The sister introduces us to Lisa, who came into the world as a gift, and her mother, Kati, a strong mother who gave the world to her daughter, Lisa. This precious life came to her unprepared.
Now three years old, Lisa's eyes are filled with such loving cuteness that it's hard to turn away. Lisa lives her life more joyfully than anyone else, simply embracing the life God gave her without any pretense. Although Kati isn't fully prepared to be a perfect mother, she finds happiness in Lisa's existence. Watching Lisa, Kati is ready to overcome hardship and earnestly wishes her daughter a bright and healthy future.
Kati, a foreign worker who received an E6 visa and worked in Korea a few years ago, met a Korean man and found out she was pregnant soon after. However, contrary to expectations, the Korean father of her child found out that she was pregnant and encouraged her to have an abortion. She has been in hiding ever since. She was scared. The many realistic problems that she would have to face if she were to give birth to a child alone in this unfamiliar country with nothing were scary.
In the meantime, the father of the child disappeared. Ms. Kati, a Catholic, vowed to protect the precious life wriggling in her womb even though she had nowhere to go and could not work.
"The issue of life is that the lives of the weak are trampled by the strong, and the lives threatened by abortion, euthanasia, violence, war, etc., are the weak who do not have the power to protect their own lives from the unjust violence of the powerful." (Words from a Catholic Priest's column in the Catholic Newspaper.)
Yes, life is created by the strong, but that life is threatened again by the strong. Most people who do not hesitate to take risks to protect their lives are weak. Those weak are women and mothers. "Turn my eyes from looking at vanities, and give me life in thy ways." Life gained by following God's ways is created in His image and has dignity, so no one can or should have authority over another's life.
Lisa still needs to meet her father. All Kati wants is one thing: to live in Korea with Lisa. To do so, she must file a family claim lawsuit and have a DNA test to confirm her family relationship so that she can live safely in Korea with her mother. Both of these methods require her father's help. Katie wants nothing else, but the father refuses and avoids the child's existence.
Lisa, who has started going to daycare, is beginning to ask about her father's existence. Kati is becoming increasingly anxious as she watches Lisa searching for her father and her future, which is not guaranteed. If the child's existence is not acknowledged, Kati must take the child and leave Korea. Unfortunately, her father is hiding, but for the child's happiness, Kati has started a family claim lawsuit to confirm her family relationship.
There needs to be a legal alternative to hold fathers who have disappeared accountable for the future their children must live, even without lawsuits.
The law that mandates child support until the age of 18 has no means to enforce it on these bad fathers who vanish without a trace. Hope must blossom in the lives of many vulnerable people like Kati, who continue to walk a tightrope to protect their children so they can live, valuing the preciousness of life and fulfilling their responsibilities while they are alive.
The columnist hopes for a day when people like Kati can live happily in a country where they can choose to live their lives with their children like Lisa— Life is a gift of love from God.
