The Asan Foundation said on the 23rd it selected Jeong Chun-sil, 59, head of St. Teresa Clinic in Kenya, Africa, as the grand prize winner of the 37th Asan Awards.
The Asan Awards were established in 1989 to encourage individuals or organizations who have devoted themselves to helping neighbors in need or practicing filial piety.
Over the past 25 years, Jeong has dedicated herself to providing medical benefits to about 800,000 residents of low-income and marginalized areas in Kenya and Malawi. Born in Incheon, Jeong took an interest in the socially vulnerable from high school, and in 1995 took perpetual vows as a nun in the United Kingdom.
To build expertise that saves lives rather than offering simple service, Jeong majored in nursing at Middlesex University and obtained a nursing qualification in 1999. In 2000, she first visited Africa on assignment from the Discalced Carmelite Sisters, and in 2003 led the establishment and operation of St. Teresa Clinic in Kitengela on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya.
Jeong set medical fees at 20%–30% of those at general private hospitals so residents could receive quality care. The clinic now treats about 28,000 patients a year and is also working to train local doctors and nurses and improve the medical system.
In 2007, Jeong was dispatched as the head of Malawi's Mtengo Wanthenga Hospital and improved the medical environment by organizing hospital systems such as opening an emergency room, preventing infections, and installing solar generators despite frequent power outages and equipment shortages. In 2018, Jeong led the construction of a new clinic in Kangoya, Kenya, personally overseeing everything from design to construction management.
Seoul National University College of Medicine professor Kim Ung-han, 62, who won the medical service award, has performed free surgeries for 844 children with congenital heart disease in 17 countries with poor medical environments, starting with China in 1999 and including Mongolia, Uzbekistan, and Ethiopia, and has trained more than 3,000 local medical personnel. Kim also incorporated international health programs into the regular medical school curriculum so medical students could study their social responsibilities.
The social service award went to the couple Kim Hyeon-il and Kim Ok-ran, who have helped homeless people and isolated youth for 27 years. Starting with a newspaper distribution office in Bupyeong, Incheon, they operate the free meal center "Baha Meal House" and the youth recovery institution "Blue Whale Recovery Center," helping marginalized neighbors gain self-reliance and emotional recovery.
The awards ceremony will be held Nov. 25 at the auditorium of the Asan Institute for Life Sciences at Asan Medical Center in Seoul. The grand prize winner will receive 300 million won, and the winners of the medical service award and the social service award will each receive 200 million won. Fifteen winners across three categories—the welfare practice award, the volunteer award, and the filial piety and family award—will each receive 20 million won, bringing the total prize money for winners across all six categories to 1 billion won.