Friday, July 26, 2013

Gwangju Love Story (part two)

One night Miss Oh was sleeping in her apartment when the phone woke her.  It was Mr. Lee calling from Korea where he was doing some organizing.  Still half asleep she grabbed a pen and some paper to jot down the tasks she was sure he was about to assign her.  Instead he said, "will you marry me?"
She was still half asleep.  Was she hearing him right?  She asked him to repeat what he had said.

The couple lived in various parts of the United States, always working for democracy in Korea, until it was finally safe for them to return to Korea in 1994.  They lived in Gwangju, working for an NGO to keep the memory of the May 18 massacre alive and promoting justice and democracy.  There was still a lot of work to do.

Miss Oh lives alone now.  Mr. Lee died in 2011.  His grave is at the May 18 memorial site with the martyrs of the massacre and others who survived to continue their struggle.  Miss Oh visits his grave there.  She also hosts visitors who have a common cause.  She and a colleague want to start a school. Their school would be different from most schools that teach to the tests to enter prestigious universities.  Theirs would be a school to promote justice and train peace activists towards a more democratic world.  They are looking for seed money to make their dream a reality and to honor the memory of the freedom fighters of May 18.

No comments:

Post a Comment