Father Vincenzo Bordo, missionary of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, has been working for over thirty years serving the poor in the suburbs of Seoul. “The greatest, most beautiful gift we can give is hope.”
When he embarked for Seoul in 1990, many wondered what use a missionary could be in South Korea, one of the most advanced countries in the world and with a lively local Catholic community.
Father Vincenzo Bordo, of Italian origin, and a fellow confrere were the first missionaries of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate to set foot on Korean soil, where Catholics today are 11% of the population. He recalls, “That day, on the airport runway, I felt that a new story was about to begin.”
A story that has continued for more than thirty years. A well-trodden path in the service of lonely, elderly people, homeless people and the poor in the soup kitchen of the “Casa di Anna” centre in Seongnam, a city just south of Seoul.
The experience began in 1992, when Father Vincenzo met Father Pae Pedro, a local priest, who invited the missionary to go to the parish of Shing-un, where at the time there were about 5,000 Catholics. “There are many poor people here,” he told him. “I will help you fit into the context.”
The following year, Father Vincenzo opened the first soup kitchen in the parish of Seongnam, called “House of Peace.” The missionary recalls: “In the morning I cooked and, in the afternoon, I joined Sister Mariangela, who was doing apostolate in the poor neighbourhoods of the city, to understand, learn and know the reality of the poor.”
Father Vincenzo immediately realized how a Korean capitalist society did not want to recognize that the poor existed. The priest commented, “I realized that in modern, rich and consumerist societies, if a person, in addition to the eyes in their head, does not also have a big heart, open and attentive to those who pass by, they will never be able to notice the suffering of others that afflict Korean cities.”
In 1998, South Korea was hit by a serious economic crisis. The number of poor and hungry people increased day by day. The missionary wondered how to help all those people. It was providence that brought Matteo Oh Eun-yong, the owner of a large restaurant in the city, to his door. “He told me: ‘As you know, the economic crisis is reducing many people to poverty. Every morning, I find an endless line of men looking for work. I know that you take care of the poor. If you wish, I will put part of the kitchen at your disposal and I will provide everything you need.'”
Matteo had only one request: that the soup kitchen be named after his mother, Anna, who fled North Korea during the 1950-53 war and who, even as a refugee, had always tried to share something with those who had nothing to eat.
And so, for 30 years, every morning the priest has put on his apron to cook together with the volunteers. Every day, over 500 people go to Anna’s House, in 70% of cases to receive their only meal of the day. Father Vincenzo recalls that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of users reached 990.
Anna’s House carries out various activities. The missionary says, “We work for the street people, young and old and we offer many services. However, I believe that the greatest, most beautiful gift we can give is hope. When a poor person is hungry, they know that ‘If I go to Anna’s House, I can get something to eat’: a person left on the margins who has problems with the law, ‘If I go to Anna’s House, I can meet a lawyer’: a person who has health problems, ‘If I go to Anna’s House, I will find a doctor there who will treat me.’
The missionary continued, “More than anything else it is this: welcoming, listening and then trying to help. If you approach a poor person and say to them ‘I will help you,’ this is humiliating for them. The first level is welcoming a person: ‘Welcome; sit down, I will offer you a coffee. Giving them dignity: a poor person, first of all, needs dignity and perhaps this is the reason why every day, before starting meals with the volunteers, we begin with prayer; then you go out with the volunteers and with a big heart formed on your head – with your arms you form a big heart – you pass in front of each one, looking them in the eyes and you say: ‘I love you, I love you’, repeated 500 times, once for each of them.”
One day, the missionary noticed the presence of some teenagers among the people who came to the soup kitchen. He was curious and went to look for them in the streets of the city, discovering that in most cases, they had run away from problematic families.
The youngest today find space in family homes, while the older ones are directed towards work reintegration programs, thanks also to the presence of a factory, which allows them to save money, because food and accommodation are covered by the parish. In 2019, however, struck by the high number of young people who remained on the streets, the priest decided to promote the Azit project as well, called a ‘bus looking for kids’. “We bought a big bus and started going around from 4 pm to midnight looking for boys and girls who were wandering around the streets of the city”. Today, Azit is a refreshment point, but also a “field hospital” to heal open wounds and an ocean of consolation for many abused young people. “I am deeply convinced”, explains Father Vincenzo, “that the boys, in addition to needing a safe place, need a lot of affection and love.” Father Vincenzo’s Korean name is Kim Ha Jong, which means “servant of God”.
Father Vincenzo wants to remember that the poor receive, but also give. Maybe sometimes they give more than they receive. And in these thirty years, he has received a lot. The priest says, “Being with them, I have learned a lot. The first thing, the greatest: that life is beautiful. I remember one night – we went out at night to visit people on the street – it was cold, it was dark; there was a man who was on the asphalt, all frozen. I said to him: ‘How are you?’ He said to me, ‘Good.’ ‘But how can you say that you are well, you are sick?’ And he replied: ‘Life is beautiful, life is a gift.’ The second reality that they taught me is that suffering is not a curse from God, a punishment, but an opportunity.”
“What does it mean? Every human being has to face suffering, sooner or later; if this is welcomed, accepted, loved in some way, it frees our heart, makes it purer, even our mind is freed to new spaces. On the contrary, if suffering is rejected, is put aside, it makes us meaner, more bitter. And the third: I discovered a new, different ‘Face of God’, not so much a God who is glorious, peaceful and calm in Heaven but a God who cries seeing his children suffering, a God who is among us, a God I meet in an old man who holds out his hands for a bowl. I meet him in the boys I see at night on the streets … he is a God who lives on the streets!”
But what is Father Vincenzo’s dream? “I dream of a society without social welfare structures, because there is no longer any need for them. I also dream of the day when I will go to our House of Anna and, having no more beggars in front of the door and on the street, I will be able to close the doors and throw the key away”. (A De Poli/MM – M.Lundhal/SWM)
