Dear Source:
Just when we are decrying the sad state of our schools, we learn that some of our students are helping an orphan go to school. What a wonderful project. Now, Source, tell us how to contact the club which is doing this wonderful work and how we can contribute. I recently saw on TV that some youngsters raised money to put in a water pump in a village in Africa so the girls, who normally are required to spend all day getting water, can now go to school. Our children are learning that while one person cannot save everyone, each one of us can help one another person. It is a person at a time, one selfless step at a time, that combined with others does save many. Each of us can make a difference.
My son learned this and wrote about it in his college entrance essay many years ago. In 1987 he accompanied my family to South Korea for the dedication of a new humanities building to my father, the late William B. Estes, Chaplain and Colonel in the U.S. Army. My father was head chaplain for the troops in South Korea during the Korean War. He found a man, Rev. Rhee, who was running a school for Korean blind and deaf orphans. However, Rev. Rhee did not have a building of his own to do this wonderful work. My father donated $5000 of the army fund designated for a worthy cause, persuaded the Mayor of Taegu to donate 10 acres of land outside the city, and a school was built. For this effort, my father received the Legion of Merit from our government and a similar honor from the government of South Korea. In 1987, Rev. Rhee's son, found us, having lost touch during all those years. We were informed that the school had become a major South Korean university, Taegu University, which trains most of the teachers of the handicapped in that country, as well as training students for many professions. Now the college of humanities there is named "The Rev. Estes Memorial Hall." During the dedication ceremony, we met a music professor who played the piano with his one remaining arm and sang like an angel. He had been one of Rev. Rhee's orphans during the war. My father had found him near the Han River where a grenade had blown off his arm and had blinded him. And there he was singing for us. The blind and deaf children danced in Korean costumes and sang while a choir signed The Lord's Prayer.
The experience was an inspiration to our entire family. My father used to say that nothing can be accomplished without enthusiasm. He was so right. My children learned so much from him–that one person can make a huge difference.
I congratulate the Virgin Islands students who have taken up this worthy cause of helping an ophan get an education and join with May Adams Cornwall in a call to support them. Now, Source, do your thing so we can easily get behind this project.
Dena Langdon
St. Thomas
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