hankyoreh

Taban Akot in front of a bust of the late Father Lee Tae-seok with Inje University President Kim Sung-soo (left) and Lee Jong-tae

“I want to carry on the wishes of Father John Lee Tae-seok.”

Thomas Taban Akot, a 33-year-old from South Sudan in northeast Africa, shared his appreciation with Inje University for its support to cover his academic expenses in a Dec. 24 visit to the institution in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province.

“I could never have been a doctor had it not been for Father Lee,” he said.

Following a meeting with Kim Sung-soo, university president, and Lee Jong-tae, college of medicine dean, at the president’s office that day, Akot proceeded to a memorial to Lee set up in a corridor within the university library. There, he looked at a bust of the late priest along with videos and photographic records of his life and copies of his publications.

Inje University was the alma mater of Lee, who served as an older brother figure to Akot. The two first met in 2001, he explained. A student at a Catholic foundation middle school, he met Lee while the priest was visiting Sudan for volunteer work in education and healthcare. He eventually became an assistant to Lee, helping with medicine prescriptions during his medical volunteering and holding patients while Lee dressed their wounds.

A native of Busan, Lee graduated from the Inje University medical school in 1987 and served in the military as a medical officer before enrolling in 1992 in the theology college of Gwangju Catholic University. Ordained in June 2001, he traveled the following November to Tonj, a remote village in southern Sudan. There he became known as the “Albert Schweitzer of Sudan” for his efforts to build a hospital and school to treat ailing residents and provide them with education. He ultimately returned to South Korea in 2008 after developing colon cancer.

Lee encouraged Akot to study medicine in South Korea. Akot arrived in Dec. 2009; Lee passed away a month later. The Father John Lee Memorial Foundation, organized in 2007 by Lee’s supporters, provided support to cover living and school expenses for Akot during his two years attending the Korean language learning center at Yonsei University. Since his 2012 enrollment in the Inje University medical school, it has been providing support for living expenses and airfare. As a way of honoring Lee’s wishes, Inje University has also covered Akot’s tuition and dormitory costs for the past seven years.

While he was not successful in his first attempt at the National Examination for Medical Practitioners last year, Akot’s name was included on Dec. 21 on the final list of passing takers after his second attempt this year. The same young Sudanese man who had assisted Lee in the past had now become a doctor nine years later in South Korea.

In Mar. 2019, Akot is scheduled to begin a one-year internship and four-year residency at Inje University Pusan Paik Hospital.

“There have been difficulties, but with the help of so many people around me, I have been achieving my dreams,” he said.

“I plan to become a good doctor and work to achieve Father Lee’s wishes while treating patients in Sudan, where there is a shortage of surgeons,” he added.

By Kim Kwang-soo, Busan correspondent

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