file # CCF-113x.
Pusan, Korea.
19th March 1951.
Dear Dr. Clarke,
This
is but a hurried note on the eve of my leaving for Seoul. Tomorrow
morning we are to start at seven o-clock in a jeep Dr. Appenzeller,
John Underwood, Mr. Phillips and myself. It is a question as
to whether the military will let us past Taegu. Never the less
we are going forth in hope that they will not stop us. The other
members of the party are naturally very anxious to see about their
mission property in Seoul while yours truly thinks it will make good
publicity material for our organization too, to secure pictures of
the ruined homes for which we can base an appeal.
Already
I have some good material for write-ups I have made notes as I have
gone along but I have been traveling all the time which has made it
impossible for me to do anything about it and I do want to try and
express the feelings that I have experienced as I have gone through
these camps where the hundreds of orphans are just existing and nothing
else. This is a pretty cold world at least this part of the
world for fatherless children. Hundreds of them are just living
in tents and huddling together to keep warm. If my pictures
turn out which I have taken so far, you should have some good ones
for publication.
All
transportation-what is left is all taken over by the military and
we civies are simply left out of it. Nevertheless, to date I
have been able to get to two of the Islands namely Katuk and Kuji
where the Government have some twenty orphanages in all while 24 of
Dr. Oh’s boys are on Katuk too. There is a most interesting
story about Dr. Oh’s home which I am writing up, but unfortunately
108 of the children that were in the home at Anyang were killed in
a bombing by mistake, it is very sad. Practically all the buildings
were left in ruins. I’m getting pictures of it on this trip
to Seoul.
The
Salvation Army girls home is now in Taegu and we are driving through
there so I’ll get to see them. Then the Boys home is on Cheju
Island also some twenty of the Ethel Underwood girls, too, along with
a few of the boys from Chongju Boys Town. So I have been able
to locate them all. I hope to get a place from Taegu to Cheju
as there is no means of transportation from here in Pusan. To
go by boat takes a day and night each way and all they have are small
fishing craft which makes the travel not only uncomfortable but dangerous
if the weather is a little rough. Yesterday I took one of these
boats and went with Dr. Oh to Katuk Island, it was quite an experience
practically everyone on board was sick and I was so close to it, it
wasn’t even funny. But I stretched out on some freight on top
of the boat, and in this way I was able to navigate. The seas
were so heavy that our ship was an hour late in arriving back to Pusan.
Dr. Oh was quite upset and looked very white when he walked ashore.
Today
I visited another two orphanages in this city and I now have them
busy writing up the No. 2 forms. Before I leave next week I
hope to have this material ready. As per your instructions I
have taken on another 500 adoptions here and they certainly need our
help.
You
will be happy to know that I have already gathered a number of men
together to form the new Christian Children’s Fund Korean Advisory
Committee, of whom Dr. Fitch is also a member. The Committee
is meeting to get things organized just as soon as I return from Seoul
which I imagine will be next Tuesday as it will take three days heavy
driving each way to make it. I’m very fortunate indeed that
I’m able to get in on this jeep ride otherwise there would be no means
of travel. But it seems as though the Lord always makes a way
for us some way or other.
There
will be no difficulty in carrying on here in Korea and if anything
we are going to enhance our position very much being in on the ground
floor. I’ll be writing more about this later. But you
can go right ahead and tell folks we are going along as usual in fact
we are increasing our work here considerably. If possible I
hope to be able to get a Korean to work as a secretary so that the
Committee will not have any excuse about not having Xmas material
in on time and etc.
On
this trip I’m making a complete survey of the whole orphanage situation
and by the looks of things according to the figures which I have compiled
to date there are from 18,000 to 20,000 orphans. About half
of this number are in private institutions but a program can and should
be worked out to care for the other 10,000. I think if we could
get some of the larger denominations to realize the plight and need
of these fatherless little ones we might be able to undertake the
task. Moreover I think we could secure land from the Government
and also secure building materials from the UN just as soon as the
trouble ceases – if we have a complete plan and personnel that we
could put in to supervise the work. It might be that the UN
would give us several years of support for the children too.
I will
do my best to outline my idea in my report on Korea and would appreciate
your comments on the matter. The needs are great and there is
a great work to be done. Although Dr. Appenzeller is here for
Church World Service there is little they can do in fact just as soon
as the few bails of clothing they have left is given out their work
will be finished unless there will be some way of tying in with the
UN effort and if this is done then they loose their identity.
The folks here feel very bad that the relief to this nation in distress
has been limited to this one source of supply.
Please
excuse this hurried letter as it is already eleven and we have to
be up early expecting to be on the road by 7.00 a.m. With every
best wish.
Sincerely yours,
V. J. R. Mills
CCF-113
