Two Korean immigrant women in the United States, Chong France and Maron Na, have known what it is to be down and out, but with the help of the Rainbow Center, a project funded by The United Methodist Church, they have transformed not only their own lives but the lives of others.
Chong France (right) helps a customer Chong France, who was released from a North Carolina prison after serving part of her 20-year sentence for the murder of her two-year-old son, now manages the Rainbow Center Thrift Store. Maron Na, who spent many years on Manhattan's streets, homeless, drug-addicted, and begging, now helps coordinate Dandelion House, an offshoot of Rainbow Center where Korean women like herself who wish to turn away from prostitution, addiction, and homelessness can find a temporary home. Ms. France's and Ms. Na's stories illustrate how Korean-American ministries, ministries with women, children, and families, and the Advance—all programs of the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM)—have combined to create a grassroots effort in Queens to heal the brokenness of Korean women in crisis. One result of that effort is the Rainbow Center, a two-story family house that has become a haven for women in need. Most of the clientele served are Korean-American women and Korean women married then abandoned or abused by their American GI husbands.
The Rainbow Center began as a result of the Free France Campaign run by a coalition of church women and North Carolina Koreans who sought a pardon for Ms. France. They succeeded in demonstrating that the death of her two-year-old son, Moses, was an accident. Ms. France had left Moses alone in a hotel room with his 15-month-old sister while she went to work. Moses died of suffocation when the dresser holding the television fell on him. In 1992, after serving 5 years of her 20-year sentence, Ms. France was released on parole into the care of the Reverend Henna Yeogumhyun Hahn. Rev. Hahn, the founding pastor of Rainbow Church, a small United Methodist Korean church in Long Island, New York, is a Yale-educated theologian and an activist on behalf of Korean comfort women. |
| Rev. Hahn began the Rainbow Center as a home for Ms. France, who was physically fragile and mentally unstable after the death of her son and her years in prison. Rev. Hahn provided a small room in Queens for Ms. France. The next day, two more clients, homeless women, showed up on Rainbow Center's doorstep and Rev. Hahn began to realize how much greater the need was than she had at first imagined. "I didn't know Korean women were homeless in this country. I had very much a guilty feeling in my mind. I repented," said Rev. Hahn. |  Reverend Hahn (left) and a resident of Rainbow Center. |
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Rev. Hahn now works full-time as executive director of the Rainbow Center, which has expanded to occupy a whole house and provides 11 bedrooms for 20 women residents. "The Rainbow Center is the only United Methodist ministry in the nation providing services for Korean-American women who are married to American GIs. It is also a place where lay people play a significant role providing leadership," said Jung Soon Kim, the executive in charge of Korean-American Ministries for the GBGM.
The women who live at the Rainbow Center have had lengths of stay ranging from three months to six years. During their stay, they are provided with counseling, health education, physical exams, legal advocacy, and occasional English classes. Some come from the street, massage parlors, and crack houses. Officials in mental institutions, police stations, and courts refer Korean women to the Rainbow Center.
For several years, Maron Na's home was the corner of 32nd Street and 2nd Avenue in Manhattan. Then a year and a half ago, Ms. Na survived a car accident. After spending a month in Bellevue Hospital, she was referred to the Rainbow Center. There she had a spiritual awakening and she accepted Jesus Christ as her personal savior. With a great deal of struggle, she overcame her addiction and her life of prostitution. Ms. Na has since returned to the street corner where she once lived. She went back to thank the store owners and business people who helped her survive her years of homelessness. "When they saw me, they said Hallelujah!" Ms. Na reported. Ms. Na also traveled from store to store asking for founding members to support Dandelion House, a halfway house she has begun for recovering addicts and prostitutes like herself. Over 50 of the shopkeepers she approached supported the mission and donated $25 dollars each for a bag of rice, which in the Korean culture is a symbol for surviving through the lean months. Now Ms. Na travels back to New York street corners to find and help bicultural Korean women like herself who are lost. "Without exception, all the Korean homeless we see are bicultural," said Rev. Hahn. Currently, seven women live in Dandelion House, a sunny, tidy two-bedroom apartment in Queens. Rev. Hahn was asked by Ms. Na to name the mission. "I chose Dandelion Mission, because [Ms. Na] looks like a dandelion—very pretty, very short, and very strong." Ms. Na is currently exploring the possibility of becoming a United Methodist missionary to expand her outreach work to homeless Korean women. |
 Flower pots on the window sill at Rainbow Center. | Near a window at the Rainbow Center, the faces of African violets turn toward the sunny suburban street. These flowers thrive—abundant, vibrant, and healthy. Like the women who reside at Rainbow Center and in Dandelion House, the flowers are well cared for. For people like Ms. France and Ms. Na, who have lived in a jail cell or on a New York City street corner, a real home means a lot. |
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March 8, 1999 To support the mission of Rainbow Center through the Advance, you can give to project code #341530-5. A description of the project can be found at http://gbgm-umc.org/advproj/AdvProj_Detail.cfm?ID=341530%2D5. To reach the Rainbow Center or Rev. Hahn, you may leave a message at Rcsisters@aol.com. To reach the Korean-American Ministries office of the GBGM, call 212-870-3829. |
All photos copyright © The General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church unless otherwise noted. GBGM is the official mission agency of The United Methodist Church.
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