Korean actress Shin Ae Ra revealed that she volunteered at an orphanage with Cha In Pyo before they got married.
Recently, through her YouTube channel “Shin Ae Life,” Shin Ae Ra shared the story of her past volunteer work at a child care facility.
In the video, Shin Ae Ra said, “Right after my husband was discharged from military service, I started volunteering at an orphanage. It wasn’t anything grand — just spending half a day playing with the kids at the dormitory.”
She continued, “One day, I saw two girls I hadn’t seen before. They said they were sisters. Their parents had divorced and tried to pass custody back and forth, so they kept moving between relatives’ homes until they ended up at the orphanage. The younger sister was in kindergarten, and the older sister was in early elementary school. Both had pale faces and were small and pretty. The younger sister asked me, ‘Why are you here?’ I guess they took me for an older sister since I was in my 20s. I said, ‘I came to play with you.’ Then the child said shyly, ‘We’ll probably go home in a few days. We’re different from the other kids here.’ It sounded like a cry that their mother would come to pick them up soon, that they would go home, that they weren’t abandoned.”
“I hoped what the child said would come true. But I also knew it wouldn’t,” Shin Ae Ra said. “The following week, the week after, after a month, three months, and even a year, the sisters who said they would soon return home were still at the orphanage. During that time, their mood became similar to the other children’s — even darker,” she recalled. “There’s a saying, ‘You look distinguished.’ I used to think it meant a child from a well-off family, but from watching the two sisters, I understood its sad meaning. To look ‘distinguished’ means to be receiving attention and love. When someone cares for you one-on-one, confidence and stability show as distinction. After several months, the sisters’ faces lost that sense of distinction. A child left in an orphanage learns the harsh and cruel reality that their mother won’t come, swallowing tears of disappointment every evening after hopeful mornings.”
Shin Ae Ra and Cha In Pyo developed a relationship through the drama Love in Your Arms, married in 1995, had a son Cha Jung Min in 1998, and later adopted two daughters in 2005 and 2008.