With so many in-person events taking place at the beginning of 2023, Ewha’s campus has been livelier than ever. Both students and faculty alike have had many reasons to be delighted since the start of the new semester, but the return of Ji Sun Lee to Ewha has been without a doubt one of the greatest.
A graduate of the Department of Early Childhood Education at Ewha, Lee joined Ewha’s faculty as an associate professor at the Department of Social Welfare this semester.
Lee’s life between her departure from and return to Ewha was not easy. In the senior year of her undergraduate studies, Lee and her brother were involved in a car accident caused by a drunk driver on her way back home from school. She suffered thirddegree burns over 55 percent of her body, and parts of her fingers even melted. As an aftermath, Lee had to receive more than 40 major surgeries not just in Korea, but also in the United States and Japan.
The experience was both physically and mentally excruciating, but Lee noted that permanent changes in her appearance were the most difficult to accept, sometimes even making it difficult to love herself. However, even in those deeply frustrating times, Lee mentioned that she received unconditional love from her family, friends, and God. They were the very reason she could rise again, and later on motivated her to title her first autobiography “I Love You, Ji Sun,” a book featuring her point of view on the treatment and restoration process, which also attracted almost 400,000 readers’ attention.
“One of the most important lessons I learned through the accident is that getting help from someone in times of crisis brings immeasurable strength that can help sustain life,” Lee said.
As she wanted to help people in a similar situation to the one she had faced and wished that society could support such people in a more community-wise way, Lee decided to major in social welfare at graduate school. Thanks to a scholarship opportunity from Onnuri Church, she pursued her studies in the United States, getting her master’s and doctorate degrees at Columbia University and UCLA, respectively.
Lee has been focusing on each day instead of the future as she has realized that she cannot control everything that happens to her. Not clearly planning out what she was going to do after completing her doctoral program, Lee applied for a position at Handong Global University and started off her career as a professor, which she held for six years. She has now returned to Ewha 23 years after graduating, this time, as a professor.
“On my first day back at the campus, the familiar environment made me feel finally at home,” Lee recalled. “Just like my time as a student at Ewha, I hope to make more good memories again as a professor.”
When asked about her major, Lee remarked that unlike mathematics or science, social welfare is a field of study which does not have a model answer. It is more about solving practical problems people are facing. Lee wishes to discover ideal solutions for these with her students and be a good teacher who not only teaches but also learns from students. She also hopes to do more research, especially about the vocational rehabilitation of the developmentally disabled. Her goal is to provide them with more working opportunities and contribute to forming a better world for them.
Despite her admirable goals to make life better for those facing difficulties, Lee expressed her worries that some who hear her story will compare themselves with her, leading them to experience self-hatred. Having lived with such feelings herself, Lee rather wants people to see her as proof that even the worst frustration or despair cannot bring anyone down.
“Although everyone faces different situations, when my life was too tough to live, it felt like I was going deeper and deeper into a dark cave,” she said. “Finally passing through the cave, I realized that all those times were a tunnel, not a cave. Even if it might seem dim and hazy now, there is always a way out. You will never be broken, so I hope you keep walking.”