Reuniting Families Thru DNA
Want to make a difference? Interested in a DNA match but frustrated with not having found one? We will distribute DNA kits to any willing South Korean or Korean American participants. Our goal is to grow the Korean DNA database. Please help support this project by donating today!
Parent/Child Match! by Samantha Barr Growing up you hear about adoptees finding their birth families but never in a million years do you think that would be your story. A few years ago my adopted parents did Ancestry DNA tests. When the results came back there were some surprises about their heritage. This intrigued me so I decided to submit a kit. I noticed different groups on Facebook for Korean Adoptees and I thought maybe I should start putting myself out there to learn more about my homeland. I uploaded my DNA to FTDNA and GEDmatch. I noticed there were a few results but all were very distant.

On New Year’s Day I received an email from 325Kamra explaining that I had a very close match on FTDNA from a kit that they had collected. Unimaginable emotions ran through me; I didn’t believe this was happening. I was put in touch with my match who was a Korean ajumma living in the US. She told me she had some family in my hometown and would start contacting relatives to see if anyone knew anything. The next day I received another call from my match who said she discovered who my parents were through talking with relatives. She informed me that I had three sisters and not only that but I had a TWIN brother. All of the information in my file matched this information including my Korean name. 325 KamraKorea got in touch with my birth mother and assisted in obtaining her DNA sample. Once the DNA test was processed, it was confirmed that I was the daughter.

I visited my family in Korea from the US this past month. Every day I learn more about them and am so thankful that I have been given this opportunity to know my birth family. My story would never have been possible if it weren’t for submitting my DNA and the help of 325 Kamra. I will be forever grateful for them. 
Honoring our Ummas on Mother's Day

Lee Soon Ok, Korean mother. Was married in a local ceremony to Gilbert Potyandy and lived with him and their daughter "Joyce" who was born in Nopaedong, near Paju in the summer of 1964. At that time Lee Soon Ok was 21 years old. If anyone knows Lee Soon Ok ("Diane"), please contact us at 325kamra@gmail.com. Her daughter (adopted by a military family and who grew up both in Korea and the US ) and Gilbert are still searching for her.

우리 엄마들
Mixed Korean: Our Stories From the struggles of the Korean War, to the modern dilemmas faced by those who are mixed race, comes an assortment of stories that capture the essence of what it is to be a mixed Korean. With common themes of exclusion, and recollections of not looking Korean enough, black enough, white enough, or "other" enough, this powerful collection features works by award-winning authors Alexander Chee, Michael Croley, Heinz Insu Fenkl, alongside pieces composed by prominent writers, poets and scholars. Interwoven between known literary names, are the voices of newcomers with poignant memories that have never been captured before. Collectively, these stories will resonate with anyone who has ever stood on the outside of a group, longing for inclusion. They are a testament to the courage, strength and resilience of mixed people everywhere. Book sales from the anthology will be donated to  3 25kamra. To purchase your copy of this book, you can click here . ($25.17 with shipping. International shipping is also available. A digital format will be available soon.)
Mixed Korean:
Our Stories
Book Launch!
Asian American Writer's Workshop NYC May 7 2018

View book launch video here .
T&W Travel Fund Award
Thanks to the T&W Foundation, 325Kamra has started a travel fund award for KADs to help them reunite with biological family in Korea. Award money will be given to KADs to pay or defray travel costs for those who have never been to Korea and who need financial assistance to visit biological family found thru DNA.
325KamraKorea Updates
325KAMRA is having a busy spring in Korea! We have solidified a partnership with KUMFA (Korean Unwed Mothers and Family Association), an NGO that works to further single parents' rights and works closely with adoptees.

Thanks to support from leader Kim Do Kyung, we were invited to the National Assembly as one of the organizers of Adoption Day and Single Mom’s Day, where we were able to meet members of congress and the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

KUMFA is an organization that supports unwed mothers and their children in Korea. It started in 2009 as a navercafé blog under the name Missmammamia . The NGO advocates for the legal and social rights of unwed mothers and their children. They meet up with their members every 3 months. Their meetings are in Seoul, Gwangju, Busan and Cheonnan. 325KAMRA Korea was very lucky to be invited to the KUMFA meetings and to engage with the single moms in this organization. It has been very inspiring to hear their stories. When talking about adoption, unwed moms are inseparable subjects. We are thankful for the support from KUMFA and we look forward to collaborating with them more in the future.

325KamraKorea has kicked off the May Tour, and has been to Daegu, Busan, and Cheonan so far. We were able to test around 30 Korean volunteers and 2 birth families this spring. With every volunteer that tests, we ask that they spread the word about 325KAMRA and help educate their peers about the importance of DNA testing and what it can mean for adoptees. With more Koreans coming forward to volunteer, we are hoping to ease the stigma and empower first families to contact us.

We have also been busy with events in Gyeonggi-do. We visited 3 elder centers in Seoul, and gained insight into how older Koreans think about DNA testing. We were invited to speak at Sun Moon University in Asan, and presented to students studying social welfare.

Olympic skier, Lee MeeHyun/Jackie Gloria Kling also DNA tested with us. We accompanied her to do a presentation at Korea University, and gained student interest in our organization.

We were also interviewed by SBS at this event. Lastly, we attended the Seoul Women’s Marathon, where single mothers and adoptees marched a 4.5k in solidarity to raise awareness, where we were briefly interviewed by MBC. We met members of the Swedish and Norwegian embassy at this event and are exploring connections with them. We still have a few festivals around Korea we plan on attending this month, and are excited to update everyone with our new developments in Korea!
Swedish KADs/Full Siblings
Congratulations to Maria Johansson and Henrik Erngren Othén. Both are Swedish Korean adoptees who DNA tested earlier this year at MyHeritage. Thru DNA testing, they discovered that they were full siblings and that both had been sent for adoption to different regions in Sweden.
325Kamra encourages everyone to not only DNA test but to test using every DNA kit possible (FTDNA, ancestry.com and 23andme). We also encourage uploading DNA to all the free sites (GEDmatch, MyHeritage, etc.). #DNAistheway!
325Kamra DNA Matches to Date
  • 55 Matches made with 325Kamra membership (11 of those having found Korean family)
  • 28 on-going DNA searches with 325Kamra membership, with 5 near completion
  • At least 52 close automatic matches made using various DNA kits (23andme, FTDNA, ancestry and MyHeritage)

Do you have a DNA Match that is 200cMs or more?
Don't know what to do? HELP
Meeting my birth family!
B ok Ei Kim was a young woman whose American GI boyfriend had finished his tour of duty in South Korea and left her to care for their young mixed-race baby. Korea, still reeling after years of Japanese Occupation and the Korean War, was unaccepting of mixed children and not a place to raise a "mixed-blood" child. Bok Ei Kim was forced to relinquish her eight-month old baby for adoption. In 1959, infant Soo-Ja Kim arrived in the United States as Holt International orphan #1374 and then became Lisa Futrell.
      Lisa tested with a 23andme DNA kit and in late 2017, she found her biological father, then still living. Not long after she had a half niece match on her maternal side through ancestry.com. Using that match, and confirming closer matches with FTDNA kits (courtesy of Thomas Park Clement), Lisa found her Korean mother who today lives in Brandon, Florida, and goes by the name of Virginia. Last February, Lisa flew to Florida where she met her mother, her half brother and also met her half sister on a layover in Texas. Congratulations Lisa! She is a first-wave adoptee who never ever gave up!
Distributing DNA Kits Internationally
South Korea:
Maria Savage : 325kamramj@gmail.com or
JooEun Cho: 325kamrajc@gmail.com.
You can also contact KoRoot .

Europe:
click on this link: DNA kit
KADS in the Netherlands contact Maria van den Bosse: maria@arierang.nl

Germany:
contact Jayme Hansen at hansenarmy@yahoo.com

Australia:
contact Jayme Hansen who is planning a distribution event, end of 2018.
Special thanks to 325Kamra donors Meredith Hudes-Lowder, Aimee Belser, and Jan Landis who donated in recent months! Thank you for your incredible generosity! Thanks also to all the new KAD members!
All FTDNA kits used by 325Kamra, Inc. are donated by Thomas Park Clement and his T&W Foundation. Publishing Costs for Mixed Korean: Our Stories were also donated by Thomas Park Clement and his T&W Foundation. Thanks as always to him for his generosity
to the KAD community and to 325Kamra.