By Tim Peters
As we approach the simple hut in a village in northeastern China on January 31, an icy gust of wind makes us pull our jackets even tighter around us to protect us from the intense cold. Minus 29 degrees Celsius! We can only imagine the hardships many North Korean refugees go through on such a day. They have to face both the freezing weather and the constant danger of being caught by Chinese security forces.
Image: Byung-soo with the dear elderly lady who takes care of him
But on this particular day, we are not here to help refugees cross the border, but to visit an eight-year-old boy whose North Korean mother disappeared five years earlier. She could no longer bear to live with the constant fear of being arrested and forcibly returned from China to her home country, North Korea.
The first thing we notice as we enter the hut is the severely limited space, not unlike the huts of Chinese peasants hundreds of years ago. Our eyes are drawn to the presence of a quiet and dignified person in her eighties who seems unperturbed by several foreigners entering her home. Not far away, Kim-Byung-soo lies under a blanket on the raised, heated floor. He looks at us a little suspiciously, but not unfriendly.
With the help of our project partner to guide the conversation, we learn that the 88-year-old grandmother is the sole caregiver for Byung-soo. The boy's Chinese father is in prison and we have no concrete information about when he will be released. Byung-soo's energy and sometimes unruly behavior is clearly a huge challenge for his grandmother, who is valiantly trying to be both mother and father to the boy.
To ease the financial burden that Byung-soo places on her grandmother, HHK and Danish European Mission provide a regular grant to help with the extra expenses. This regular grant also gives our project partner an opportunity to regularly share the basic messages of the gospel with them during home visits. This spiritual dimension is an important source of guidance, comfort and encouragement for both the children and their caregivers.
In the three northernmost provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang, numerous children have been born to women who have fled North Korea. In a frighteningly high proportion of cases, the mothers have been forcibly returned to their homeland or have fled the constant fear of being caught by the Chinese police. Thank you for supporting the Danish European Mission in bringing help, faith and hope to the many children from these broken families. Jesus said: "Whatever you have done to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you have done to me." (Matthew 25:40)
