ORPHANAGE APPEAL

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31977, 2 May 1969, Page 15

ORPHANAGE APPEAL

On Saturday each family in Christchurch will be asked to give 10c towards an appeal launched last year by the Canterbury branch of the Korean Orphan Scheme to rebuild the Ihnagwon Orphanage in Kunsan, South Korea.

The orphanage, which shelters 70 children aged from six months to seven years, will be demolished in about three months to make way for city development A new twostorey brick building to be known as the IlmagwonChristchurch Home, is being planned on a quarter-acre site about two miles from the present home.

The coUection on Saturday is being arranged by the com* bined Junior , Chamber chapters in Christchurch. The appeal organiser (Mr M. W. Burbery) said that it was hoped to raise at least $5OOO, but if each of the 76,000 families in Christchurch gave 10c, the total would be nearer $BOOO. About 840 Christchurch secondary school pupils will help with the collection, under the supervision of about 150 Jaycees. Mr Burbery said the eost of the new orphanage was estimated at $13,000, but this could rise to about $15,000 or $16,000 by the time it was built.

Work has started and each stage will be finished as finance is available. It is estimated to take three months to build.

The appeal in Canterbury is for $BOOO. At the beginning of last month $3OOO, already raised, was sent to the super-

intendent of the home (Mrs Kyung Hee Park) with an assurance of more help. A United States Air Force base near the home has agreed to give $3OOO, and $lOOO each win be given by the Korean Bth Army and a Roman Catholic centre.

The present Ilmagwon Home was established in December, 1965, in a converted Y.W.CA. hall by Dr Young Choon Lee, director of the Institute of Rural Health. SOLE AID

As the home is allowed, by the rural health laws, only one point of aid outside Korea, it relies solely on assistance from Christchurch.

All the children are sponsored by Christchurch persons, who each pay $24 a year, one-third of the upkeep of an orphan. This provides the one main meal the children get each day. Mr and Mrs C. Turland, a Christchurch couple who sponsor a child, visited the home in Korea recently. They took with them a plaque inscribed with the word “lima-gwon-Christchurch Home, a gift to the children of Korea, from the pepole of Christchurch, New Zealand, April 1969.” The plaque, presented to them by the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr A. R. Guthrey) has been given to Mrs Park to be set in the new building. In a letter received in Christchurch recently Mr Turland said it was obvious a new building was required even though it was now essential because of redevelopment Many floorboards were broken and sanitation was non-existent, although this was typical of Korea even in the best of homes. Mr Turland said that the

children were fed only on the meagre $2 a month sent by a Christchurch sponsor. Three times a day they ate rice or barley, and once a week a meal of dried fish or vegetables. “This is appalling,” he said. "Vitamins are needed urgently. The children are very thin, especially the babies, and vitamins purchased locally are of inferior quality and far too expensive for the home’s budget “Clothes are not so urgently required. When a parcel arrives, the child is allowed to wear the new clothes himself for the first time, after this they are placed in a central store and allocated as required. Toys are kept by the child until broken or damaged when they are placed in the play-room for general use.” On Saturday evening a cheque for the money raised from the Jaycees’ collection will be presented to the Canterbury representative of the Korean Orphan Scheme (Mr T. W. B. Clarke) and Mrs Clarke by the regional governor of the Jaycees (Mr P. Grofski). The presentation will be held in the Marshland Road hall. The photograph shows the children and staff of the Ilmagwon Orphanage.