It was well past midnight on the 4th when I came in through the front door to my worried daughter. She was curious as to why I was coming home after just a day involved in the trek to ‘Save the Daughter of Tongyeong’ when I was scheduled to take part for two days. But even before I could answer her first question, “How do you feel?” she was bombarding me with many others.
“How was it?” “Were there a lot of children trekking too?” “Are people getting more involved?” I grinned. After the stories we had shared about the first four days of the march, my daughter’s interest had grown.
I was a bit sad that she was not more concerned about her mother’s health, especially since I had come back earlier than planned because I was not well, but at the same time I was proud that she was so interested. So I told her the stories I had shared with surrounding children during the tens of kilometers we had spent side-by-side.
Trek march leader Choi Hong Jae’s two children So Won (16) and Ji Won (11) are both involved in the event, along with Kwon Min Soo (12) and Lee Sun Woo (16), the children of another participating adults. After escaping with nothing from the abusive Kim Jong Il regime, my daughter is now a junior high school student the same age as So Won and Sun Woo, so her interest is natural enough.
“I was very touched and thankful for the children who were involved in the march,” I told her. I really was very proud of them. The involvement of children in the trek is the best thing they could be doing for defectors just like us.
“It is really tough to walk but I promised my dad that I would not ride in the car today,” I said, repeating what Min Soo had told me brightly that morning, disrupting a conversation I was having with Ji Won at the time.
I also told my daughter the touching story of the ‘harsh(?) dad and stubborn(?) daughter’. The ‘stubborn daughter’s’ foot was blistered and her ‘harsh father’ had told her to ride in the car, but she told him, “Dad, I am ok I can do this” and walked off ahead of her father.
I also didn’t forget to tell my daughter what So Won said, “It’s really hard walking this long but thinking of Hye Won and Kyu Won keeps me going”, and what Sun Woo said, “This trek is awful hard, but meeting the people and sharing our stories about the purpose of the march make me feel proud.”
Hearing that these four children were so committed to finishing up the trek, going all the way to Imjingak, amazed my daughter and once again reminded me that this trek march to ‘Save the Daughter of Tongyeong’ is an amazing opportunity.
There is still 100km left. I told her that even though the children, So Won, Ji Won, Min Soo and Sun Woo, are physically tired they are all firmly set on finishing the event. Maybe she was moved by these stories, because my daughter immediately promised to participate when the group arrives in Seoul on the 10th.
