50 senior citizens now live at the nursing home for the elderly of the Protestant Diakonia Sisterhood. "As if they were their own grandparents" – that is the motto of the sisters who look after the elderly patents who are in need of care or may also be suffering from dementia. Besides their nursing care, they also provide them with pastoral care until they pass away.

House visits to poor elderly people

Elderly people living on their own are also in great need in Korea. They often have no social network and they need medical and financial assistance. Industrialisation has destroyed the traditional family structures in Korea and many elderly people have no family support any more. The sisters therefore care for these people at their homes, together with a network of volunteers. They are usually out and about in the poor suburbs of the port of Mokpos, bringing rice to senior citizens or paying for expensive medication or medical treatments. They have also built several welfare centres together with the city authorities.

During their house visits, the sisters often find grandparents who are still bearing the financial responsibility for their grandchildren. Their parents have died, emigrated or are unemployed so the children stay with grandma and grandpa. But most of them need money themselves to be able provide their grandchildren with financial support. The sisters therefore assume the cost of the grandchildren's education with a scholarship programme and counsel the young people when they have problems at school. With their warm and friendly nature and open ear, the sisters are good counsellors for the young female and male pupils and their grandparents.