hankyoreh

a Catholic friar. This picture was taken in 2007 in South Sudan

By Ahn Kwan-ok, Gwangju correspondent

84-year-old veteran teacher Father Won Seon-o (Vincenzo Donati), has come to Korea to visit his students. The priest has been working to provide relief and education to young people in a refugee camp in South Sudan. Father Won’s camp is also the setting of the film “Don’t Cry for Me Sudan”, a hugely successful film about Father John Lee Tae-seok, a South Korean missionary.

The documentary featuring Father Lee has been viewed by millions in South Korea. Father Lee fell ill with colon cancer while in South Sudan. He passed away in January 2010 at age 48.

Father Won is Italian and belongs to the same Salesian Brotherhood as Father Lee. Like most foreign priests in Korea, Father Won adopted a Korean name during his mission here. In July 2011, he sent a letter to his followers telling of his dream to embrace poor youths in South Sudan.

“Korea was poor in the past but has become a rich country. Now I have to help poor countries like Sudan. I don‘t have much time left. Please hold out your hands to help me,” said Father Won.

Won is conducting a campaign to build 100 small schools in places such as Juba, Wau and Rumbek in South Sudan, which separated from Sudan and gained independence also in July 2011. The letter Father Won sent to his followers was the first he had sent in 30 years. He was moved to action by the suffering he saw among poor young people in South Sudan.

Won finally boarded a plane bound for Korea on May 7. He had for a long time turned down the offer of a place ticket purchased by his supporters on the grounds that it was too expensive. Arriving in his only jacket, he brought all his remaining possessions in his bag: prayer books, two pairs of underwear and two pairs of socks.

Spending a week at the Salesian community in Seoul’s Singil district, he has met sponsors from Seoul and Changwon and now plans to visit Gwangju and Daejeon to collect donations for the schools.

As it welcomes its former teacher, the Salesian general alumni association is conducting a fundraising campaign to achieve the goals of fathers Won Seon-o and Lee Tae-seok. When he visits Gwangju on May 19, it will hand him 50 million won (about US$43,200), enough to build one school with four classrooms. It plans to send all funds raised in the future to South Sudan.

After being dispatched to Japan in 1950, Won came to Korea in 1962 and worked at Gwangju Salesian High School for 19 years. Every day he would call his students and give them a big warm hug. He was also an outstanding accordion player. He was loved unreservedly by his teenage friends. After earning respect for his benevolent character and austere, honest attitude, he suddenly flew to Africa in 1982, at the age of 54, to live among poor children in Kenya and Sudan.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]