Before the baby box rings
It's sort of like heaven.
It just feels good and nice.
The children here are together just having fun.
But when the baby box rings,
it changes from a place where angels are walking around.
the atmosphere of the house just changes abruptly.
Like a car accelerating out of nowhere.
It's horrifying.
So
at that very moment, it becomes a war.
A war in heaven.
Lord, thank you.
Oh my goodness, she's so beautiful!
She's not a down syndrome baby, is she?
No, no she isn't.
Dad, who is it?
Dad, who is it?!?
Dad!
Isn't there a letter?
There isn't a letter of anything!
Why don't you go to the front and see if there is a bag at least.
Is it a baby, dad?
It's a sad fact.
Hundreds of babies are abandoned on the Streets of Seoul, South Korea, every year.
Many of them do not survive.
There is a thing called "the baby box."
If you're going to throw away your newborn baby,
a church built a box so the baby won't die from the cold.
There is a controversy forming around this "baby box."
Many more babies are being discarded as soon as they're born.
The number of abandoned children has doubled in the past two years.
The mothers say they abandon the babies because it's a hard life. And because of unwanted pregnancies.
This tragic loss of life moved a pastor to set up a way for saving unwanted babies.
This is
where we found the body of the baby.
We found the baby wrapped in cloth.
I am the pastor of Jusarang Community Church, Jong-rak Lee. Thank you.
My hometown is Geochang-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do.
It's in the mountains, where the air is fresh and the water is clear.
At the time, if you didn't starve, you were living in a wealthy family.
I was brought up with love.
I used to carry a guitar that I couldn't even really play.
When I played the guitar and sang,
a lot of people would come and watch and sing with me.
Since I was a decent singer and liked playing,
how do I say this?
Girls,
they started following me.
In a small town, the rumors of those relationships spread quickly.
I was so embarrassed that I could not stay in town.
So I decided to run away to Seoul.
While I was working there,
a relative told me he had this "good friend."
We first met because
my friend, his relative, introduced him to me.
Before he met me
He was just skin and bones.
So when I first saw him, because he was so skinny
I thought he wasn't my type.
My brothers told me, "She doesn't look good," because she was short.
"You two don't really match."
So since I'm their younger brother, they wanted me to meet a better woman.
I told them, "It doesn't matter. I love her."
I met him at 26 and married him at 27.
This picture is from when Pastor Lee graduated from seminary. And we've been doing this work
here for thirteen years.
If you look at the pictures from 4 years ago
and the ones now,
so many things have changed.
It must be because we are raising these children.
Both of us have gotten so old.
Pastor Lee looks like a grandpa.
And I look like a shrunken grandma.
So I keep asking Pastor Lee to groom himself.
And dye his grey hair.
We're not trying to look younger for ourselves. But because of the children,
we feel the need to be younger.
So we tried it. I wanted him to lose 10 years.
So for our children
we still have a lot to do.
And it's a long road ahead.
It's not like we can do this for a thousand years.
But we'll do as much as we can.
Today, Pastor Lee and his wife run a home church called Jusarang, or "God's Love" Community.
Jusarang is known by many as Korea's home for the abandoned and disabled.
Jusarang Community was founded because my son,
my son Eun-man was in the hospital for 14 years.
And children who were abandoned at the hospital started to come to us.
That's when the children started coming.
When Eun-man was finally discharged after 14 years, Pastor Lee and his wife had adopted 4 more children with disabilities.
But soon after settling down, people began bringing babies right to their door.
Visual: YOUNG RAN JEONG
Hanna lived six years, and went to heaven.
She was born with a disability.
Because her mother consumed drugs while having her.
And it was more serious because she was a minor.
The mother, the mother of Hanna was in middle school.
The grandfather brought Hanna to Jusarang.
Hanna had first degree encephalopathy (brain disease).
And she had to breathe through her neck.
It took her 2 hours for a meal.
Because she had to eat through her nose.
Pastor Lee and his wife went through a lot of trouble taking care of Hanna.
However, they were heartbroken when she went to heaven.
Hanna lived a beautiful life and left us.
Because of Hanna,
many felt peace in their hearts.
And there were people who thought
"There is a child living like this. I should not live my life so carelessly."
When we look at the photo, we often say, "Hanna, let's meet in heaven."
And outside there is a tree dedicated to Hanna.
We always think of her when we see this tree.
So one morning the child just stopped breathing.
"Pastor! Pastor!" "There's something wrong with Hanna."
So when I went to check, she had already passed away.
I cried out loudly. "God, if this happens again I really don't want to do this job.
God?
Can you please make her live again?"
I frantically tried CPR and called the ambulance.
But she didn't come back.
So we buried her ashes here. Hanna is with us every day now.
As I sent her away, I made a commitment again.
"God, I will die for these children."
In 2007, I officially started working here as a missionary.
After a couple of years, 2008 or 2009
Pastor Lee started noticing children being abandoned on the street.
Not only were these children being abandoned,
but they would die before anyone found them.
At the time, to be honest, we didn't even think about having something like a "baby box."
We just knew that we needed something.
Then someone told us there is a "baby box" in the Czech Republic.
Someone showed a video to us
While watching the video, we thought we could make something like it.
In Europe, some 700 years ago
impoverished mothers would sometimes abandon infants,
and something called a "foundling wheel."
It was a kind of revolving crib or an opening, a hatch in a church wall,
behind which there were nuns and monks waiting to rescue the child.
And in the Czech Republic it has been five years
since a special facility was set up for women
who give away their newborn children.
The so-called "baby box" has brought protest, though, from clergymen and even doctors.
Basically they've created this door beside the E.R. service entrance.
There's a bassinette there.
And if a mother feels like she has no other choice but to leave or abandon her child,
she has the ability to do that.
And it's a hole in the wall.
It's like a bread box with a sensor.
This is a baby box installed in the wall of the maternity hospital of the southern Russian city of Sochi.
Over 100 babies are abandoned in Sochi every year,
and three baby boxes have been installed across the city.
When a hospital in Japan opened a so-called "baby hatch" where mothers can leave their unwanted newborns,
it provoked a national debate about family values in this socially conservative country.
We tried to save the lives of those babies because we felt they were precious to God.
We put the baby bin in the church wall in order to allow the mothers to be anonymous and
so that they would stop dumping the babies where they had been dumping them
and they would bring them to the church.
A lot of people say that they will encourage
irresponsible parents to dump their kids.
So at the end of the day, do baby boxes protect or harm babies?
So in December of 2009, the baby box was installed.
After the story appeared in the news, a lot of people showed their support.
The baby box gained attention and we were interviewed.
On cable TV.
The cable channel asked people if they knew about the baby box.
But they never thought it was for saving babies.
They thought it as "A box to collect baby clothes."
At the front gate of our Jusarang community
before the baby box was made
people would often abandon their kids in front of their doorway.
If they can't afford to raise the baby,
they leave the baby in front of someone else's house and run away.
It's common practice.
And on the streets
We saw so many babies
Abandoned under any condition.
We were so heartbroken seeing them.
And we thought to ourselves, "What's the best way to save these lives?"
We thought about this for many years.
That's why we made the baby box.
I had a realization.
If I don't do something to protect these children
I could be picking up
Their dead bodies at my gate.
The standard height of a newborn baby is 52cm.
So Pastor Lee measured the box considering this fact.
And Pastor Lee is like..,
MacGyver.
He does everything well.
So the Pastor designed it.
After I installed it,
I didn't expect any babies to come in.
I prayed, "God, please don't let any baby be abandoned in the world."
Only if the child's life is being threatened.
Or if the baby box is their last hope.
Then Jesus, open up the door for these children.
When a baby is put in the baby box
The box makes a sound.
The bell goes, "Ding Dong. Ding Dong."
During dawn, when it's quiet,
imagine hearing this sound.
Thump, thump, thump. With my heart beating fast, I run down.
I take the baby out.
"Thank you, God. For saving this child's life.
Allow him to meet good parents, and allow him to live with you."
I pray like that and hug him in my arms.
My heart drops.
When I hear this sound, my heart just drops.
So this is here to protect valuable lives.
Take a look at how this works.
"For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in." (Psalm 27:10)
So we installed the box with God's heart.
God loves life more than the world.
He sent life to earth for His glory.
Eun-hye's dad came to Seoul.
She has down syndrome.
Before they decided to bring her here,
her parents thought about abandoning her.
When we sing praise during worship services,
she goes out to the front and dances.
She's full of grace.
She lives a graceful life like her name.
And there's Je-eun Lee.
His name means "the Lord's grace."
Next one is Nathan Lee.
I named him.
He is visually impaired and has brain lesions.
People call it "no-brain disease."
He can't even swallow food easily.
He wears diapers like a little kid.
"Nathan"
He's a gift from above."
That's what God told me.
Next one is Sarang Lee.
Sarang has scoliosis.
She's healthy and cheerful and she's doing well now.
She doesn't have a specific dream yet.
But she say she wants to be
A doctor or nurse to treat sick people.
She's very smart and pretty.
On-ew was put in front of my gate.
I didn't expect her to walk, but now she is able to walk.
I believe she'll also be able to talk soon.
Next one is Da-on.
She was born as a premature baby.
Everyone who visits Jusarang says she is so beautiful.
Next one is Pyong-gang.
When I ask him what he wants to be, he says,
"I don't know.
Maybe a soldier...
or president
or kindergarten teacher."
He was born without a right hand.
Ga-ul came to the baby box in late fall.
So I named her Ga-ul (Autumn).
Fall is an abundant season.
It is the season of joy.
It's the season of blessing.
Also, you know how beautiful fall foliage is.
I wanted her to have a beautiful life.
How long has you been volunteering?
We started early last year, and it has been about a year.
What do you think of the children?
At first, I pitied them.
But now I look after them like a mom would.
The Pastor takes the children and rears them like his own.
As this was my first experience,
I was very shocked when I first walked in.
I couldn't even imagine this many babies would have been abandoned.
My heart hurt a lot.
[Music] We fall. We fight. We ?? be better.
Oh Safe and well to other ties,
'cause love is all that binds us here. Oh
The sound is coming from inside of you.
It's drowning out the past in our own hands.
Where are we heading?
Fish
Fish?
To seeto see fish.
Poseidon's palace?
We're going to the aquarium.
Say hello to the camera.
Nathan?
Are you happy, Pyong-gang?
I went to go see fish once.
Ahyou did?
With mom and dad.
She's On-ew. On-ew Lee.
She's why we made the baby box.
The drop box was made because of her.
She was left in a box in front of our door when it was cold.
And because that could be dangerous, Pastor Lee
Thought that these lives could be saved in a safe place.
That's why the drop box was made.
On-ew! Show them. We made the baby box because of On-ew!
So this girl managed to get connection with our Seoul counselor.
She found us on the Internet.
She found our website, and
she came very, very badly beaten
just bruised-I mean she couldn't look at me in the eyes
she was so she kept trying to cover her face because
her face was just covered in bruises.
And then she showed me also on her body
all these scratches and bruises and red welts all over her body
because she had been beaten by her father and her grandmother,
and had made her way to us.
I mean she was beaten up so badly
that she couldn't see out of one eye
from her relatives...
pounding her head on the cement, she said.
She really wants to keep her baby,
but of course her family is really pushing her to give her baby up for adoption.
They couldn't get her to abort the baby,
so they are now trying to force her to adopt out the baby.
Her relatives, one of her relatives found out about the baby box
and actually told her mother about the baby box.
And so since that day, every single day,
her family has been pressuring her
and saying the adoption process is taking too long.
Just go and dump him at the baby box and come home.
(Mom)
They say before the drop box existed
this issue was not a public issue.
But, there was no other similar attempt in our country
And it is true the country was quiet about these things happening secretly.
Even the mothers or parents who are capable of raising babies,
if the child is disabled,
they abandon them.
The box could encourage abandonment. And the baby's human rights
and lives would not be protected.
In order to relieve pressure,
he says he made a box in the wall.
Because they don't put babies in unless they can be anonymous
The problem with the baby box is that the birthmothers leave the children without detailed records.
One of the reasons given on the media is that because there is no trail or record
of when that child was born,
who the mother is, the birth mother, and when the child gets adopted,
when he wants to seek that birth mother,
there is no way to trace them.
The reason why the babies are coming to the baby box through anonymity is that
In Korea birth mothers are required by law to register their babies.
Because of this fear, they try to hide their identity through the baby box.
But what they do know is
if I need to give my citizenship number,
if I go to an adoption agency, if I go somewhere to a hospital,
I'll have to give my citizenship number, and if that happens,
then somebody will find out.
If there is an unwed birth before marriage,
the society will view her as a promiscuous woman.
They are an easy target in school.
That's another thing. In Korea, still,
regardless of the fact that the National Human Rights Commission
told schools they can't do this, a lot of high schools will kick the girls out
when they find out the girls are pregnant.
So again, they really feel like they have no choice.
It is really tremendously hard for the birth mother
to raise that child in the Korean society.
The peer pressure by her friends,
non-acceptance by her family members on either side.
Under these conditions, for them to leave an official record of the birth
can be a very fearful thing to follow, given the government's required registration.
And these girls, when they contact us,
every single one, they're suicidal.
That's their first thought.Their first thought is,
"I'm just going to have to kill myself,"
because she cannot tell her parents (if she has parents),
she cannot let anybody know. She can't let her friends know.
She's just deathly afraid, deathly afraid that she will have no support, no future.
One of the mothers told me, "Pastor, I have poison to kill myself and my baby."
Through the phone I said,
"What? What's wrong?"
"Pastor Lee, I went to every institution possible.
I went to all the institutions I could.
But there was nowhere to send this child."
And so
she said, "If my parents find out,
my life will be over.
If my school finds out, my life also will be over.
Either way, my life will be over, so I want to kill myself and my baby."
I said, "You can't.
In order to save yourself and your baby, bring him here."
That's the only way I could save them, right?
Many of the babies came to us
in this way.
This area that you see is where a baby wrapped in cloth was discovered.
And over there,
from his apartment a witness heard what he thought was "a cat crying."
Here, he found the baby
and reported it to us.
In this specific situation,
because the abandoned baby was immediately found by someone,
the baby survived.
If it had been a little later,
the baby could have died from the cold.
The Metropolitan Children's Welfare Center estimates that a total of 204 infants were abandoned in the city of Seoul in 2013.
This isn't Gi-ri's first visit to the hospital, right?
Of course not.
At first, in the heart surgery they said his heart was very deformed.
The procedure failed, so after waiting a week at the hospital,
he had another surgery, an open cardiac one.
They also told us tha the needs 2 or 3 more heart surgeries.
He has a lot of health issues, so when he goes to the hospital he visits 5 departments.
It's overwhelming, isn't it?
Please give us the name and signature of the guardian.
It doesn't matter if you put yourself as the mother, right?
Put me as father.
It would be host.
Wait, we can't do that?
Then put me as guardian.
He's feeling good.
Gi-Ri says he feels good.
Abababababababa.
The parent who left him wrote a letter.
She probably had her baby checked while at the hospital.
We thought the baby was premature because he was so small.
When I looked, there were a lot of needle marks.
So I think the parents knew he was a premature baby and gave him treatment at a hospital,
but gave up when it became too much of a burden.
We receive these letters whenever a baby comes in.
They're all sad stories.
Miserable stories.
I can't read them all here,
but I'll read you a few letters
from these mothers.
"Hello, Pastor Lee.
I'm asking you to take my son.
I, as a minor,
can't live with him.
I didn't know what to do by myself alone,
but I came to know about you by chance.
I thought that if it was you, Pastor Lee,
my baby would be raised very well.
Eun-chong is his birth name.
Pastor Lee, I want his name to stay the same
so that many years later
I will still be able to recognize my son."
Another mom wrote,
"I am so sorry.
I just can't raise my baby.
I ask you to take my baby.
The baby has a disability.
It's down syndrome.
The baby needs continuous care.
Please don't try to find me.
I'm scared and sorry for my baby.
I'm suffering enough pain."
At 3 in the morning 5th November 2010,
this is a letter from Gi-ri's mom.
"Pastor Lee,
I'm sorry that I had to do this to you.
This baby has congenital face malformation.
This baby seems to be visually impaired and hearing impaired.
Please look after this baby.
Please don't try to find me.
Please forgive me.
I am so sorry."
Why did you name him Gi-Ri (Victory)?
Since his condition was so bad when he came, I wanted him to be victorious
and overcome physical illness.
I was very worried for him, as he had anesthesia as an infant,
because he was so small,
but then he overcam easily and woke up.
He had anesthesia 4 times.
Gi-ri, you are victorious!
You're Gi-Ri Lee!
Victory! Victory!
Bo, bo, bo, bo.
Try it! Bo, bo, bo, bo, bo, bo, bo, bo.
See, he listens to everything. We thought he couldn't.
Yeah, it's in English, too.
Wonderful.
Say hello to her.
He speaks English.
Give Grandma a kiss!
Your institution is almost as old as myself because I was born in 1954.
Really?
I was born in 1935.
Wow, you were? You look so healthy for that age.
Yeah, I work out every day.
And I've had ginseng people give me.
Yeah, you should.
I'm not healthy. I have diabetes and high blood pressure.
I went to the hospital today and my blood sugar was 460.
They say I should probably be hospitalized if it doesn't get better soon.
You need to be very healthy because you're taking care of children here.
I guess that's when my health started to go bad.
I lost my health.
Are you worried about Pastor Lee's health?
It worries me a lot,
because right now, for this job there's no one else but Pastor Lee.
Although it is something that someone should step up for,
no one has yet shown up and said they'll do this job with passion.
When I first met him, he weighed as much as a girl.
I even called him fish bones" when I first met him.
After a few years, he gained some weight,
so he wasn't able to fit into the clothes he had when we were married.
Those are expensive ones, but he wasn't able to.
He was sort of heavy even a few months ago, around 155 pounds.
But now that he has lost a lot of weight,
it's painful to look at his body.
Looking at his face, it's gotten smaller, like the old days when he had the nickname "fish bones."
The biggest problem right now is his lack of sleep.
But for now, there is no one willing to stay up all night
to look over the baby box.
Since there is no one to do this right now,
it worries me a lot.
This week, in total, how many babies came in?
Only this month there were 8 so far.
This month, today is the 8th, right?
So you can say there was 1 per day.
My name is Molly Holt.
I am presently chairperson of Holt Children's Services.
Our organization has a 50-year-old institution,
Right now we have all disabled residents.
I remember once I had a baby,
and I dashed down to see how she was doing, and she died.
The nurse was holding her up and she was dead. Oh.
I snatched the baby away,
took her back up to the room,
gave her more oxygen and gave her CPR,
and there wasn't anything I could do. She died.
The next day-this was at Pusan, when I was working at ??,
the next day the director of the hospital, a lady,
she called me in and she scolded me,
"You took that baby away from our nurse. When a baby comes to our hospital,
it's our responsibility, not yours."
I said, "Didn't you know the baby died?"
She didn't know about that.
And then I was weeping. I always cry when I'm angry.
And she said, "Why are you crying? It's only an orphan."
What happens to the babies after they come through the baby box?
That's another thing that makes my heart hurt.
The baby is initially separated from its mother.
The mother gives up the child.
Then it comes in the baby box.
Then the police are informed.
Then the district hall takes them.
Then they take them to the hospital to get examined.
And then they go somewhere called a temporary shelter.
And then when spaces open up in the nurseries,
that's when they are sent there.
There are 7 administrative and institutional steps.
You can't know how large of a wound that leaves.
I went out because the bell rang around 2 a.m.
But by the time I got there, the parent had disappeared.
I never met the person, but what I know for sure was the person was a teenager,
and this child had been born only 1 or 2 hours ago.
The baby was dropped in the baby box as soon as he was born.
It was like a blob of blood.
They didn't even clean him.
The baby had his umbilical cord still attached.
I had to cut many umbilical cords.
I cut so many I don't even remember how many I cut.
There have been 354 babies come through the baby box.
Only when there is nothing else you can do.
Only when the situation is dire and urgent.
When I meet the parents, about 60% are teenagers.
The ones who can't do anything,
those people end up here asking to save a life.
So through the baby box, a baby this young,
this baby couldn't have been more than 1-2 hours ago.
It's very cold during this time. The weather was really cold.
If they were just abandoned, they would have surely died.
Where are you guys going?
Taekwondo!
Brother, you're being filmed.
You're going to be in a movie too.
This jacket
This?
Yes.
The taekwondo master gave it to me as a gift.
Among the members of my taekwondo gym,
Ruri has been here the longest time.
He's been here 3 years. He's the 4th grade of taekwondo.
Even though he is missing fingers and toes
because of big surgeries,
he's better at taekwondo than any of the "normal" kids.
And when he grows up,
I really think he's going to have the ability
to teach taekwondo to his friends.
We at my taekwondo gym all love him.
Should I say it in English?
No.
My name is Ruri Lee. I'm in third grade,
which is 10 years old.
Now you know that.
I go to Won-Shin Elementary School.
When I was in third grade, there were tons of new friends.
I was so embarrassed because of my fingers.
It was spring at the time,
and you know those gloves that ventilate air well?
Well, I wore them,
and I did it because if I showed them my fingers,
the kids would make fun of me.
So I used to hide them.
During PE class we were playing dodge ball.
I really didn't want to use my fingers,
but I had to join the dodge ball game.
I was one of the last people left.
I intentionally went forward to get hit,
but they wouldn't hit me.
I asked why they weren't throwing at me.
They said they didn't hit me because I am "a disabled."
They said I wouldn't be able to catch the ball anyway because of my fingers.
"It's no fun, "they said.
So back then I hated going to school.
They teased me,
cursed at me,
and outcasted me.
So I didn't want to go to school.
At the beginning of the second semester
we had a student council election,
and the kids elected me as president!
I asked them why they elected me even though I'm "a disabled."
"You're good at sports and everything else,
so that's why we chose you as our president."
And from that point on, all my bad memories,
my frustrations, my sorrows from the past were gone.
Even to this day I appreciate those friends.
And that's the end of my story.
[Music]
Go on lay your troubles down. Set your feet on solid ground.
Peace deep as I have found. I want to follow you.
Come on all you weak and weary.
Come 'round now if you can hear me.
Poor, sick and God-fearing, I want to follow you.
Leave all your trouble, leave all your sorrow.
Set down your burden and come on and follow.
Come on heavy-laden. Don't wait for tomorrow.
Come on my brother. Come on and follow.
I always thought it was only the other children that were adopted, and not me.
The moment I heard it, I was really sad.
I thought I was my mom and dad's son.
But now that I think back,
I'm not that sad anymore.
Although I don't know who my biological parents are,
I think that the parents who have raised me until now
are my real parents.
And about the reason I want to inherit my dad's work,
if I do inherit it, that's okay.
But if I choose not to, all my dad's work would disappear.
So I will be handed the effort my dad put in
and I will add my own effort
and I will eventually pass it down to my own child.
My son's name is Eun-man Lee.
He is 26 years old,
and he has been lying daown his whole life.
In my dream,
someone had two babies wrapped up.
He asked if this one was mine, and he handed me the baby.
The baby looked gorgeous.
I looked at the baby and said, "This is not mine."
I also told him mine's not pretty like this one, but ugly.
Then he gave me another one. This baby looked ugly.
I told him that this one was mine.
Then I woke up and thought that was a strange dream.
Are you speaking with us through your eyes?
Brother!
Look at me.
Look at him.
Ruri.
What?
Your brother. Pray a lot for your brother.
Okay.
I'll pray a lot.
Eun-man, they're asking you to smile for them.
They are asking you to smile once.
You need to smile bigger.
Are you grinning?
Smile once. Grin once.
Give them a million dollar smile.
Until my daughter was six, we had a normal family.
Living happily.
When she was six,
we had Eun-man, my second child.
So when the baby came out and was held up,
he had a lump on his cheek the size of his face.
The lump was dangling from his face.
When I first met Eun-man at the hospital that I work at,
I had seen many patients,
and although I saw many with strange physical deformations,
I was shocked when I saw Eun-man.
I thought to myself, how could a person live with those conditions?
They said even if he lives
he will be in a vegetative state.
He would only be able to blink his eyes.
He wouldn't be able to do anything but lie on his bed.
I sold my house
to pay the medical bill.
I didn't have a house at that time.
The hospital was our home.
We, our family of four, lived in the ward.
Eun-man, what is your sister's name? Ji-young!
Eun-man's sister.
So while we were growing up together, there were many sick kids, including Eun-man.
So I had the desire to study. I wanted to study social welfare.
I wanted to help those children, which is why I also studied nursing.
So that's what I'm doing now.
Raising this child, how could Pastor Lee and his wife
adopt more disabled children?
I couldn't believe it.
I am a teacher at a school for children with disabilities,
so I meet children with many different types of disabilities.
But here at Jusarang Community Church
there are children who have much worse disabilities,
and who have
more heartbreaking stories.
Specifically, the work that Pastor Lee does at Jusarang
is taking care of disabled children or babies of single mothers
who have been thrown away or are on the verge of death.
Pastor Lee is working to protect life,
because people don't do this kind of work.
I think what he is doing is very special.
In this dangerous world, if disabled children get abandoned
or the parents can't take care of them,
we try to provide a place where these unwanted babies can be abandoned safely.
Then the doctor called me outside
and told me my daughter had down syndrome.
I was so upset.
Of course I was!
Because we never thought
that this could happen to us.
In today's world,
it's extremely difficult to raise a disabled child.
They get looked down upon,
sneered at,
shunned,
ignored.
If a disabled baby is born,
one of the parents has to stay with that child all the time.
I hope she lives healthily.
Her daddy
I hope she dies before me,
because there is no one to take care of her after I die.
I'm sorry.
There are children who rely on the help of others to survive their entire life.
Many people think it is better for them to go to heaven as quickly as possible,
because life on Earth would be too difficult for them.
But God
sent them to the Earth with disabilities.
They're not the unnecessary ones in the world.
God sent them to Earth with a purpose.
Disabled children teach many people,
change many people,
and help people reflect upon themselves,
which is why they are the educators of society.
Even these deficient, feeble children,
these really weak children
live with smiles on their faces.
While raising Eun-man,
no matter how difficult life gets at times,
we never faced any major troubles in our life.
Whenever we're around other people, we're always happy and cheerful.
When Eun-man was born,
I asked God at that moment
"Why?"
Why did He give me "that kind of baby"?
Why didn't He give me a healthy baby?
That thought immediately came to my mind.
But it wasn't even 30 seconds before I repented,
"God, I am sorry. Thank you for giving him to me."
So step by step, with faith, prayer and His words,
I lived.
That's how I started this work.
There's a voucher system for the bedridden disabled people,
where they send teachers to keep them company.
So these teachers would come
to sing and read to Eun-man,
but now because of the issue regarding the baby box
they completely cut us off.
They stopped everything.
Do you fear that children will die without the baby box?
Of course I do.
If you look at the current situation,
without the baby box,
many children would be dying.
That's a really scary thought.
Sometimes I have nightmares.
The lives of the newborn babies
and the babies that have not yet been born,
if the country could safely protect their lives,
then of course I would take down the baby box.
But if that's not the case,
I'll need to put my life on the line to save these babies' lives.
How could I abandon those babies and take down the baby box?
I can't do that.
We consider the baby boxes are dangerous
because they don't uphold children's rights or parents' rights.
And it will be, I think over time, seen as an ancient practice
that is unacceptable and not really part of the 21st century.
In Westchester County a teenager was arrested
after police say she delivered her premature baby
in her high school's bathroom and threw it in the trashcan.
I responded to a call of a baby not
breathing and I found a young baby wrapped up
in a plastic bag inside of a building, an Albertson's.
In August, a baby girl was spotted in a river in Fuhjo.
She had drowned.
Police say she had undergone an operation
and they suspect she was given up by her parents.
A newborn was found dead in a dust heap in Nanjing
with his umbilical cord still attached.
in an apartment building in Ninwah.
called firefighters after hearing the baby crying in a fourth-floor bathroom.
Firefighters attempting to pull the baby out of the pipe failed,
so rescuers sawed away a section of the 4-inch diameter pipe
with the baby still inside
and took him to a local hospital.
We hear the story far too often;
babies abandoned or killed just hours after their birth.
There is a law that gives mothers an option.
While the law is more than ten years old,
its supporters say it needs more attention.
Logos just like this one
can be found at more than 50 fire stations
throughout Fresno County,
along with hospitals.
It means that each location is a safe surrender site
where mothers can surrender their newborns,
no questions asked.
Right, but I think this also brings up the question,
does this encourage then for people to abandon their children?
I think it is especially important to have in mind that women
who feel that they cannot care for their child
need the help of the society,
and just putting boxes somewhere where they can relinquish their child
is not really helping.
We're saying we don't want babies dumped in the river
or in a dumpster or in a stairwell,
but the other part is we need to be a better culture and society that gives women options
and opportunity. I think every church,
to be honest, ladies, should say,
"We will take every single mother,
any girl that is pregnant,
and we will support them for five years."
If there is a chance,
if it's only a chance,
to save babies' lives,
I think it's worth it.
Even one year makes it worth to have a baby box.
It's not only Korea that has this kind of problem.
Globally, there are babies that die due to abandonment.
That's why the baby boxes were made.
People don't feel he presence of this issue
because the reality of child abandonment in Korea is not well known.
I do this because I am experiencing the issue every day
and witness what is happening to the children.
I can't be here and do nothing about it.
And when these things are brought to the surface, there will be some hardships at first,
and there will be looks of worry on the issue,
and there will definitely be people
who will try to misuse this facility.
But I think that
if the public answer
to taking care of abandoned children is not made,
that would mean that society is abandoning its responsibility.
While others may neglect this issue
in which babies are abandoned and their lives are in danger,
he does the work that society is neglecting.
If it's protected by law, the baby box wouldn't be needed,
and we would need to close it down then.
Then it will remain as a symbol.
This is what I want.
The baby box puts the issue on the table.
Before, the public used to only think about the issue superficially.
Yes, because we're talking about people,
people's values
and people's paradigm.
And it's not something that changes easily.
We think that if we just put all of the structures in place,
all the support network in place,
everything will work out.
But it doesn't always work that way,
because this is a matter of the heart.
There needs to be a huge overhaul in our thinking,
in the thinking of our youth, in what life is,
and the inherent value,
because if that inherent value of the baby's life is not there,
there is always going to be babies dumped in the trash,
flushed down the toilet.
People might say,
"Those babies that were abandoned in the baby box by their parents,
they'll probably live miserably. Why not leave them to die?
Is there any reason to do this?"
They may say things like this,
but it's not true.
Because I took care of Eun-man, I'm here now.
I started this job.
Now, look at it.
Through Eun-man,
I learned about the dignity of valuable life.
Through Eun-man, I felt a calling to make these children happy.
What does the "drop box" or "baby box" symbolize?
Life.
The baby box is the protection of life.
Also, just because the children were orphaned,
because they were abandoned by their parents,
that does not mean they will be miserable.
They really can be happy.
They really can succeed.
They really can grow up to be great.
If the Lord raises them, they can become world famous, great, influential people.
Do you think there is a purpose for your older brother's life?
Of course there is.
I believe God made the baby box through Eun-man, so that my dad could save more lives.
It all started because of Eun-man
and the babies that had come to my dad before he created the box.
They basically made the baby box.
So God purposely blessed, not cursed, Eun-man to build the baby box.
Eun-man is,
if you look at it,
my teacher.
Through Eun-man, I learned of life's dignity.
Through Eun-man,
I learned that life is more precious than the world itself.
I never thought that I would have to adopt any of them.
I didn't think about it, nor plan for it.
The reason I decided to become their father was
God has adopted me.
Gi-ri recently had his third heart surgery.
By the grace of God, he was victorious.
Ruri is now in the 4th grade at Won-Shin Elementary,
where he was just elected class president.
Again.
Eun-man is still lying down,
but always finds a reason to smile.
Pastor Lee and his wife are now raising 15 kids.
All of whom have a purpose.