Flower Village

Saturday, October 20, 2018

Today’s mission took us to the Korean sisters at Kkottongae, which means “flower village”. They care for the poorest of the poor. They take severely ill people off the streets and people that have been refused care at the general hospital and nurse them back to health. The people are then given food, clothing, and shelter within the village. The sisters visit patients in the general hospital and visit the elderly, bringing them food. The village has 325 small houses for the residents. There are currently 280 people living there. They have an ICU where they can give IV fluids and other cares to those that are more seriously ill. We met Sony there, a man that is being treated for severe wounds. He has the most beautiful smile and told us that he offers up his suffering to God. They also have an orphanage to care for mentally and physically handicapped children. One of the residents sang a song to us, which was delightful! The sisters showed us a video about some of the people that they have helped. I cried through the entire video- tears of sadness for the pain and suffering they endured and tears of joy for their healing.

Once a month, the Korean sisters distribute food to about 3000 people living in the landfill. They take food packaged by Feed My Starving Children and are able feed only about 350 people there. It was good to see that food that is packaged in the United States is really getting to those who really need it. People were already lined up and waiting for us when we got there. Once we unloaded boxes of shirts and food from the truck into a small building, we got set up to begin distribution. We also noticed police officers at the site. Many women and children came through the line receiving the shirts and 15 packages of rice to last for the month. They smiled and thanked us for the food. It is amazing what a smile can do! We had become very efficient in passing out the items, moving people along quickly… and then the food ran out. All of the boxes were empty, the doors were closed and the distribution was over but there were still people who hadn’t received food. Men were leaning in the windows begging for food or money. Our hearts sank but there was nothing we could do. I had to keep telling myself that we helped the people that God wanted us to help today but it was so hard to leave people behind that didn’t get anything to eat. It just wasn’t fair that some would eat and others would not.

God does have a sense of humor. We noticed one of our team members, Ken, making some “strange” movements. His arms were raised above his head and it looked like he was holding on to something. He almost looked like he was trying to surf. He was demonstrating his new creation, the “tap-tap” dance! I am sure that it will become the latest dance craze! Is American Band Stand still around?

Lynn Arcand