[vol.10] Park, Min-na's life story_ Yoon, Keum-Soon, a Women Farmer in Heungsanri
WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 20. 11:17
Actually, she expected that her husband worked for her but he has his own work of growing melons. He is put even in the situation of hiring someone to do her work. She is a mother of twins who just entered an elementary school. Let's listen to her hard but healthy life story!
In 1959, she was born in Kanghwado as the youngest daughter in a rural area. Since her childhood, she was a big helper for the farming work. Generally, the sexual discrimination between son and daughter was very serious in those days, her elder sister was not exception.
When she went to Seoul to make money, she encouraged her younger sisters to come into Seoul to study.
Yoon, Keum-soon also had a chance to go to Seoul when she was the fifth grade in elementary school. However, her hometown, Kanghwado is near to Seoul, so she had to go down her home very often to help the farming work. Although the work was so hard for such a young girl, but she was managed to do that.
She respected her father who works very hard. And she felt sorry about the poor living of her family regardless of their hard work.
She's never got tired and sick of such a hard farming work. That's why she becomes a farmer. There is an episode of her being a farmer. In Kanghwado, more than half of residents came from the North since it is located near the 38 parallel (D.M.Z).
Every morning, people get up hearing the voice of anti-communism propaganda. It was summer of her second year in the middle school. One day the microphone was telling very loudly about anti- communism.
Around that time, her male friend who she liked very much, got seriously injured by bombing a mine. This was so sad that she did not want to live any more. She became pessimistic.
At that time she thought she would be just a farmer the matter what happens in the world. She believed that was no such a thing which is honest and just like farming. After she graduated from the high school, she entered university although her parents tried to persuade her to be a civil servants.
In university, she got absorbed into theoretical and systematic studying about problems of farmers, and decided to be a farmers' movement activist. But her father didn't want to watch his daughter just doing a farming with a university education background. In spring, 1980, her senior suggested that she moved to Chungju city.
In Chungju, some activists gathered their will, and established a child-care center. She spent two years as a teacher and another year as a manager. And, in winter, 1984, she organized the women farmers' association, but it was dissolved because the village was very small and all women did not have strong will to carry on their activities.
On the basis of the experience, preparatory meetings for the farmers' association were set up, and she became a general secretary of the association. Officially, the farmers' association was established in September, 1987. In the process, she got married to the present husband, and moved to Heungsanri, North Kyeongsang Province, and became a professional farmer.
It was a hard time for both of them to do farming and to adjust themselves in many new and strange environments. She got pregnant and knew she had twins. Although she suffered from the pregnancy, she still worked in the farm and prepared to establish a child-care centre.
In 1991, the twins were born and named Jae-hoon, and So-yoon. It was a just starting point of, so called, "the war against child-care". Since the growing melon needed absolutely women's hands, so she just let the babies sleep in the room and locked the door to work.
When the babies were young enough to just sleep, it was O.K. However, since the babies began to crawl, the war started. The farming work is very much labor-intensive, after coming back home from her work, she just wanted to lie down.
But, those two kids made their mommy get more tired. One day, they played with a dish washer in the room. Guess how long she and my husband spent to get rid of the detergent from the floor!
Another day, they took out all the eggs from the fridge and broke them on the floor. Even they took out Kimchi from the container. Finally, she could not but tie up the fridge with some strings. Though farming work made her hard, she'd never regretted of being a farmer. But to take care of such naughty babies is really too tiresome!! Of course, she didn't surrender to that.
Moreover, she tried to work as a full-timer in an office of the farmers' association.
With her will to develop the farmers' movement, she became a general secretary of the Chung-buk Women Farmers' Association when the babies were one year old. Her first work was to set up the preparatory meeting for setting up child-care centers. She intended to solve the common problems of taking care of the children for working parents.
Owing to a lot of fundraising program, the Daega Day Care Centre was created, but it was hard to get a teacher. Opening it had to be delayed until in autumn. But, it was closed two years later because of a lack of the teacher. However, because the great majority of farmers are concerned with child-care, now it started to run with the great support from farmers.
On the day of opening the Daega Day Care Centre, there was no person who is happier than Yoon Keum-soon, herself. Her sons who had been brought up by her mother-in-law could get safer and better care. Everyday, they got much changes.
In 1995, she got a fund from the government as a leader of women farmers. She could write her own name on the tag of the farming products which are green pepper and cucumber. The farming work is very male-dominated and conservative.
In this light, it was very meaningful for her to put her own name as a producer. She studied about how to manage a cooperative farm with other women.
In the initial stage, she couldn't get much income from her products, but she gradually got better. Even she realized she was treated differently compared to the past. She had a sort of limitation about the various information, but she became a expert in agricultural technics and practical farming skill.
She told she was extremely happy when she picked up green peppers which was going to be her own name product. Changes in the farming area encourage her to work pleasedly. When the plants got desease or when the products were sold at a very cheap price, she had a broken heart. Nevertheless, the heart-breaking incident reversed a courage to her.
She asked other women farmers to put her own name as a producer, but it caused to a couple-quarreling in such a conservative agricultural society. Even the women farmers' meeting was often blocked by their husbands.
Generally speaking, the main female farmers' issue to be solved is a welfare thing. However, the most important problem raised by Yoon, Keum-soon is that women should be regarded as major farmers.
Of course, the welfare issue is also important. Because of lack of child-care facilities, children are ignored and mothers are easily tired by double day works. Most of female farmers suffer in a poor health condition.
Yoon Keum-soon, herself is worrying about education and lunch for her children who are elementary school students. The feeding problem of students' lunch in school costs a lot and extra work of mothers which requires mother to work in a school canteen in turn.
Besides, she is in charge of general secretary of KWFA, she has to be away from her home so often. But she appreciates sincere help from her husband in spite of his own work. Her mother-in-law said to her if she works as a full-timer for KWFA, she has to take one of her children to Seoul. That is the biggest agony to her in these days. In spite of many difficulties of working inside and outside, she gives a hope and courage to KWFA.