#holt internation

Alright, as many of you probably now know, I’m adopted from Korea. The adoption agency I was adopted through is call Holt International and the Holt Guest House is actually where we are staying on this trip. On Friday we got the opportunity to volunteer at Holt’s Disability Orphanage, the Ilsan Center.

First things first, some information about the Holts.

Harry and Bertha Holt were a farming couple from Oregon. They had six kids of their own. One boy (the oldest) and five girls. After the Korean war, Dr. Bob Pierce, president of World Vision, was going around the country showing documentaries of the aftermath. He specifically talked about the orphans of South Korea. He showed a documentary of the starving, homeless, and abandoned children that wasn't even the worst of it. It wasn't more than 3 days after hearing Dr. Bob Pierce speak before the Holts and their children were sponsoring a total of 13 children in Korea. 

However, Harry Holt's heart was still heavy for the children he had seen. After a lot of prayer and discussions with his wife, he decided to fly to Korea in hopes of adopting 8 children, 4 girls and 4 boys. Many road blocks stood in his way. His heart was physically weak and he had bad hay fever to worry about, but their greatest problem, United States law only permitted a person to adopt 2 children internationally. Regardless of all these factors, Harry left for South Korea in faith that it would all work out if it was God's plan.

On his way to Korea he had to make a stop in Japan. As he sat in his hotel room that night, still unsure if he could do it, he flipped open his bible. The verse his bible opened up to was just what he needed to hear.

“Fear not: for I am with thee:I will bring thy seed from the east,and gather thee from the west;I will say to the north, Give up;and to the south, Keep not back:bring my sons from far,and my daughters from the ends of the earth” -Isaiah 43:5-6

(The bible Harry used on his way to Korea, opened to Isaiah 43)

I have to admit, I cried the first time I read that verse in relation to the Holts and still tear up a bit when I hear it. It’s the perfect verse that God had for Harry that day, just when he needed it.

Harry went onto Korea and spent quite awhile there. He found his eight children and brought home 4 others as well for other couples. While in Korea he experienced a lot of heart break. He only chose ones to take home for himself that he knew no other would want; the ones too sick and too mixed. Some children he cared for didn’t make it in Korea. Most all of them came to him very sick and he and Ms. Cowan (a World Vision nurse) did all they could to bring their health to the point where they could travel to the United States with him.

(All the different awards Harry received from the Korean government)

During this time, Bertha Holt and her family did all they could in the United States to change the laws and allow the international adoption of more than two children per family. 

When finally the bill was passed and the children in Korea were ready, Harry flew to the United States with 12 children and Ms. Cowan. They arrived safely in Oregon on October 14th, 1955, around 4 months since Harry left. Thanks to the publicity that Harry’s journey received, hundreds of couples were asking what they had to do to adopt a Korean baby. They would get couples flying from across the country to talk to Harry about what it would take. Eventually, Harry left for Korea again to set up a small office in Seoul. A church lent him some property so he could build an orphanage that accepted mixed-babies from all over the country. Meanwhile, one of his daughters set up an office in the Holts’ home and started arranging home investigations for the families that wanted to adopt a baby. The first 18 children to arrive were escort by Dr. Bob Pierce to Los Angeles. Now, after many more years and many more problems and solutions, Holt International is active in 11 different countries with family strengthening, orphan care, or adoption. 

(Pictures of the Holts)

Note: If you want to read all about Harry’s journey, Holt sells a book called a Seed From The East which I highly recommend you read. It is written as told by Bertha Holt. In it there are many of the letters Harry sent to Bertha from Korea. I adapted it into docudrama form for a class last year which is where some of this blog post came from.

Without this couple obeying what God told them to do, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I don’t know where I’d be. I don’t know if I would have been born. Holt International is why I live with a family who loves me, the fact God is Who drove this organization is no surprise.

So, that was a lot about the Holts. Now about the Ilsan Center. This center was built because the Harry needed much more space for the children. It eventually turned into a facility for children with disabilities. Any orphan with disabilities that comes through Holt in Korea now comes to this center until they are either adopted or until they are independent enough to stand on their own, even if that’s never in their life time. 

We got a chance to volunteer in the afternoon after our tour in the morning. I spent my time with a woman who couldn’t speak so the language barrier was even harder. I think she was trying to speak in sign language to me but the little sign language I know is American Sign Language so communicating was more or less impossible. I’m thankful for the little I did know. “Are you okay?”, “It’s okay.”, “I love you”, “Yes”, “No”, “Hello”, “Thank you”... Apparently these phrases are enough when most importantly she just needed a hand to hold. Plus, with just these and her sign language I was able to somehow figure out she needed a tissue so that was pretty good.

The Ilsan center is also where Bertha and Harry Holt are buried. We got a chance to visit their graves.

(The stairs that lead up to their memorials. There’s 59 stairs, one for each year Harry lived. Also, that’s Jon. He was our tour guide.)

(On Harry’s grave Isaiah 43:5-6 and 2 Timothy 4:7 and on Bertha’s grave Proverbs 31)

The home of Molly Holt is also at Ilsan. She still lives there but she’s very old and not in good health. That day she was out at the hospital so we weren’t able to say hi but that’s okay. I got a chance to meet her when I was younger at KAMP.