I was cordially met in the missionary humanitarian Center titled as "Hope"; it is situated on the right bank of the Syr-Darya. Listening to my interlocutors - pastor Cho Nam Hi and administratoress-interpreter Galina Kogay- I didn't perceive any swagger or suggestion as to their exclusiveness when they told about their work. They simply do their jobs they were predestined to.
Everything started in 1999 when pastor Cho Nam Hi arrived in Sughd viloyat. Seeing for himself how poorly people lived here he returned to Korea with the only goal - to help us, residents of Tajikistan. The pastor considered the state of medicine in Mastchoh district to be mostly deplorable. He came back not alone having brought the family. That was the inception of their missionary activity in Tajikistan. And in a month two more Korean doctors joined them. One of them is doctor Ko, acupuncturist with eight years of service record, he has diplomas of Korean and Chinese institutes of acupuncture.
In the Center they use two methods of treatment - acupuncture and physiotherapy. Patients from all over Sughd viloyat apply to them. People come of their own will, the employees of the Center didn't advertise themselves anywhere, and neither did they organize any campaigns. The rumors about Korean healers were retailed from mouth to mouth.
- At the beginning of the year we worked since 8.00 up to 23.00.Every day we accepted per 120-150 persons. People came in the night standing in line, - Galina Kogay retells. - But then we saw we weren't able to endure such tough schedule for long, so we changed our system. Now we introduced registration. Per 90-100 people come daily. The queue is noted down for6 months ahead. Last year 15 thousand people addressed us".
When you hear about such figures you even can't believe that only 5 persons work here. To say the truth, one family left home having not endured our hardships with disconnection from gas, electricity and water. But doctor Ko's wife continues to teach children playing the piano. By the way, their daughter Ko Se Nuri who finished Khujand secondary school #13 occupied the second place at the republican musical competition, now she is a student of Tashkent conservatoire.
As for physioprocedures, these are mainly electromassage and upwarming with medicinal herbs. For treatment they use also plasters saturated with a solution out of medicinal herbs (something of the type of our pepper plaster). In the Center they accept all kinds of patients except those who need surgical interference.
Acupuncture is very popular here. Even Khujand doctors underwent respective courses here of their own will. The course of treatment includes 8-10 procedures. For someone acupuncture is effective already since the second procedure, but other persons may be cured for a year enjoying no result. "I think, the spirits of a patient himself/herself are of no less importance. It is common knowledge that people tuned towards recovery and success of treatment get rid of ailment much quicker than those who always doubt", - Galina Anatolyevna shares with me.
During our conversation I heard no few stories about the genuinely miraculous effect of acupuncture. When a student of the Medical Institute I got familiarized with the method of acupuncture which only started to be introduced into practice, I remember one woman consulting the doctor, she was a teacher. The woman lost her voice after the endured influenth. The doctor stuck needles into the certain points of her body and at the end of the procedure asked her to utter something. We were astonished when she managed to pronounce the first words. Since that time I began to believe into this exclusive method once and forever; its qualification as untraditional causes only misunderstanding and sneer.
The sense of gratitude will pervade any person if he/she listens only to several stories out of hundred cases. May be, reading this article somebody will recognize himself/herself or his/her relatives.
The first history. A married woman, residing in Khujand couldn't conceive a child in the course of twenty years. She underwent a three-months-course of acupuncture in "Hope" Center. Driven to despair she became pregnant. She gave birth to a girl, now the long-expected daughter is already 2.5 years old.
The second story. The woman suffering with sugar diabetes came to the Center with her children having the same disease since early years. Her adult children looked like teenagers. The daughter had deaf ears, in addition. The treatment normalized sugar, aches dismissed the children. One fine day the mother was flabbergasted when her daughter uttered: "Rain, it is raining". It was the first sound she heard in her life - it was rain patter!
The third story, but not the last one. Twelve-years-old girl was brought to the center with the diagnosis of "infantile cerebral paralysis". After a course of treatment she was taken home, they lived in Mastchoh district. The next morning her parents saw their daughter… standing near a tap and washing her face self-sufficiently! They immediately went to the Center to share this joyful news with doctors.
In the Center they cure successfully even such a disease as vitiligo called by common people as "kasali pes" (decolourization of skin). Positive effect is achieved in 60% of cases. Not infrequently patients ill with epilepsy apply to the Center. "Even in this case we notice that after treatment attacks occur not so often and their durability is shortened", - tells Galina Kogay
Even if I retailed the stories of all patients gone through the Center it wouldn't be a complete epopee about Korean missionaries. As the activity of the Center includes an educational program as well, the World Peace Corps meted out computers from them that afforded to teach children from indigent families; here children are taught computer science and music. And in 2002 the Ministry of communication of Korea sent a group of professors consisting of 4 persons for tuition of population.
"Hope" Center mission is to inspire faith into kindness crossing all the frontiers. And the hope for the better always gives new forces for overcoming ailment.
The other day pastor Cho Nom Hi celebrated his 50-th anniversary on the Tajik land, in Khujand, being surrounded by his new friends. Our region, which acquired one more man of good will became close for him too as his native Korea.