Soldiers
and armed guards everywhere, no color – just white, grey, brown and black,
people with very strict and rigid faces, no smiles. This is what I imagined that I would see when
I arrived in North Korea. Instead I saw
a beautiful country that was full of beautiful people! The countryside was alive with various crops
growing in the fields, with rolling hills and tall mountains in the background.
I
also expected to see very sick and suffering people, because my purpose was to
visit the Eugene Bell tuberculosis (TB) care centers and deliver medicine to
patients. I was honored to represent
Seoul Foreign School as a member of the Eugene Bell Foundation on the Fall 2012
trip to North Korea. The Eugene Bell
Foundation cares for over 800 patients in North Korea that suffer from multiple
drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis. So, I
saw many, many, very sick people. People
just like you and me. However, these
people came from a life of very little food, little electricity, little heat,
much sickness and very little hope. A
life I cannot even imagine.
Each
day we would leave very early to drive to the different care centers, such as
Dongdaewon. As the sun rose and brought
light to the world, I would begin to see the North Korean countryside with
people walking along the sides of the dirt road we were driving on. Some of these people were up very early just
like us. However, they had been walking for hours in the cold, cold weather to
get to work or school, instead of riding in a nice heated van like ours. Some people were biking and I saw many
bullock carts.
Each
time we arrived at a care center I was amazed that the patients were always
outside, anxiously waiting for us to arrive!
As all the supplies and medicine were unloaded and set up, I was able to
take a few pictures as I watched the patients.
I realized that there was no laughter, no smiles, and very little talking
with each other. I very quickly began
to see that these people were very sick, so scared, and suffering. As I soon became very busy with taking photos
of each patient, I could see the suffering in each patient's eyes. These people are just like you and me,
someone's mother or father, someone's grandmother or grandfather, someone's son
or daughter, someone's friend.
It
was later in the day when I began to see a change in the patients. Little by little, I began to see a glimmer of
hope on these faces.
As
boxes of medicine were passed out – more HOPE!
YOU
bought the medicine for our Dongdaewon patients.
YOU
gave these people these HOPE.
As
graduating patients were celebrated for being completely well - more HOPE!
YOU
helped these patients to get completely well of TB.
YOU
gave this HOPE.
