Strength Through Adversity


Image: Daily NK

Mr. Won, a farmer raising perilla plants,
arrived in South Korea with his family from the North in 2005. Like many, his chief
goal at the time was to earn as much money as possible in order to settle down
comfortably. To this end, he labored at food factories and golf centers and just
as he was beginning to feel like he could no longer endure the numerous factors
causing him stress at work, he learned about an introduction to farming program
run by a foundation helping North Korean defectors with their resettlement.

Upon completion of the course and the full
support of his family, Won was determined to get started as soon as possible. He pooled his savings
with grant money provided by the foundation to build a greenhouse. But things
were far more difficult than he imagined. Since this work was new to him,
routine tasks took much longer for him than for everyone else; for instance, he required 12 hours for a task that took everyone else 8 hours.

But farming was more difficult than he
initially anticipated. A crash course in farming could hardly provide him with 
everything he needed to know. Moreover, picking perilla leaves and
packing them in boxes all had to be done by hand, and was very difficult. The
physical labor left his shoulders and back aching everyday–all to earn less
than before when he worked at a factory.

But he didnt
want to go back to the time when he relentlessly chased after money. So he read
agriculture books in his spare time and doubled his efforts at work, which quickly reflected in his business–demand for his produce grew less than a year after he broke ground on the farm.

Shipping perilla leaves on the same day
that they were picked was hard on his body, but this strategy proved crucial to higher profit margins.
Now that I look back,
it is a good thing that I didn
t choose the easier
road. If I chose a crop that was easy to cultivate, then I might have quit
farming when the smallest difficulty arose,” he says.

He urges others in his situation to reflect
on the harrowing difficulties they have faced to get through those both current and future. “I really want to say this to other refugees: ‘Even though
life may be really hard at first, it
s important to
find work that you like after you
ve made some money.
Let
s remember how we came here. If we dont forget the determination that we had before coming, then nothing
is impossible. Moreover, we now have freedom, and live in a land where rewards
are directly correlated to one
s efforts,'” Won points out.

He adds that while he still has moments
where he sighs in exasperation or frustration at work, he never doubts
that he made the right choice, saying, “This small but burgeoning farm gives me
hope for tomorrow. And what’s best is that our four family members can sit down and enjoy meals together at the same table.What else could I want?

*This article was made possible by support
from the Korea Hana Foundation [the North Korean Refugees Foundation].