Pastor Lee Jong-Rak

Not all heroes wear a uniform or have capes. Pastor Lee Jong-Rak has saved over a thousand babies in South Korea by his invention of the Baby Box. This is a place where unwanted babies can be placed into a box located on the outside of his church, anonymously, and in several seconds after the child is put in an alarm sounds and he collects them.

In Oriental societies a shame culture is the norm so an unwanted pregnancy or a child is a cultural taboo for the mothers who in a lot of cases leave the child to die in a trash can. Wanting to change this repeating problem of child deaths, Pastor Lee created his Baby Box where mothers can put their child with no social repercussions up for adoption. This has led to over a thousand children coming through Pastor Lee’s care. He is still active today saving children one at a time.

It takes Valor, Honor, and Integrity to stand up to cultural norms and care for babies that are unwanted.