By: Sr. Nora Wiseman 

March 14th last year was just like any other day in the midwifery department in our hospital here in Mokpo, Korea. There was the usual quota of expectant mothers waiting to have their babies. Among them was Chang Hae Sook, a thirty-one year old woman who was to have her fourth child. She was premature labour and was hemorrhaging .

At 8:30 pm the obstetrician deliver a baby boy weighing 750 grammes – less than two pound bag of sugar. The doctor nodded to the pediatrician present, telling him that there was no hope, and he threw the little morsel into the trash can. 

I quickly retrieved the baby and found he was faintly breathing . As the doctor said there was no hope, I baptized the child calling him Johann.

We put the little mite an incubator. Amazingly this tiny scrap of humanity began, at first imperceptibly , and then rapidly to make strides. With every breath he drew life into that little frame and slowly begun to react and to those around him. He became the most popular person in the hospital, a joy and success to the pediatrician and nurses looking after him. He was, of course, an embarrassment to the obstetrician who almost did give not him the chance to survive.

For a two and a half months Johann lived in an incubator. His parents came as often as they could to see him. His father is an orphan and he would dearly love to have many children. But as he and his wife are just casual builders’ labourers they barely make ends meet as it is. Their joy in their little son’s progress was infectious. When he was out of the incubator and taking feeds they took him home. He weighed less than five pounds. We all know that even though he would not have many of this world’s goods, he would be rich in the love and affection of his parents.

So we said a sad goodbye to him as he went home; but we needn’t have worried. He was to become one of the most frequent visitors to our out-patients department. His first visit was just one week after his discharge. He was admit because of dehydration.

How did this happen? Well, both of the parent out working all day, his older sister, aged nine, had to rush from school at her midday break to give Johann the only bottle he got from morning till night. It is any wonder that, caught in a such spiral poverty, the baby suffered. He was in pathetic condition when he came, but again his tenacity to life pulled him through.

The next time we saw him he was a mass of mosquito bites. The neighbours got together and made a net for his cot. I went to visit the family some time after, and there was Johann under his net, alone in the house.

’ Johann is here again’, one of the nurses told me. And sure enough there he was. This time his stay was a lengthy one as he was a broken leg. His six years old sister was carrying him on her back when she fell and the poor little mite broke his leg. However, I was glad to have him in for a time to build him up, and indeed he thrived.

After his discharge his mother brought him back regularly in the clinic. We were able to give him some tins of milk and the child continued to gain weight. He was successfully put the measles over him and is now he was able to stand, smile and even say a few words. On his first birthday he weighed less than 12lbs, but the doctor fell sure that his psychological development will be normal, even though his physical will be small.

Johann may not turn out to be famous as this world’s standards go, he probably will not,- the poor seldom do. But his very existence is a miracle and his birth and the circumstances surrounding it will not be quickly forgotten here in Mokto. Another child, poor too, had angels sing at his birth. I heard no angel sing over the trash can that day, but who is to say they weren’t there. 

A native of Ireland, Sr. Nora Wiseman has been nursing in the Columban Sisters hospital in Korea for several years.