E2024-G182

Bak Sun-i and Her Devotion To Orphans

Narrative

Bak Sun-i (1921-1995) is known for having founded Chunghyeonwon Orphanage, the oldest childcare facility in Gwangju. She came to be known by the family of the missionary Robert Wilson (1880-1963) from a young age, doing sewing work for the family to make a living. Through this, she naturally became familiar with the Western missionaries and the Yangnim Church. In 1944, she married the singer Kim Saeng-ok, who had studied in Tokyo. However, she lost her husband in 1948 in the Yeosu-Suncheon Rebellion. From then on, she devoted herself to caring for 45 orphans at Missionary Wilson's House in Yangnim Village from 1949 to 1952, as the family had returned to America in 1948. Then, in 1952, she officially founded Chunghyeonwon Orphanage in 1952 in Yangnim Village, with her work being continued by her daughter-in-law, Yu Hye-ryang.