Feb. 22, 1955
CHONJU, Korea (KCAC)-Children at an orphanage here
are preparing for a once-a-year visit with their parents this week.
The youngsters were not orphaned by war, but by something as fearful.
Their parents are lepers. The children, who do not have the disease,
are kept from their parents. One day during the first week of March
each year, the 60 or more children in the Holung Orphanage are permitted
to visit their parents at a sanatorium five miles from the orphanage.
Typical of the children is Kim Mun Ung, a 12 year
old boy. He wandered and begged with his self-exiled parents for seven
years, attending no schools, sleeping outdoors and clad in rags. When
the province sent him to Ho-lung, he was undernourished and infested
with lice.
Today, Kim lives in a room with four boys, attends
school in a neat uniform and eventually will be taught a useful trade.
The orphanage is supported largely by the Korea Civil
Assistance Command. The three dormitories, mess hall and schoolhouse
were built with material from KCAC. Yu Pan Jin, the director and cured
leper, estimates there are 200 non-infected children of lepers in the
province. He has applied to KCAC for additional assistance to shelter
them. "They are good children," Yu said, "and we shall do our best
here to give them a proper start in life."
