'Great Light' and The City of Light 한빛고, 빛고을

The English-speaking science teacher remembers the date I arrived this year - April 25. The students were just finishing up their midterms.

Annual early June rice planting by hand

I thought I would live in a village deep in the countryside. But then again, I didn't know I would be placed at an alternative high school - well worth any 'inconveniences' of city living.

Field trip: burying the history teacher

What is a 대안학교, an alternative school? And what does it mean to have an alternative school movement in South Korea? If you've read some stories, you may know some sobering statistics and generalizations about Korean modern life: the highest suicide rate in the OECD, especially among teenagers, students in school literally all day with few breaks, salarymen who stay out drinking and hardly see their families. A 대안학교 stands in not-so-silent opposition to this current state of affairs, looking to turn young people to something more, a brighter, more creative, engaged and life-affirming present and future.

Last year, I had the chance to WWOOF and volunteer in a Halloween English camp at Handemy Village 한드미마을 and I heard about 산돌학교 Sandol School near Seoul. With a WWOOF friend, we dreamed of becoming more involved with schools like this, where we could do hands-on farm work with students and incorporate creative teaching methods.

English Festival performance

By simply applying to work in Jeollanamdo province and haphazardly choosing somewhere near Jirisan and Gwangju, I got my wish. I landed at Hanbitt High School in bamboo-famous Damyang County, in a farming village called Daejeon-myeon at the base of a lovely mountain. And it's been great.

Walking across the river to 5.18 cemetery

Hanbitt is a private, Christian-oriented, progressive school that got funding for a native English teacher in 2013, the first time in over 10 years. Founded and led by a rare-for-Korea female principal, the school's motto is 하나님 사랑, 이웃 사랑, 자연 사랑, roughly translated as "love for God, community and nature." Students come from all over Korea, though about half are from the Gwangju and Jeollanam region. They live in the campus dormitories year-round, studying, working, playing, farming, worshipping, communing with each other and their teachers, who quickly also become their parents, friends, mentors. They learn to be more than just 'diligent,' robotic zombies but rather fully-developed people with talents and dreams. At least that is the goal. Judging by the steady flow of returning visitor graduated students - going as far back as 10 years - the three years Hanbitt offers has done wonders for some young Koreans. Not least of whom is Jang Beom Jun, the lead vocalist of Busker Busker, one of the most well-known and actually quality current indie-rock bands.

...And what about where I live - just 20 minutes from Hanbitt - Gwangju, The City of Light?

5.18 Cemetery with students

Coming from Sabuk, home of the April 1980 coal miner's uprising, I was a bit familiar with Korea's radical history. Gwangju, home of the infamous May 18th uprising, is called the City of Light/빛고을 and the birthplace of Korean democracy. A perfect place to learn more. One of the first awesome experiences that happened just a few weeks after I arrived is the annual walking pilgrimage from our school to the May 18th national cemetery. Hanbitt is the only school I know of that makes such a journey.

With all of our ~220 students and most of the teachers, we crossed the Youngsan River on foot. From the old cemetery to the new one, from lectures by our school's indomitable history teacher, to poems and songs, we reminded ourselves of the freedom fighters that died for the Korean people, just 33 years ago. On the way back, the elderly lady who sold us Damyang special strawberries from her greenhouse, said she gets melancholy every year around this time.

The vice principal at Hanbitt is one of the most positively influential person at the school and certainly in my current life. A truly natural farmer, he runs the large vegetable fields on Hanbitt's campus, annually rotating an impressive gamut of fresh deliciousness - lettuce, cabbage, soybeans, corn, peppers, blueberries, potatoes, sweet potatoes, radish, onions, garlic and others. He teaches the students the importance of self-reliance in all aspects of life and sustainable agriculture methods. Through hands-on and classroom work, he 'plants seeds' in students' minds and nourishes them as best he can. Whenever I can, I spend time with just him or him and the students in the fields, drawing deep inspiration from the soil and that which springs from it.

Me with Vice Principal and students by local lotus pond

As wonderful as this place is, I'm slowly learning that nothing good is ever problem-free. One of the main issues I see is the sometimes strained relationship between Hanbitt School and the surrounding village. Living in the country, students have more limited access to going-out activities compared to their peers in Gwangju, so sometimes their normal teenage outings are somewhat disruptive to village life. Furthermore, Hanbitt since its inception at the end of the 1990s - despite its positive atmosphere - could be seen as a small example of gentrification in the area. The school is sort of like an Ivy League university coming into a low-income neighborhood, with many more resources and an 'outsider' status. 

Being still only at a beginner level of Korean, I miss out on a lot of information that even the English-speaking teachers don't fully convey to me. So I am left to ask questions and come to my own conclusions. I do know that the villagers are mostly warm, friendly and laid-back people who work hard and live in a certain degree of harmony with their beautiful surroundings.

I encourage anybody living in or visiting Korea with an interest in alternative movements and village life to visit Hanbitt - 'The Great Light' School.

And of course, Gwangju.

View from the school's bus stop, Damyang

Base of Mudeungsan, Gwangju