Along a strip of flower shops in Namdong
District of Incheon sits a small store called “Incheon
Flowers for Love” run by Ho Song Yeon [pictured left, Image: Daily NK], who opened shop
in April, 2013. Not much time has passed since she started
her business, but she is helping it grow little by little, day by day.
Early in the morning Ho hits wholesale
markets to bring in a fresh supply of flowers, wraps them up beautifully, and
delivers them to the doors of her customers. “It’s like a dream to be able to work in a space of my own. In the ten
years that I spent in China and the six in South Korea, there’s nothing I haven’t tried out. But somewhere
inside me, I always dreamed of having my own place like this,” Ho said.
Ho escaped North Korea in 1998; at the time
she was 22 years old. After her father died, family finances started to go
downhill, so she decided to escape the country, determined to keep her family
alive. While her father was alive, he often used to tell her about South Korea and
how people there were able to eat to their hearts’ content.
However, it took her six years from the time of her
escape to finally make it to the South. When she got to China, she faced danger
of being repatriated after someone reported her to the authorities, but with
the help of a South Korean pastor, she was able to get away. For a long time
following that incident, Ho lived hidden away in a small village.
She worked in the fields and at a rice cake
factory to make a living, working 15 hours a day all year only to receive
meager wages.
A precious family of her own
Every passing day felt almost like hell,
but that’s when Ho came to know someone special,
introduced to her by her acquaintance. He was a relatively well off Chinese man
who was kind and understanding of her situation. This enabled her to cast off the harrowing difficulties pervading her life and have a family of her own–with a baby on the way.
What worried her though was what her
daughter would face in China once she was born. North Korean defectors still
faced so much stigma and dangers in the country and the potential
discrimination her child would face distressed Ho. After discussing the matter
with her husband, they agreed it would be best for her to go to South Korea
with the child.
Her daughter was born while Ho was at
Hanawon, where all defectors go through resettlement training in the South. It
would become the beginning of yet another difficult journey ahead. Having not
been able to legally register her marriage in China, Ho was categorized as a
single mother and was therefore ineligible to receive the same resettlement funds allotment as would be allotted to a family. Not only that, she was registered as a member of her sister’s family that had arrived earlier, which meant Ho was not eligible
for separate housing.
Despite the troubles, there was no time to
waste complaining. Ho had to save every second to try to make more money for
her daughter, so she spent her days delivering bills, working as an insurance
planner and also selling cosmetics. At night, we worked part-time at a
restaurant.
Working around the clock, Ho was without the time to look after herself and her health. One night,
she woke up with a sense of suffocation and stiffening in her body. The pain reoccured every hour, eventually forcing her to seek help at a hospital, where doctors chided her for letting her health to deteriorate to such a state–she had developed cirrhosis of the liver. “I think back about that time and it scares me. It really made me
realize that health is your wealth,” Ho said.
The power of positive thinking
 Image: Daily NK |
When Ho said she wanted to open her own
flower shop, everyone advised her against it, saying it was too risky of a
challenge. But Ho decided to take over a shop run by an acquaintance–her only
asset the confidence that she could do it.
Ho emphasizes that of most importance defectors looking to start a business is to have confidence and discuss the plans with
as many people as possible– she was able to receive a plethora of sound
information from those around her.
For the first two to three months, Ho had muscle relaxant patches all over her body from moving around heavy plants. Also , lacking a delivery van, she had to use motorcycle couriers that came at hefty prices for their services. About 10 percent of her sales went to these couriers. But this
is when her sister’s husband told her about a project
called the “Gift Car Campaign,”
run by one of Korea’s automobile companies, aimed at providing people in need with vehicles.
“I only had two days left until the
deadline, so there wasn’t much time to prepare for it.
I filled out the application, and during the interview I just told them about
my situation. I told them how it was really hard to manage the flower business
that I had taken over because of the high delivery expenses. I think the judges
appreciated my story,” Ho recalled.
Fortunately, she received a boxy compact car, the trunk of which is especially spacious, providing ample room for
at least three to four flower baskets. Now, this gift car carries Ho’s flower deliveries all around Incheon City.
“Because I had worked as a bill deliverer
before, I know every nook and cranny in Incheon. So I can use shortcuts that
not many others know about and save time,” she said.
Ho never thought the rough times she went through such as delivering bills
would become an asset for her the in future. She says what brought her to where
she is now is positive thinking. Ho looks back on the days that she struggled
to hold on to chains of optimistic thoughts and now she sees how her past
experiences became rich nutrients for her blossoming future.
*This article was made possible by support from the Korea Hana Foundation [the North Korean Refugees Foundation].
