Today was a national holiday - Constitution Day, so most everything is closed. We are staying at Ilsan Center in Ilsan, a town outside of Seoul that is operated by Holt International. Ilsan Center was built by Harry Holt back in the 1950's as an orphanage for the 1000's of babies who were either abondoned or given up by their parents' for a variety of reasons. Harry Holt was a farmer and an Oregon logger who was a multimillionaire; he and his wife Bertha had six biological children and lived a very comfortable life in Creswell, Oregon. Harry developed a serious heart condition and almost died; it was then that he dedicated his life to God through Jesus Christ, and sought His will. Harry saw a movie by World Vision about the plight of Korean Orphans who were abondoned and starving to death. After a lot of prayer, he and wife Bertha cut through a lot of political red tape to adopt eight of the Orphans - Harry travelled to Korea to pick up the new addition to his family. He could not get over the thousands of children who were left behind, and believed the God was not finished with his work in Korea. Back home in Oregon, the press gathered for the arrival of the new family members and word spread quickly around the United States of this almost unheard of event - foreign adotion! Letters poured in from around the country asking Harry to help others adopt the Korean orphans. As it turns out, Harry's faith, fortune and hard work were spent building orphanages and offices to expedite adoptions for needy children, and today Holt International is one of the largest agencies in the world, placing over 50,000 children into loving homes around the world. Most of the children placed were cute and cuddly babies and toddlers, but there remained a popultation of children who were not so easy to place - ones with disabilities that ranged from mild to severe and included cognitive deficits, physical limitations or a combination of both. I am uncertain of the year that Ilsan became dedicated to individuals with disabilties, but today it houses about 227 people with ages ranging from 1 year to 57 years old (the 57 year old came to Ilsan as a young girl and has lived here for 50 years).
Ilsan Center has about 35 buildings and sits on over 30 acres. It is very hilly around the grounds so one gets a lot of exercise throughout the day. Molly Holt - daughter of Harry and Bertha, is now the Chairperson of Holt Korea. She has a master's degree in nursing and felt led to serve in Korea where she has lived and worked for over 50 years. She lives in a small home with two of the residents. Both have cerevral palsy and one has a condition a lot like cystic fibrosis. They are so sweet and gentle, I am humbled to be around them. I say that because I have found that most of the residents have very simple needs in order to be content. And Molly, what can I say about Molly? She is a very humble woman who has dedicated her entire life to our Lord and Saviour by serving the residents of Ilsan place. She is a well-educated woman who was raised with wealth (millionaire back in the 1950s), yet she has chosen to live and serve in a country where women are not held in very high high regard with full time residents who require 24 hour care. Her home is very simple, her bedroom is also her office and quite small. She sleeps on the floor, just as the Korean people choose to do. She has no privacy because her front door is always open to the residents who stop by for a quick hello, or a longer chat. Often times, Molly's telephone rings off the proverbial hook with people calling from all over the world. The first day that I met Molly, she told me that she had gotten a call from Norway at 3:30 in the morning (the person did not realize the time difference). She takes it all in stride. Also, volunteers may eat one or all three meals with Molly and her residents. Currently, besides myself and my daughter Chandler, there are two other volunteers here; Mindy who is quite young and ready to enter her senior year of nursing school in Iowa and Anita; a fascinating young lady who sold her home and most of her earthly posessions to come to Ilsan Center and volunteer one year ago. She intends to remain here through September of 2007. Anita has really been immersed into the Korean culture. She speaks quite well and reads almost fluently. Korean is a very difficult language to master, partly because there are many different levels of hierarcy and depending on where you fit and the person to whom you are speaking fits dictates the words that you use.
Ilsan Center relies on its volunteers to help with the residents. We are responsible for getting them out of their surroundings and into the community. It appears as though close to 1/2 of the residents are in wheel chairs. Some of the ones who are ambulatory have crooked limbs and walk very slowly. Very few are verbal, but most that I have seen respond to human touch and a soft voice.
Since today is the national holiday, Molly took us for her weekly outing to EMart (formerly WalMart but the Koreans did not seem to like the merchandising of WalMart so EMart purchased them). Molly always loads up her van with as many residents as she can handle. We fit two wheel chairs and two residents who could walk in addition to Molly, Anita, Chandler and me. It was an amazing experience. Driving in, there is an EMart greeter with white gloves, waving people into the parking garage - as one enters, he/she bows. There is also a greeter at the entrance wearing white gloves and welcoming people. EMart has three floors of groceries and merchandise; they also have bays for automobile service and a food court - all Korean of course. there are ladies around the store preparing food for people to sample. We always take residents with us to EMart so that they may get experience at selecting merchandise, paying for it and receiving change and a receipt. We all had great fun in the store.
Ilsan Center has about 35 buildings and sits on over 30 acres. It is very hilly around the grounds so one gets a lot of exercise throughout the day. Molly Holt - daughter of Harry and Bertha, is now the Chairperson of Holt Korea. She has a master's degree in nursing and felt led to serve in Korea where she has lived and worked for over 50 years. She lives in a small home with two of the residents. Both have cerevral palsy and one has a condition a lot like cystic fibrosis. They are so sweet and gentle, I am humbled to be around them. I say that because I have found that most of the residents have very simple needs in order to be content. And Molly, what can I say about Molly? She is a very humble woman who has dedicated her entire life to our Lord and Saviour by serving the residents of Ilsan place. She is a well-educated woman who was raised with wealth (millionaire back in the 1950s), yet she has chosen to live and serve in a country where women are not held in very high high regard with full time residents who require 24 hour care. Her home is very simple, her bedroom is also her office and quite small. She sleeps on the floor, just as the Korean people choose to do. She has no privacy because her front door is always open to the residents who stop by for a quick hello, or a longer chat. Often times, Molly's telephone rings off the proverbial hook with people calling from all over the world. The first day that I met Molly, she told me that she had gotten a call from Norway at 3:30 in the morning (the person did not realize the time difference). She takes it all in stride. Also, volunteers may eat one or all three meals with Molly and her residents. Currently, besides myself and my daughter Chandler, there are two other volunteers here; Mindy who is quite young and ready to enter her senior year of nursing school in Iowa and Anita; a fascinating young lady who sold her home and most of her earthly posessions to come to Ilsan Center and volunteer one year ago. She intends to remain here through September of 2007. Anita has really been immersed into the Korean culture. She speaks quite well and reads almost fluently. Korean is a very difficult language to master, partly because there are many different levels of hierarcy and depending on where you fit and the person to whom you are speaking fits dictates the words that you use.
Ilsan Center relies on its volunteers to help with the residents. We are responsible for getting them out of their surroundings and into the community. It appears as though close to 1/2 of the residents are in wheel chairs. Some of the ones who are ambulatory have crooked limbs and walk very slowly. Very few are verbal, but most that I have seen respond to human touch and a soft voice.
Since today is the national holiday, Molly took us for her weekly outing to EMart (formerly WalMart but the Koreans did not seem to like the merchandising of WalMart so EMart purchased them). Molly always loads up her van with as many residents as she can handle. We fit two wheel chairs and two residents who could walk in addition to Molly, Anita, Chandler and me. It was an amazing experience. Driving in, there is an EMart greeter with white gloves, waving people into the parking garage - as one enters, he/she bows. There is also a greeter at the entrance wearing white gloves and welcoming people. EMart has three floors of groceries and merchandise; they also have bays for automobile service and a food court - all Korean of course. there are ladies around the store preparing food for people to sample. We always take residents with us to EMart so that they may get experience at selecting merchandise, paying for it and receiving change and a receipt. We all had great fun in the store.
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1 comment:
Good post.
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