One Foot in North Korea
Working with the life-saving Eugene Bell Foundation, Maryknoll Father Gerald Hammons regularly brings desperately needed health supplies to the people of North Korea. Your gift will help eradicate deadly tuberculosis there.
The November weather was bitterly cold, with a steady wind and falling snow. At a tuberculosis (TB) care center in Kwaksan, in North Korea's Pyongan Province, our Maryknoll delegation found four women occupying a tiny 8-by-10-foot room that had only one small window and no electricity. Though it was warmer in the room than outside, it certainly would not be a place in which one would want to recover from TB.
These patients expressed gratitude for the aid they have received through the Eugene Bell Foundation (EBF), a Maryknoll partner in North Korea that is determined to eradicate TB, the country’s most serious public health problem. The women’s faces radiated the hope that they could return to their families and live normal lives.
Our trip last autumn, from November 15 to December 2, was never a sure thing. Our delegation, which included Father Philip Mares, Jonathan Evans of Catholic Relief Services and Doctor Stephen Linton of EBF, waited for more than four months to receive word that we would be able to visit our proposed sites in North Pyongan.
At last, North Korean officials approved the trip and issued our visas, but after we shipped all of the equipment for our proposed One-Stop Project, the government canceled the program prior to our arrival. This was to be a proactive health care program to provide primary school children in North Korea with TB screening, vaccination against hepatitis B and dental and eye exams, as well as eyeglasses, if needed, on the spot. The Public Health Ministry had approved a limited version of the project in October. Now we would still be allowed into the country to conduct our usual visitations, but not permitted to implement this new program.
When the chairman of the government's Flood Disaster Relief Committee met with us to discuss this, he said the One-Stop Project was canceled because of the political tensions between North Korea and the United States over the nuclear issue. He said that we—the two countries—are enemies, and until other issues are resolved, there could be no One-Stop Project.
We emphasized our perspective that we are not enemies, but brothers and sisters in Christ, and that our efforts are based on this belief. The patients we met at each of the TB care centers and hospitals we visited vindicated our position.
I don't doubt that anxiety will continue to be a part of our once- or twice-per-year trips to North Korea for the foreseeable future, but it is the hope and gratitude of the patients and health care providers that helps us endure the setbacks and deepen our relationship with the people of North Korea on every visit.
Your gift is an answer to the hopes and prayers of those we serve in mission. Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers will use your donation to support this
special appeal and other similar appeals. All financial contributions to Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers are tax-deductible.
