Nana Woo 

In August 1986 I was born and then raised by my parents in Seoul, South Korea. When I was a child, I loved to spend time going into the woodlands with friends and create stories with my imagination. We were explorers, adventurers and storytellers. Everything changed rapidly, however, once I began the experience of attending middle school. I entered '"the real world" which was an intensive and highly competitive educational system. My classmates and I had monthly exams and we received the results with an exact grading of our scores in the following style, "You are ranked 11 out of 469 students". During my time in high school this competitiveness got worse. Classes started from 7 a.m. and I usually stayed at school until 10 p.m, after which I went to another place to continue my studies until 1 or 2 a.m. almost every day. That was more or less what occupied my time for most of my teenage years. Running parallel to this intense circumstance, I had witnessed and faced many personal and social problems between my classmates, between teachers, other students, in families and within myself. This lead me and many other young people towards psychological and physical illness, furthermore to suicidal attempts. I could not understand why we kept following a system which was not making any sense. I questioned why did I have to submit to a system which was not serving who I truly wanted to be and become. Eventually I enrolled in a degree course for art and design at a Korean university with an expectation to learn and be encouraged to think outside of the box, to feel free to voice my innovative and creative ways and to respect the diversity of any individuals' perspective. However once again I could not find what I was looking for. 

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When I was 22 years old, I decided to design my own "Master Plan".  I decided to explore my inner call, I decided to go on a quest for an answer to my burning questions, I wished to see and experience other systems in diverse cultures and different ways of living life for various individuals. At the same time I hoped to find my true purpose in life and find a community where I would belong. Which was a reflection of what I used to do when I was a child. To be a true explorer and adventurer who is curiously interested in the world and enjoys every single moment of life. I dreamt one day I would contribute my knowledge and skills to build a community where we practice true human values in the heart of the very same type of system that sought my submission in my younger life.

This is how I left South Korea in July 2009, with a question: