My Sister's Place is an advocacy and counseling group founded in 1986 in Uijeongbu, South Korea. The group is a non-profit government organization that supports women involved and affected by prostitution in military camp towns. It focuses on improving the lives of women who have entered the sex industry in and around U.S. military base camp towns. Working with women from diverse backgrounds—Korean-born, Russian, and Filipina women—Durebang challenges militarism and exploitation in the camp town sex industry. Durebang provides online counseling, community outreach, English classes, Hangul classes, and legal rights classes Since 1955, U.S. troops have maintained a permanent presence in South Korea. The Korean government have long been accused of encouraging Korean women to have sex with military officials for the economic and political gain of the country as a whole. These military camp towns have been created and maintained by both the U.S. and Korean governments as a mutually beneficial enterprise for the state that uses Korean and other foreign women in sexual services for American G.I.’s. It was founded by Harriet Fay Moon, an American-born wife of Korean pastor Moon Dong-hwan, who is the brother of Reverend Moon Ik-hwan. Durebang's main office is in Uijeongbu near Camp Stanley, and its branch office is in Dongducheon, where Camp Nimble, Camp Castle, Camp Casey, and Camp Hovey are located. Durebang plans to relocate to Pyeongtaek, near Camp Humphreys, the largest U.S. overseas military base.
Services
Classes
The organization offers several classes available to women to help develop their skills and resiliency. Every week, the center offers music classes using K-pop songs to teach Korean, learn about music composition and production and unpack the meaning of popular song lyrics. On a near daily basis, My Sister's Place offers classes to immigrant women to learn the Korean alphabet, Hangul, in an effort to achieve literacy and increase women's' agency. Immigrant women who work in the camp-town sex industries often have little Korean language acquisition and even less skills in literacy. In providing this free service to women, the program hopes to empower women and provide a valuable economic and social resource. Additionally, a short-term English class is offered to learners who wish to acquire or improve their English language skills. English classes serve as an opportunity to study and practice communication skills, speaking, and pronunciation in a safe space.
Workshops
A living labor law workshop is offered to help women navigate complex laws and how they apply for their specific needs. The class provides an educational base in which women can learn some of the most important topics specific to their context and how the laws apply to them.
Outreach
My Sister's Place focuses its efforts on providing daily survival skills for women working in camp town areas. Their mission is to help women live genuine and autonomous lives through their newly acquired skillsets and education. In addition to the services described above, the organization develops programs that focus on cooking, child care services, basic knowledge about health and much more. One of the most valuable services they offer is the on-site counseling offered several times a month for in-person support, and near constant online counseling. As a part of their other programs, My Sister's Place serves as a temporary shelter for domestic and transnational camp town women. The immediate support that a shelter provides enables women to find temporary safety until they can establish more permanent residence or plan of action. Additionally, as a form of alternate employment for former military prostitutes, a bakery was opened and the women were employed. The bakery worked in conjunction with local college student activists who volunteered to deliver and sell the bread to students on campus allowing the bakery to sustain itself and flourish. As a result, the bakery program has partially funded the other program classes and services like daycare for the women's' children.
Political Activism
My Sister's Place and related NGOs have become visible participants in kijich’on prostitution and kijich’on movement organizations. These organizations have worked to bring public consciousness to the subjects and fight for policy change through the form of press, policy papers, and reports. One of their efforts was in denouncing the murder of Yoon Kum-Yi and bringing attention to the murder by organizing a large demonstration of 3,000 people. Yoon Kum-Yi who was a sex worker was brutally murdered and mutilated in October 1992 at Camp Casey in South Korea. She was murdered by a U.S. G.I., Kenneth Markle who subsequently became the first American soldier tried in a Korean criminal court for the murder. The result of his trial was a life sentence which was later reduced to 15 years in federal prison.
