The floor scattered with jigsaw puzzles, a house consumed by heaps of diaper boxes, an amalgam of Elmo books, cribs, and clothes fill the cluttered playroom. This is a typical look for Pastor Lee’s house, church, and orphanage—all in one.
Pastor Lee offers his home as an orphanage for abandoned children with birth defects. A tin “drop box” is connected to his house. It serves as a last resort for parents who want to rid themselves of the burden of a disabled infant.
The sign on the drop box says: “This is a facility for the protection of life. If you can’t take care of your disabled babies, don’t throw them away or leave them on the street. Bring them here.”
Although Lee lives in Korea, his story has forever altered the life of an American college student living 6,000 miles away.
“If you asked me a few months ago what my life plan was … I would probably say I wanted to have a mainstream career—make meaningful films with heart or something,” said Brian Ivie, director of “A Drop Box,” a documentary on Lee’s orphanage.
“I think I have been pretty selfish my whole life and the making of this film has changed that,” he said. Ivie is studying cinema television at University of Southern California.
Brian had a crew of 11 young adults working on this documentary; several are also attending USC. Ivie said he has no connection with Korea or children with disabilities.
“I’m from Orange County. I’ve always been in an image centric culture,” Ivie said, yet added Lee’s story of saving physically and mentally impaired children “very much resonated with me.”
“I’ve been in a bubble in Orange County and I’m really trying to get out of that,” he said.
Ivie was especially touched to find several bright children in Pastor Lee’s home for abandoned children. “The majority of them, you would never know what their disability was unless you were told,” he said.
One child whom Pastor Lee adopted has missing and contorted fingers. Yet the child is gifted in other ways. “Oh my gosh, he’s the sharpest kid. You can tell that he is really intelligent by the way he articulates himself,” Ivie said.
The child wore gloves to school because he was a pariah for sport teams. One day, the child came to a realization that “there’s a reason why he has those hands.” He accepted himself and said, “I can do great things with these hands,” Ivie recalls.
The child decided to stop wearing gloves and, gradually, his classmates began to accept him, and he plays sports together with the other children. It was a profound epiphany for a 10-year-old, Ivie said.
“He’s not handicapped at all, not a bit,” Ivie said. “Is it our disability that we can’t see past those things?”
Pastor Lee is currently taking care of 21 children. It has become a controversial issue. Some say Lee’s drop box is promoting child abandonment. The Korean government has capped Lee from taking in any more children, according to Ivie.
Lee argues that although his resources are limited, he truly cares for the children with all his heart—which can’t be found in government sanctioned orphanages.
Ivie’s most poignant memory during the making of this film, was hearing a father of a child with Down syndrome say: “I honestly hope my child dies a day before I do. Because if I die first, nobody will take care of her.”
Now in his late fifties, Lee has saved nearly three dozen children from abandonment. Many were adopted. But for the severely disabled, he continues to care for them in his home.
“He takes the most unwanted and loves them just the same,” Ivie said.
Pastor Lee persists in changing the diaper of not only a 19-year-old, but also his own bedridden 25-year-old son, who inspired the orphanage.
“This film is, above all, a father and son story,” Ivie said. Lee’s son is unable to talk, and must be fed through a tube.
His mother and other orphans often play with him, but his “smile is controlled,” Ivie said. “But I’m telling you when Pastor Lee is with his son, he can get him to smile like nobody’s business.”
According to Ivie, like many parents when they first have disabled children, Lee was at a total loss when his child was first born. Having him prior to becoming a pastor, he asked, “Why would God give me a child like this?”
Yet Lee realized that a disabled life is a worthwhile life, and he has learned through the experience.
“He says people have kids with disabilities because the world and its people need to learn something through this,” Ivie said.
Knowing that many did not feel the same, Lee started adopting disabled children 10 years ago. The drop box was added in 2009 to start an orphanage.
“Without his son being born this way, he never would have saved all these kids that were adopted into homes,” Ivie said.
Although Ivie has finished filming in Korea, his work in the United States has just begun.
“I’m creating a foundation, working with different ministries out here and in Korea to elicit large donations to build Lee a bigger orphanage.”
Various nonprofit organizations around the world are contributing money to Lee’s cause. But so far, no corporations have joined. “That’s where I come in,” Ivie said—he’s going to market this cause to large businesses in the United States.
Ivie has been asked: Since there are so many problems in the United States, why are you going to Korea?
“There’s no borders on heart,” is his answer.
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