By Gee-Gee O. Torres

The Congregation of the Daughters of Charity came to Korea in 1978. They were invited by Fr. Alexander Lee, known as the father of the hansenites in Korea, to help the many lepers there. Today five Filipino and 12 Korean Sisters continue the work that the first group of Sisters had begun.

Sr. Ester Cecilia, DC from Bicol arrived in Korea in 1993. She spent her first 18 months studying the Korean language, Hangul. “Learning a new language at the age of 45 was a great challenge for me. But with a very supportive community, I passed my subjects in the language school and now I get along quite well with my Hangul.”

After language school, she began with her new mission assignment as formator. Though she had already been a novice mistress in thePhilippines, Sr. Ester still found her new assignment difficult. “Most of our aspirants are the only Catholic in their family. When they enter our Congregation, they bring with them their own personal and cultural values which we respect. We teach them community values and when we combine these values with their culture and tradition, something beautiful comes out. My work here as a formator is like planting a seed and taking care of it to see it grow into a plant. My joy is seeing our Korean Sisters grow into mature Christians, ready to take on bigger responsibilities. Today one of our Korean Sisters is already the local superior in one of our communities. Slowly they are taking the lead.”

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Sr. Francisca Umali from Laguna is the local Superior of the Daughters of Charity Kunpo Community in Korea. She said, “I miss mobile clinics when I was in Negros in the seventies. But mission life here in Korea is a ministry of presence and it has a different kind of challenge.”