126 Taipo Road,
Cable Address: Chinachild
Kowloon, Hong Kong
27th June, 1951
Dr. J. Calvitt Clarke, Christian Children’s Fund,
Inc.,
108, Third Street, Richmond, Virginia, U. S. A.
Dear Dr. Clarke,
Today I received a letter from Miss Powlas in which she seemed rather
disgruntled about our spreading ourselves in Japan and not channeling
more through Jiai Mura. I have written a reply and trust that
it will serve as oil on troubled waters but as you know she is the type
that never tires of asking and of course Kumamoto is the centre of her
considerations.
She wrote primarily to inform me that last week the Jiai En Board of
Trustees finally got down to work on the Constitution of Jiai Mura.
To ensure that the orphanage will always be used as a Christian Institution
they decided to use the same Constitution as Jiai En. And change “said
Institution was established by the Lutheran Evangelical Church in Japan”
to read “said Institution was established by the Christian Children’s
Fund, Inc., Headquarters, Richmond, Virginia.” She continues
by saying to safeguard our rights the Constitution will read “The
Board of Trustees shall consist of seven members, two appointed by the
Christian Children’s Fund, Inc., two elected by the Japan Lutheran
Evangelical Church, two local Christians selected by the retiring Board
of Trustees and the Superintendent of the Jiai Mura.”
Regarding the preceding I have explained to Miss Powlas that just mentioning
in the preamble of the Constitution “said Institution was established
by the Christian Children’s Fund, Inc., Headquarters, Richmond,
Virginia” does not in any way safeguard our interests when it comes
to a legal claim if the Articles of Association are registered under
the name of Jiai En Board of Trustees and I suggested that she makes
an amendment to the name to read “Christian Children’s Fund,
Inc. Jiai En Board of Trustees.” In this way the property
will be registered in our name and as far as the appointing of the seven
members for the Board of Trustees is concerned, I think their present
suggestion will both guard our interest and theirs too as we realize
over and above the funds we have provided they have invested a lot of
time and hard labour.
She also mentioned the matter of the $3,000 for the Industrial School
building and I have reiterated my reply that just as soon as adequate
steps have been taken to safeguard the interests and investments of
C.C.F. we will be very happy to help further with the buildings but
until this is done I think we should refrain from any further investment.
She seems to resent the fact that our Japan Advisory Committee is incorporated
into the National Christian Council because the Lutheran Evangelical
Church is not a member but I have explained to her that C.C.F. is helping
25 different denominations in all and we feel their interests can be
best represented through the National Christian Council. I trust
that that which I have written to Miss Powlas meets with your approval.
Enclosed you will find a copy of a letter from Mrs. O. S. Whang who
is the Superintendent of the Orphans Home in Korea on Cheju Island.
You will remember reading about this home in my report on Korea in which
I stated that I refrained from doing anything to help this home for
the simple reason that it was tied up with Government red tape until
Mrs. Whang could ascertain her own position with the National Assembly
and the Seoul City Government we could do nothing about helping her
but if the home becomes a private programme then we may be able to consider
giving them some help.
I believe in my report I mentioned that this home is operated very efficiently
and of course Mrs. Whang is a professional social welfare worker with
post-graduate work in child welfare. For this reason the home
is operated on a more systematic fashion and the interests of the children
considered more than perhaps in any other home in Korea. The whole
matter of course is the financing, with nearly 800 children it would
call for an expenditure of around $1,600 per month. We would have
to find out how many children there are over 14 years and subtract that
from the total to find out the exact number which we could sponsor.
The plan for the proposed project, all the details as to organization,
operation, etc. has been completed. I am only waiting for the
building budget and proposed plans of construction which are being submitted
by Mr. Braga. The figures of course, will have to be revised to
cost of materials in Korea but knowing what prices are in Korea and
comparing them with prevailing prices in Hongkong I would say there
will be very little difference. I have done my best to set it
up in as technical a fashion as possible as I expect to take the matter
up with General Sams the next time I go to Japan. I feel if we
have a comprehensive programme showing that our administration is such
and, that we are able to handle all the needs of Korea’s orphans;
through General Sams’ influence we may be able to secure material
assistance from the U. N.
CCF-119
