The Words of the Minami Family
|
|
The Words of the Minami Family |
When I arrived at Addis Ababa Airport the skies were clear and blue; the rainy season, which lasts from June to September had fortunately ended. Yes! This is a good start, I said to myself.
The Little Angels have performed in numerous countries, mainly to enhance friendship and goodwill. This global tour was specifically to the sixteen countries that formed the United Nations Forces that fought the Korean War.
Carrying with them True Parents' heart of true love and peace, Dr. and Mrs. Pak Bo-hi and the Little Angels arrived at Addis Ababa's Bole International Airport after 10:00 PM. The vice-mayor of Addis Ababa welcomed them, and two policemen on white motorcycles sent by the government led the way to the hotel. Indeed, policemen on white motorcycles escorted the Little Angels and their entourage until the day of their departure.
As I witnessed the nation's government and honor guard welcome Dr. and Mrs. Pak and the Little Angels, whom True Parents had sent, I could not help but pray, Dear God, please bless this poor country of Ethiopia.
On September 26, a Memorial Day Service was held at the cemetery where the soldiers who had fought in the Korean War were interred. As the Little Angels began singing the Ethiopian national anthem, the approximately one hundred and twenty Ethiopian Korean War veterans on hand began wiping away tears. As a cameraman, that I also couldn't stop crying as I took photographs was a problem.
When Dr. Pak conveyed the message of gratitude from True Parents, smiles broke out on the faces of the old soldiers for a moment. Then, their tears resumed. Others at the ceremony also wept.
Ethiopian troops fought in 253 battles during the course of the Korean War, and they never lost. There were 122 dead and 536 injured among their ranks; not one was captured, and not one deserted.
The Little Angels placed a red rose on each of the graves of the 122 fallen in battle. The heart of these dead soldiers must have been comforted by the True Parents' true love. The faces of the aging veterans who looked on were again filled with emotion and tears.
The following day, we went to pay our respects to the nation's president, Girma Wolde-Giorgis, who received our group warmly. We stayed for about an hour. The president shook hands with each of the Little Angels, and with a smile agreed to be in a photograph with the troupe.
The president appeared moved that True Parents had sent the Little Angels to express gratitude to Ethiopian war heroes. Dr. Pak presented the president with a medal engraved with True Parents' names, and placed it around his neck.
In the afternoon, a reception and banquet took place, hosted by the South Korean embassy, which had invited Ethiopian Korean War veterans as well as some three hundred Ethiopian dignitaries and members of the diplomatic corps.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the Little Angels' beautiful singing and graceful dancing. The Korean ambassador gave them the highest praise, saying, "I have been working to build friendship between Korea and Ethiopia for two and a half years, but the Little Angels have deepened this friendship many times over in just one evening."
The final day was the Little Angels' performance. Including the war veterans and their families, more than three hundred people had been invited, and the National Theater's 1,200 seats were completely filled. There was an overflow crowd of two hundred who stood throughout the performance.
Television and news reporters came in full force, and surrounded Dr. Pak, the veterans and the Little Angels. A Japanese newspaper also covered the visit.
Before the Little Angels appeared on stage, Dr. Pak conveyed a message from True Parents. The hall rang with applause, and tears appeared on the faces of many of those in the audience.
From Heaven's viewpoint, these Ethiopian soldiers, when in their twenties, had been willing to lay down their lives and fight for the liberation of the Messiah, the Returning Lord. After Dr. Pak conveyed True Parents' message, he faced these now aged men and offered a military salute. Many of the men straightened their backs and responded in kind.
After everyone sang the Ethiopian national anthem, medals engraved with True Parents' names were presented to representative veterans onstage, and the moving performance was brought to a close.
Emperor Haile Selassie had dispatched the soldiers to Korea with the words, "Fight until you win. Fight until you die." The nearly six thousand men were Ethiopia's strongest elite troops, reporting directly to the Emperor. I felt strongly that for us, who are attending the True Parents, our determination to fulfill God's will must be stronger than the determination those men had carried into war.
What happened in Turkey is an important milestone and marks a new beginning for the country. To everybody's surprise, one after the other everything became substantial only days before the event. The visit with the president was arranged on the initiative of the "Istanbul, 2010 Cultural Capital of Europe" agency only three days before the actual reception and that prompted other recognitions to follow. Around eighty war veterans and their relatives attended the event as did the ecumenical Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomeos, the consul generals of Korea, Japan, Israel and the United States, four providentially significant countries; as well as many other dignitaries such as members of parliament, NGO representatives and scholars.
President Abdullah Gill was impressed. Our group stayed at his residence much longer than originally intended. When the Little Angels sang a very old traditional Istanbul song, I told the president that even our children do not remember how to sing these songs anymore. He agreed, and right away made the necessary arrangements for the group to sing that song in the particular part of Istanbul that the song is about.
The next day, one day before the event, Dr. Pak decided that I should be the master of ceremonies, although previously all the necessary arrangements had been made with a professional.
On the day of the performance, therefore, I was so nervous that for a moment I thought I would collapse. Right before I stood on the podium, though, I told God that this is the last chance for my country to receive True Parents and a total calm arose within me. I suddenly felt so confident; I felt as if all the people in the audience were my children. During the rest of the program, I was so comfortable that I felt I was on a cloud.
Many veterans expressed their hearts with tears saying that this event was a grand finale honoring their sacrifices. Many expressed gratitude and said that this initiative made them feel that people remembered what they had gone through. The Seunghwa Ceremony brought many of the veterans to tears.
I felt it was significant that the event took place on the tenth day of the tenth month in 2010; a date with these numbers happens only every hundred years. Also on that day True Parents conducted a Blessing Ceremony. In 1453, Sultan Mehrnet conquered Istanbul for the Ottoman Empire by sailing up the Golden Horn, an estuary that divides the European side of the city. This time, not just Istanbul but all of Turkey was conquered by the true love of the angels sent by Heaven from the East to the Golden Horn Congress Center.
From a letter from the president of the South Africa Korean War Veterans Association in response to two questions we asked him after the Little Angels visited South Africa:
What did you think of Korea as a South African Air Force pilot in the Korean War?
I felt terribly sorry for the Koreans; they were very, very poor in the region of Osan, where I was based at Air Force Base K55. They lived in small mud huts and grew rice in paddy fields in which they used human excrement as fertilizer. Seoul, the capital city, was in ruins from having been taken and retaken by the enemy and the South Korean and Allied Forces.
I retired home after the Armistice had been signed and found that "world opinion" of what they called a "police action," which was of course a bloody war, was that we had not won.
What do you think of Korea now?
I was privileged to be invited to revisit Korea, as a veteran of the Korean War, for the celebration of the fiftieth Anniversary of the outbreak of the war. Nobody could have convinced me of the change that had happened in South Korea over those fifty years simply by telling me about it. I would not have believed them.
Bustling cities, with every amenity that the major cities in the rest of the world have only achieved after many years; great industrial complexes; no squatter camps with gangs and drug addicts and drug dealers.; brand new vehicles on superbly built highways and a most comprehensive railway network; and people neatly dressed living in huge apartment complexes....
Let me ask you what you would think of a nation who's ambassador personally sponsors and attends an annual reunion with the veterans in two cities of your country, and thanks them for being part of the struggle to set the South Korean people free? A country that continually invites veterans to revisit them to share the pride of what they have achieved in such a very short while? A country who sends a naval ship to your country many miles away to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the war that set them free?
Compare South Korea today with North Korea and answer me: Do you think South Korea and their allies won or lost that bloody war in which millions of people, soldiers and civilians, lost their lives?
If I were young again I would want to live in a country where the nation had a similar attitude and discipline of the Korean people... and the weather of South Africa! I rest my case.
Finally, considering all the events including the loss of lives in this war, I would support it again if we had to do it all over again.
Kind regards,
Piet Visser, President of the SAKWVA
I also had the privilege of accompanying Korean War Veterans to Korea in the summer of 2007 and met veterans from other countries. Their response is the same; they cannot believe this is the initiative of a private organization.
Many shed tears, especially when the Little Angels sang the South African National Anthem and other popular South African songs. They are deeply grateful to Father. The president of the war veterans association made it a point to mention Father's name in gratitude at the Memorial Grounds, and asked Dr. Pak to convey the message to True Parents.
Moruti Ledwaba
National Leader of South Africa