The Rachel Lee Jung-Lim Award

by Laurie Kazan-Allen

December 21, 2012 will mark the first anniversary of the death of Rachel Lee Jung-Lim. Rachel was a gentle soul with a warm smile and a big heart. Her goals in life were typical of a 21st century woman – family, education, work, friends. Sadly, the happenstance of her childhood derailed all her plans. The toxic exposures she experienced as a young girl living near an asbestos factory in South Korea led to her contracting the asbestos cancer mesothelioma when she was just 39 years old.1

The devastation caused by that diagnosis can truly only be understood by others who have been similarly affected. Some people retreat into a shell, others opt for the quiet life, surrounded by familiar faces in familiar surroundings. Rachel did not choose either of those options: she decided instead that she would speak out wherever she could about the deadly use of asbestos – and she did. She participated in events in Korea, Japan, Canada, India and Indonesia. On each occasion she spoke from the heart about how asbestos had stolen her life. Her mantra was “no more asbestos, no more asbestos victims,” and so she pleaded with consumers, politicians and businessmen to stop the use of asbestos. Whilst in Canada for the Asian Solidarity Mission to Quebec (2010),2 one Canadian called her a fraud saying Rachel looked too well to be terminally ill. That was one year before she died.

Rachel's memory remains clear and bright to all those who knew her or heard her speak. Tomorrow, on December 21st, six organizations which belong to the Asian Ban Asbestos Network will host a program, entitled “2012 Victim's Voice for Environmental Justice,” in Seoul, during which the first Rachel Lee Jung-Lim Award will be presented.3 The recipient of this award is the Premier of Quebec Pauline Marois, who made good on her 2012 election promise to revoke a $58 million government loan to the asbestos industry. By so doing, she ensured that plans to generate 25 more years of Quebec asbestos exports would fail and that the industry which had caused so much devastation in Canada and abroad would be shut down.

The wording on the plaque sent to Premier Marois says: “We know that prevention is the only cure for asbestos-related diseases, so the cessation of asbestos mining in Canada is a HUGE STEP forward.”

(Click here for enlarged image.)

I am in no doubt that Rachel would have been pleased with this choice.

December 20, 2012

http://www.ibasecretariat.org/lka-rachel-lee-jung-lim-award.php

International Ban Asbestos Secretariat

In Appreciation of Rachel Lee

by Laurie Kazan-Allen

Rachel Lee died from asbestos cancer on December 21, 2011 at 2 p.m. Korean time. Rachel was a woman with a formidable capacity for empathy and love. Everyone who met her was touched by her warmth, kindness and concern for human kind. The environmental exposure to asbestos which was to cause her death led her to campaign globally for an end to the deadly trade in asbestos. In November 2011, she went to Rajasthan to plead for the end of asbestos use in India “No more asbestos, no more asbestos victims,” was her motto. She told journalists in Jaipur that even though she was in pain, she felt she had to make the trip to Rajasthan to convey her personal message to the people of India.

In 2010, Rachel was one of a seven Asian campaigners who journeyed to Canada in the depths of winter to appeal to the Governments of Quebec and Canada to end the production of asbestos. Just a few months earlier she had visited the Indonesian city of Bandung in West Java to participate in a meeting at which the Indonesian Ban Asbestos Network was formed. Rachel was an active member of the organization Ban Asbestos Korea (BANKO).

The day before Rachel died she had been named as the recipient of a prestigious award in Korea for her bravery and determination in campaigning for a global ban on asbestos. The last time I saw Rachel she asked me to pray for her. I know that all our prayers will today be with her family, friends and colleagues in Korea and abroad. Rachel was a gentle soul with a golden spirit that lit up the lives of others. We will miss her.

Rachel Lee addressing colleagues at the 2011 meeting of the Asian Ban Asbestos Network