Marianne & Margaret

The Miracle of 200,000 Won

In Nokdong (Doyang-eup), which you could call the same district as Sorok Island, there is a middle school, and two months ago three students and two teachers from this school came to see me. It is very rare for middle school students to ask to see me, so I was extremely curious. The reason was this: Nokdong Middle School has a dance club called B-POP. These young people had won an encouragement award at the dance competition of the Goheung-gun Space Festival, and the prize money was 200,000 won. They had come to donate this prize money to our Marianne and Margaret foundation. The B-POP students had held a meeting, I was told. What should they spend this money on? The conclusion was to donate it to our foundation and help the poor. I was deeply moved. The middle school years are the age when one most wants to spend money. And yet, following the example of Marianne and Margaret, they wanted to use their 200,000 won for people in need.

I made a promise to them right away. "In a few days I am going to Cambodia. I will go to a rural middle and high school in a small city called Poipet, divide your 200,000 won into two amounts of 100,000 won each, and deliver it to two students in the name of the B-POP students. And I will be sure to show you the photographs of that delivery." In truth, the foundation directors and I had originally planned to visit only Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. This was because our foundation had decided to build a dormitory for 100 female university students in the very center of Phnom Penh (including operating it free of charge through the foundation), and there was a signing ceremony to attend for that. To keep our promise to the Nokdong Middle School students, our group traveled an unplanned 10 hours by bus all the way to the small city of Poipet. The 200,000 won multiplied several times over. Scholarships of 100 dollars each were delivered to a total of six students, and an annual scholarship of 3,000 dollars was promised. Since the starting salary of an elementary school teacher at that school is about 200,000 won, 100 dollars in that region was a month's living expenses for a family of six. About 500 students welcomed us, and the Poipet students who received the scholarships expressed deep gratitude to the B-POP students of Nokdong Middle School. Knowing that our group had created hope for both the Nokdong Middle School students and the Poipet students, my heart was truly full, and the 10 hours of hardship in that shabby bus became precious time. When you go through experiences like this, there is something you always come to feel. It is that "no matter what anyone says, people are the most beautiful." I am truly grateful to the B-POP students of Nokdong Middle School. Their kind sharing created a miracle. It seems that those who change the world are always such simple and pure-hearted people. We who are wounded by people also find hope in people. And that was the story of the miracle of 200,000 won. ^^

(Written by Father Kim Yeon-jun, Chairman of the Marianne and Margaret Foundation / Filmed and edited by Director Lee Gi-haeng, Gwangju MBC)