Days in Daechuri

one morning we were
walking along the
outside of the village there where the
 barbed wire meets an
old woman's vegetables at the
edge of the base.

there, by a vacant house without a
roof and a
garbage pile full of
fleeing people's 'couldn't-carrys',

we saw a group
of children playing there
along side the
 chain link and barbed wire.

one little girl,
bolder than the rest steps down and says,
"who are you and
what are you doing here?
you have the face of the
enemy, the ones who
want our land for their
military."

and i must say i found this
little child
more than just a little bit
intimidating. and shaking in my steel-toed boots
i replied as calmly as i could that
irrespective of our
faces we were
 firmly
  on her side of the
   
   chain link and barbed wire.

the kids looked skeptically at us and
i said, "look here,
we've got a sign for those guys over there.
help us attach it to the fence
so they can see that we were here."

then hyun-ju decided that it sounded like a
fair deal to her so
she and her friends helped us out with a couple of
coat hangers from the
garbage pile and
together we tied our little
hand written note of
indignation to the
chain link and barbed wire.    

next time i saw hyun-ju there was a
group of us in masks with spray paint cans and
she came along and helped us out
decorating the walls with
red and black peace signs and
other messages
just outside the base perimiter.

and i must say,
that little girl is quite a
prodigy with a spary-paint can and a
heart so big
she could fit the entire world inside a
tiny corner of it,

i'm telling you.

hyun-ju
is a hero behind
chain link and barbed wire.

she's four-foot-nothing and she stands so much
taller than any
soldier that i've ever seen.

she's maybe 10 years old and she's got more
courage and more
love than anyone
10 times her age.

she reminds me
of why i get up
out of bed each day.

she inspires me
to do this suicidal work i do.

so, i live today for
hyun-ju and a
 million little kids who play on
trash piles behind the

chain link and barbed wire of the
                            empire.

until every single fence has been torn down and
transformed into
 homes and farming tools
we will not
 lay down.
we will not
 let go.

for hyun-ju and for
all those born into the
shadow of
chain link and barbed wire.

Posted by savePTfarmers at 12:46 AM | Permalink

This article is written by Noh sun taek who is a photographer that runs the Dachuri photo shop.

originally published in Korean in:

http://www.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?at_code=316207

"That is unforgivable to be forced out again. After all we have gone through to live here? That is unaccetable."

67 year old villager Kang gui ok has lived in Dachuri for about 40 years. When she came here for the first time, Dachuri didn't wasn't a village fit to live in. People who had lost their homes to bulldozers lived day to day under the hill by the original Dachuri that became a US army base. They were really poor and had nothing but themselves to survive. She came to photo shop to take a portrait in the sunset after picking up pond snails in the fields. Although she has worked and lived in the fields and soil, she grows old gracefully.

She wears a red head band that says "We oppose the expansion of the US army base."

She looks like an ancient warrior.

"We have made a better life for ourselves, and you say give this land up again?"

A 64 year old villager, Jo in gu has lived in Doduri since he was 20.  The hardship he has endured is indescribable. Being forced from where they had lived, they were had no choice but to reclaim land from the wetlands.  He worked in the fields from morning to night. To create more farm field he added soil to the marshland and planted rice again and again after that had died from salt water.  So now the fields of Dachuri and Hangsawol are fertile and renowned across Korea for their delicious and nutricious rice. Farming is how they know to survive.

"I can live only in this village. I don't sell my land yet, however, I worry about the demolition of my house.  The MND is destroying our peaceful community."

79 year old villager Chol joeng suk could barely eat a meal last winter. She is so heartbroken and distraught over the eviction. She is too depressed to participate in the candlelight vigils or drop by the photo shop.

88 year old Cho sun reh is the oldest senior in this village. In 1952 US bulldozers crushed her house and land without allowing time to pack her household goods. She was too scared to comment here. On her original house, the airplanes land and take off. "This Dachuri is not the real Dachuri. this is just land that people who were forced off had to settle." She still dreams of returning to Old Daechuri (Camp Humphreys).

Posted by savePTfarmers at 05:27 AM | Permalink

Dachuri is under the threat of demolition for the expansion of US base.

To keep this land, we made Dachuri into a peace village.

We‘ve changed vacant houses into public facilities such as a tea house, law consultant office, photo shop, cafeteria, and children's playhouse.  Living with the everpresent stress of an impending attack, we find many ways to celebrate our community and keep hope alive. 

Sunday is the day children look forward to. Every Sunday children have fun and prepare meals with adults who coordinate educational and recreational programs.

This is third Sunday to enjoy together.

Today's lunch menu is three color "sujebi" (a clear soup with wheat flakes). they made it pretty with tiny hands, it was delicious.

Children put guardians here and there that protect Dachuri from alien invasion . What are the guardians? A bike, a four-leaf clover, a goblin, excrement, etc... there were many creative creatures.

A puzzle made by the children. You can see the same image as a mural in Dachuri

The game "frogs and crocodiles" that has become popular. frogs have to get closer and cooperate in order to remain standing on a shrinking blanket to survive. Otherwise they are eaten by the crocodiles.

Posted by savePTfarmers at 05:04 AM | Permalink

Posted by savePTfarmers at 09:11 AM | Permalink