31th GapperLee Gi-song
12-month gap year
Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, six months volunteering at a school for the deaf in Nepal
A place of many stories: the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage
In 2010 I had the chance to study briefly in Spain. I had long wondered, "What should I do with my life going forward?" At the suggestion of a friend who was there, I...the Camino de Santiago pilgrimageI went there. I left with no preparation, wearing slippers and carrying only an old bag.That path, more than 880 km long, had to be walked entirely by foot and willpower.I met many people along the way.
Among those who were walking with heavy hearts for their own reasons, I met Natasha.She was born in Germany and had lost her entire family in a traffic accident, sinking into deep despair. Through volunteering abroad at the recommendation of an acquaintance, she rediscovered the will to live. After hearing her story that she walks this route in tears on the anniversaries of her family's deaths, my heart started to race, and upon returning home I decided to take a leave of absence. For six months I began steadily preparing—raising funds, taking English tests, and attending interviews—for a six-month volunteer program in Nepal.
Gap year at a school for the deaf in Nepal
I volunteered for six months teaching students at the Behirabaarak School for the Deaf in Kathmandu, Nepal. Because I had to teach friends with hearing impairments for long periods, I had to learn the local sign language in Nepal. The local teachers were also deaf, so most of the teaching and conversations were conducted in sign language.
By joining their community, talking together, going on picnics, and taking part in many activities, I realized then that having a hearing impairment does not mean someone absolutely needs others' help. The students at the Behirabaarak School, whom I met without prejudice, welcomed me more warmly than anyone.Even when they filled in for my limited signing with shy smiles, they would smile brightly and nod, and I spent time with those students.Although it was a school specializing in hearing impairments, there was almost no government support. Because it was run with support and sponsorship from various NGOs around the world, it severely lacked resources such as safety and hygiene measures and support for arts and physical education that require careful attention.
I mainly taught art to kindergarten and lower-grade children and led physical education classes for the older students.For children who had relatively few opportunities to experience classes in various ways, we planted flower beds and ran and played together, and as my sign language improved, the distance between the children and me closed.
In particular, together with the second gradersit became an opportunity to get closer to the school's children through a UCC (user-created content) video we filmed to raise funds for the school.Over six months of living and working together, we welcomed short-term volunteers and even built our own ping-pong court so the children could discover for themselves things they could accomplish.
The real happiness I found through my gap year
What changed during my gap year was where I placed the center of my happiness.
Before leaving on my gap year, I did not understand why feelings of fear and loneliness would suddenly arise even though I was connected to many people. I tried to fill that emptiness with more people, and I tried collecting the things I wanted one by one. But the happiness filled that way was fleeting, and the brief sense of joy soon disappeared.
The reason something felt empty and my heart felt hollow was that the center of what made me happy was external. Recognition from others and satisfaction from possessions are not things that can make one truly happy.I realized that the satisfaction from decisions I made myself and the series of trials and joys that occurred during the process remain more clearly than any fleeting happy feelings.
A word to young people embarking on a gap year: Life is about the process more than the result.
One of the traps that people who make plans sometimes fall into is being obsessed with the result.
Sometimes people cannot accept outcomes that deviate from their plans, or they forcefully try to steer the process toward a desired result. I believe life is the sum of repeated discoveries and solutions to unexpected things.Rather than defining the process by the result, I hope you have the mental freedom to find the result within the sum of processes.
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