adopteen virtual camp Archives – The Park Adoption Community Center

Matt Delatour is a Korean American transnational adoptee based in Philly with a passion for connecting the adoptee community with the joys of cooking. We got our pans and spatulas out to learn how to make some delicious kimchi pajeon at 2020 Adopteen Virtual Camp and Matt gave his hot takes on some hot topics.

Food can be an amazing way to explore and connect with birth culture. Have you tried cooking any dishes from your birth country cuisine? Or maybe you just have a favorite dish you like to eat? We get it. We prefer the eating part too!

“It takes courage to grow and become who you really are.” – E.E. Cummings

Leah Garlock, a Korean-American transnational adoptee, is an experience designer and illustrator and is the Communications Manager for Asian Womxn in the Arts (AWA). Leah sat down with our 2020 Adopteen Virtual Camp campers to explore how creativity and artistic expression can be used to process and celebrate our diverse and ever-evolving identities.

Identity is ever-evolving, but whatever that identity is right now, we hope you are able to own it and feel proud of it! What are some ways you have found help you to express and explore your identities?

“Looking towards the positive is an act of bravery. Dare to hope. Dare to believe in good.”

Sam Futerman joined our Adopteen Virtual Camp with a moving keynote conversation about her inspiring journey navigating home and family and rootedness. Sam is a passionate adoption advocate. She is also an actress, director, and producer, known best for her documentary, Twinsters, which follows the incredible journey of identical twin sisters Sam and Anise, adopted into families an ocean apart and brought together by fate.

Have you watched Twinsters? Home and family can be both a joyful and painful conversation. How have you navigated the ideas of home and family in your own life? If you attended Sam’s keynote (woo, Adopteen Virtual Camp!), what were your takeaways? Did what she shares resonate with you?

Cooking Kimchi Pajeon with Matt Delatour