Sinking of Sewol occurred on the morning of April 16, 2014, en route from Incheon to Jeju. The South Korean ferry capsized while carrying 476 people, mostly secondary school students from Danwon High School . As the ship capsized, some passengers followed the announcements to stay put, even as the water came in. Most of the student passengers obeyed the announcements. Some passengers who climbed to the top of the ship or jumped into the water were rescued. This tragedy killed 304 people, 9 never came back!

Sewol, 2 Years Later

( The Heartbreak still there)

Yes, I feel the heartbreak!

Losing a child to a deadly accident is every parent’s worst nightmare. Unfortunately, this nightmare became a reality for the hundreds of parents who lost their children to a preventable accident on April 16, 2014!

Pada awalnya aku hanya sekedar tahu tragedy yang sangat menggemparkan korea selatan ini, sempat membaca dikoran, dan aku pun melupakannya, well, simply kejadian ini tidak terjadi dinegara ku, dan lebih dalam lagi tidak terjadi pada keluargaku. (how stupid me!) Tapi, mungkin ini suatu hal yang bisa jadi pembelajaran, dimana pun terjadi suatu peristiwa, kita harus ikut berpartisipasi sekecil apapun, walaupun hanya dalam bentuk doa!

Pada saatnya aku berkesempatan untuk datang ke memorial altar mereka, yang pada saat aku berkunjung ke Seoul sedang dilaksanakan di depan Gwanghwamun Square (mungkin sampai tulisan ini diposting pelaksanaan masih berlangsung). We  pray together and sharing their story! Amazing!!! I get goosebumps all over my body! ( plus when I get spritual moment there 😦 * i wish you rest in peace dude* )

Memorial altar ini dibangun agar kita dapat mendoakan orang – orang yang menjadi korban tragedy sewol. Just take off you shoes, put the White Chrysanthemum, burn hio, and deep pray for their peace! Simple, but meaning a lot for them!

Sejenak aku beristirahat di altar ini, sambil memandangi foto – foto korban, saat itulah aku mulai berpikir, bagaimana kalau salah satu diantara mereka adalah keluarga kita, atau bagaimana perasaan kita kalo pada saat itu kitalah yang berada di posisi mereka, ketika harus berjuang untuk hidup ditengah laut dan berada diantara perasaan tidak akan pernah bertemu lagi dengan keluarga. Yes! My heart start break at the moment!:(

Kalo kita perhatikan masih ada beberapa tempat kosong tanpa foto disana, ya! Itu untuk 9 korban yang belum ditemukan jasadnya, dan keluarga masih mengharapkan agar jasad mereka kembali kepada keluarga. Simple! Pribadi, Aku ingin berdoa dimana aku mengetahui dia ada disana! (mungkin ini lah alasan kenapa kita melaksanakan penguburan)

Now they holding petition booth, they talked about “ The truth Greeting “

For 6 days after the accident, the government kept lying about their rescue efforts and didn’t get any help from civilian divers nor other countries who offered to help, including the United States. They continuously used mass media to portray a “rescue effort by 500 divers” when the actual families who were present at the scene disclosed their frustration by crying to the public that “no rescue efforts were going on.

The government officials continue to misinform and mislead the public and the desperate family members who were waiting for any news of the rescue operation. The Park government blatantly refused help offered by civilian divers and from the USA and Japan. In fact, the Park government fabricated an “ongoing rescue operation with 500 divers actively on duty.” The eyewitnesses and the desperate family members stated that the “supposedly reported” rescue operation was fabricated and delivered via the censored media. No rescue operation ensued on that day, April 16, 2014.

Well, They just want revealing the truth of disaster. They want investigation into sewol tragedy and timely and undamaged raising!

“A thorough investigation is needed, and wrongdoers should be punished. This kind of accident might happen again if we don’t know why it happened.” — Kim Young-lae, father of Kim Dong-hyuk

  

Beranjak ke booth lainnya, dimana disiarkan cuplikan – cuplikan berita tentang tragedy, and when I there, i really have a warm-welcome! Jadi Booth ini diisi dengan beberapa poster, atau prakarya yang menggambarkan kejadian sewol! I really touching with this! I dont know, but I feel really really sad! I hope they fly  beautifully ! 넌 마치 Butterfly!

Sambil disajikan minuman hangat mereka bercerita tentang tragedy tersebut, well yang berada di sini adalah ibu – ibu yang anaknya telah menjadi korban. Sebenarnya aku tidak mengerti apa yang mereka bicarakan secara keseluruhan, because i dont speak korean well! Tapi dari beberapa patah kata yang bisa aku tangkap, mereka mengungkapkan kata – kata Sedih, Anak – Anak, Telephone terakhir, Ucapan sayang, dan trust me, ketika kalian melihat cara mereka menyampaikan walaupun kalian tidak mengerti apa yang mereka bicarakan, sangat tidak mungkin kalian tidak menangis! Aku? Sukses nangis berat! Sampai cegukan :(. 앟줌마, 미안해 😦

“Our children didn’t blame society. They tried hard to save each others’lives and worried about their families. Don’t we have to learn from the efforts they showed in the last minutes of their lives?” — Jung Hye-suk, mother of Park Sung-ho

Spring has come and flowers are blossoming, but moms cannot smile. I hope the children who are still missing will be found and the truth will reveal. I wish I could bring back their daughter or son. I Know, The world after the tragedy is not the place that they had known!

Though the ferry’s captain and senior crew members were sentenced to prison terms in a 2014 trial, a group of bereaved families and politicians have continued seeking answers to questions such as how the ferry got permission to leave port dangerously overloaded and why the Coast Guard failed to rescue more passengers. About 170 of the more than 470 people aboard the vessel were rescued. Now, Sewol tragedy remind us Good children have died because of adults’ faults. The Sewol disaster taught us about the problems of our society and adults should make efforts to fix them, although this too late. We have to strive to prevent any re-occurrence of this disaster and to build a culture that cherishes human life.

We Wont Forget! And Just Rest In Peace, and let’s us take the rest 🙂

#PrayforSouthKorea #SewolTragedy #04162014

Cheers 

Mendys