Name and Pronouns:  Benjamin Kim Oser (He/Him/His) Where do you call home?  I now call home Fort Lee, NJ, but I have had homes in Central NJ, CT, NY, Korea, and Philadelphia.  Tell us a little about yourself. How do you spend your time outside of KAAN?  When I am not working on Camp Naru to support Korean American youth in identity development, I enjoy the parks and history of North Jersey, exercising, listening to music, and reading - would highly recommend Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong, and Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (a great fiction of Korea through the 1930s-1980s.&nb ..read more

By Johnny Collins I think I can describe KAAN in one word, unbelievably so much better than I expected. I’m not good at counting. I’ve been to IKAA a few times and other Korean adoption conferences around the world and this KAAN event was my favorite because of the sessions. I also loved that I got to meet people that were adopted from other countries besides Korea and listen to their stories. KAAN did a great job creating a safe space to share and never pushing anyone to share if they didn’t feel comfortable. I’m a little older than some of the attendees at 50, so I wasn’t interested in goin ..read more

Name: Nathan Nowack Gender Pronouns: He/Him Where do you call home? Denver, Colorado Tell us a little about yourself. How do you spend your time outside of KAAN? I am a transracial, transnational Korean adoptee that arrived in Oklahoma through the Dillon agency when I was 5 months old. I am in reunion with my biological siblings and have one non-biological Korean adopted sister. I have been a professional photographer for 15 years. I am a proud dad of three energetic kids which means most of my time is family time. When I have time to myself, I’m building lego sets or out at the golf course ..read more

As we build up to celebrating our 25h anniversary, we will be sharing reflections from members of the community. In this post, Kyle Ashlee, conference presenter, volunteer, partner of an adoptee, and Advisory Council member, shares some of his experiences with KAAN. The Ashlees at Bde Maka Ska (Summer 2022) How/when did you first learn about KAAN? I first learned about KAAN when my wife, Aeriel, attended a conference in Minneapolis in 2015. The following year, I attended in St. Louis and have been involved in ways ever since. In addition to attending the conference, I have been a conference p ..read more

Greetings KAAN family! We don’t even know each other yet, but I already feel a warm welcome from this community that expresses such rich ideas, intentions, and support in the words, pictures, and videos that live on the KAAN website. My name is José Taborda (he, his, him). I am a transracial adoptee born in Medellín, Colombia and raised in Northern New Jersey. I currently reside in Brooklyn, New York, and have been living here for nearly twenty years. I am the father of my beautiful 12-year old daughter. We love to ride bicycles together when I am not bothering her to clean her room. I spend ..read more

As we build up to celebrating our 25h anniversary, we will be sharing reflections from members of the community. In this post, Ellen M Heitzig, Korean adoptee, conference presenter, volunteer, and mental health provider, shares some of her experiences with KAAN. How/when did you first learn about KAAN? I grew up aware of KAAN but became involved as an adult thanks to Mrs. Hyaekung Jo, Julia Park, and Sejong Cultural Education Inc. Camp Sejong was an intricate part of my childhood and as an adult I was able to serve as the social worker on their Korea trip for several years. In 2010, I present ..read more

This year marks KAAN's 25th anniversary. As part of our celebration, we are sharing reflections from members of the KAAN community. In this post, Stacy Schroeder, adoptive parent, conference presenter, volunteer, and council member, shares some of her experiences with KAAN. How/when did you first learn about KAAN? 2002 -- first conference (learned about KAAN via an adoption listserv that existed at the time) 2002-2021 -- participant (except 2006) 2007-2009 -- presenter 2008-2009 -- speaker coordinator 2008 -- appointed next ED; began leadership training/transition 2010 -- local conference co ..read more

By Rebecca Cheek Over the past few years, the ripple effects of Trump’s presidency along with COVID-19, revealed the cracks in our infrastructure as a country. From health care to the economy and education to the tough choices women and primary caregivers had to make with either pausing their careers or completely stopping them in order to care for their children, employee burnout, or the ongoing failures of our whole society to embrace social justice and change for people of color and marginalized groups, these cracks will take years to fix. For a country that prides itself on individualism ..read more

By Melanie Meyer The first time I heard of Chuseok was during my research about Korea before opening Tiny Chef. All I knew was it was similar to America’s Thanksgiving and that it was one of the two major holidays in Korea, the other being the Korean Lunar New Year. What was prominent in my learning of Chuseok was the role of the family in the holiday. Chuseok is one of the few times during the entire year that the family will get together. Korea is an extremely busy and fast-paced culture and typically, once grown children leave home to begin their own lives it’s quite common for family membe ..read more

By Kim Gailey-Fitting Hey first-timer, First of all, major props to you for taking the leap to simply register for the conference. That takes courage, and the timing of it all is very individual. I have some Korean adoptee (KAD) friends in my life who have zero interest in the conference, and that’s okay. The timing isn’t right for them, but you found KAAN and are making this happen, so that means the timing is right for you. Go ahead and give yourself a day to settle in before the conference. When you arrive the day of, as I did my first time, you are tired from traveling and are already anx ..read more