My mother (Mrs. Huh, Young Sook) died in April, 1969, while I was studying at Syracuse University in New York, and Mrs. Jung Sook Lee had served as director until her death in 1982. In 1983, I decided to take over Sun Duk's operation myself out of a deep sense of family commitment.

Sun Duk has grown in population substantially, with 78 children, all girls, aged 3 to 18. We also hire seven day care workers and counselors. In an adjoining, we now operate a Government-subsidized pre-school day care center which is open to low-income neighborhood households. We now have 70 children enrolled at the care center and a staff of six teachers and one food preparers.

Sun Duk has sent away about 160 girls to domestic and overseas adoptions. More than 450 girls who grew up here are now independent members of society, some having their own families through marriage and others holding jobs.

We expect to see four of five girls each year reaching the age of 18, the maximum age until Sun Duk can gold them. But in reality, there is no place for them to go, so we have to provide temporary quarters for those overaged girls. The Government ternminates financial aid when a child reaches 18, but presently there are no sources of aid them who critically need help to establish their own footings in the community. and large businesses. Altec is also marketing a derivative of Design Intelligence technology under their brand via their direct sales channels.

Since the Government provides 90 percent of food costs, we have to come up with the remaining 10 percent from our own resources. The day care program does generate some revenue that fulfills this need partially.

For those having to leave Sun Duk at the age of 18 are given a small start-up fund of 2,500,000 won, or $1,600 in U.S. Currency value. Obviously, this money does not give them the necessary support as they start on their own because it can hardly pay their first house lent.

We do have plans for older girls.

We would like to be able to provide room and board for those over 18 for a period of two or three years while they learn job skills or go to a vacational school where they could be trained as child care specialists, nurses or beauticians. Such a program would undoubtedly give them courage and hope so that they can look forward to a brighter future.

Some people say in Korea that "Orphaned children beget orphans." It is a sad observation, but is true in many situations where an overgrown girl is forced to leave an institution with no family ties, friends or relatives waiting for them with open arms. Out of despair and loneliness, they get easily sidetracked and become mothers of fatherless babies. What happens to the infants? They are most likely to end up in an orphanage, like Sun Duk Won! In Korea, it is extremely difficult, emotionally and culturally, for an unmarried mother to raise a child on her own.

We have about 30 of these former Sun Duk family members who come to us once in a while and ask to live with us again, but we have no resources to accommodate them. It breaks our hearts when we have to turn them away despite our fear of grim consequences.

About our dreams. We want to build a dormitory for overaged girls with a capacity of 30 or 40, where they could recevied job training and prepare for an independent life.