Janet Berger (Korea 67 – 69) was touched when the Korea Foundation reached out to her to ask if she would accept a COVID Survival Box in recognition of her Peace Corps service there. When it arrived, she cried. The New York Times recently published a story about this gesture that you can access by clicking here. As the Times explained,
“Decades ago, a young American woman served an impoverished South Korea as a Peace Corps volunteer. Now the country is an economic powerhouse, and it decided to send her a token of its gratitude.”
As Janet wrote to Barry Adamson (Sierra Leone 73 – 75), “I can’t thank you enough for sending the article about the Korea Foundation Survival Boxes. I got mine 3 days ago and had the same feeling as Sandra Nathan. I did open it after about an hour and cried when I saw what was in it. The Korean people are just incredibly kind, thoughtful, and generous. They have been very concerned about “their” Peace Corps volunteers as the US is facing such a crisis, so they are doing their best to save us. It still makes me cry to think of them and all that they have done for us.”
This is not the first time that Janet and her husband Bill Berger have received thanks from South Korea. As described in an article below, dated 17 March 2019, they were hosted there several years ago as a thank you gift for Janet’s Peace Corps service.