute to the Pyongyang Spine Rehabilitation Center (PYSRC) through their medical expertise.

Now that the COVID pandemic is extending into a third year, IGNIS Community is taking advantage of our time out of country to prepare for the day that we are able to return to Pyongyang. IGNIS’s preparations have included compiling and editing professional textbooks and manuals for North Korean doctors.

One thing that we have realized throughout this pandemic is that we have to take advantage of every opportunity to engage with the people around us, right where we are at. Families raising children with developmental disabilities exist all around the world. We do not have to wait until we return to the DPRK to resume treatment for children with disabilities.

With this heart and intention, I launched a YouTube channel entitled, “Discovering Joy”. The purpose of this channel is to encourage and empower Korean parents raising children with a variety of developmental disabilities. As an educational therapist, I guide parents through specific activities that they can do at home that will enhance their child’s development and abilities.

Now that the YouTube channel has aired its 36th episode, something amazing has happened. IGNIS Community has begun live trainings for Korean parents in person! Through these trainings, Korean parents, in turn, will be able to use what they have learned to not only help their own children but to also empower other parents around them raising children with disabilities.

On Monday, March 7th, the first week of parent training became a huge success. After this initial seminar, mothers immediately went home and implemented what they learned with their children at home. Some parents even sent videos of their kids doing the exercises personally to us.

But what encouraged parents most was the fact that what they are learning in the South will be directly connected to what parents in the North will also learn. Through these seminars that train South Korean families with children who have disabilities, manuals not just for doctors but also for parents are being written. Including content from “Discovering Joy”, everything IGNIS Community does in South Korea will eventually be transferred to the North Korean context once the borders re-open. 

Our vision is that as we engage with children with disabilities here in South Korea, these programs can be used to bridge the divide between the North and the South. As Miroslav Volf stated, “Truth and justice are unavailable outside of the will to embrace the other” (pg. 29). For this reason, it is fitting that reconciliation within the Korean context start with embracing those largely excluded from society, that is by including individuals with disabilities. Indeed, it is through the weakest members of society that opportunities for reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula are opening up!