 |
 |
Park Soon le had been raised on the Presbyterian mission compound
in Gwangju, assisting her mother, Mrs. Park Ae Sin, who was a seamstress
and cook for two missionary families:
Dr. Robert Manton ＆ Bess Wilson (1920-1926)
and Rev. Robert ＆ Maie Knox (1926-1940).
|
|
| |
| She was an accomplished pianist and singer, had married in 1944 Saing-Ok Kim, a music teacher in the Mokpo High School. He later taught at the Soonchun High School. He was killed during the 1948 Soonchun-Yosu cultural clash between democracy and communist factions. |
| |
| After her husband was killed, Mrs. Park Soon le-a young Korean widow with two infant children- wondered, "What am I to do?" |
| |
| A missionary family was returning to the U. S. in 1948 and invited her to go with them. She prayed many days for the Lord to show her what to do. The Lord did: help the abandoned, starving, and diseased children on the streets of Gwangju. |
| |
| Nearly all Presbyterian missionaries left Korea when the Korean War broke out. Mrs. Park continued the rescue and care for children before, during and after that war. By 1949 her children were the beginning of the Choong Hyun Babies Home at the Presbyterian mission compound in Gwangju. |
| |
|
After the Armistice in July 1953 the missionaries returned and by 1953 she had 120 newborn-to-age-five children she was caring for.
She realized she had reached her limit, but said at their Baptism that she would raise them all as her own children and to be followers of Jesus Christ.
|
| |
| How could she care for 120 infant children by herself? She could not. Before and after the Korean War, the missionaries assisted her with medical and dental care, funds, food, clothing, gifts, and by demonstrating the love of Jesus. |
| |
| During and after the Korean War the U. S. military assisted her with food, clothing, medicine, funds, presents, visits filled with love and laughter, and Christmas and Easter parties. |
| |
| US men and women in the military had to be taught to use a gun to kill another person. They did not have to be taught how to give comfort and aid to a loney, starving, dying, diseased child. The Christian ethic of "when we do it unto the least of these, we are doing it unto Jesus"(Matthew 25:40) is pervasive in US culture. |
| |
| US military rescued over 10,000 children and were supporting 80% of the 50,935 children in 429 approved orphanages in June 1954. |
| |
| The six missionary families who supported her and her children were Dr. Robert Manton ＆Bess Wilson, Dr. Herb ＆ Page Codington, Rev. Bruce ＆ Virginia Cumming, Rev. Robert ＆ Maie Knox, Miss Florence Root and Dr. Dick ＆ Ruth Nieusma. She learned from them what to do as a Christian. |
| |
| She raised happy children. Missonary Virginia Cumming wrote, "We heard the laughter of angels all the time." |
| |
| As Korea became more developed, Mrs. Park Soon lee started a child consultation center, a shelter for run-away youth, a day care center, and a hospital for children. |
| |
|
In 1979 Mrs. Park Soon le wrote, "The Korean War orphans……. suffered both from mental anguish and physical pain. I am a woman, a widow, and I am weak. This work was beyond my endurance.
"However, I developed over the past 31 years this multifaceted welfare work based on the teaching by Jesus in John 12:24, 'Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.'"
|
| |
|
Mrs. Park Soon le died Febrary 1, 1995. Her daughter-in-law, Rev. HaeRyang Yoo Kim, succeeded her as Executive Director of the Choong Hyun Babies Home.
|
| |
