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2013-11-02 Matching NK Teachers

We had a delightful session matching North Korean adult refugees with some wonderful volunteers willing to tutor them.

In late September, some of the former teachers from North Korea took me out for my birthday. In passing, I asked if they would like to be matched with English teachers.

Definitely!!!!

Last Saturday, 3 of the 5 who had promised to be there did show up. We asked everyone present to introduce themselves. One of the ladies reminded me why I first started matching North Korean adult refugees as she discussed her struggle with learning English.

My colleague Eunkoo Lee has been my secret weapon, we have matched about 50 North Korean refugees and volunteer English teachers this year. Some of the matches have remained intact, others have ended for a variety of reasons. 

We are hoping the matches can last at least 3 months. At that time, we will review, encourage them to switch up or to find another way to keep the matches fresh.

Thanks to the volunteers-Sayaka Morita, Joo Yeon Cho, Kristen Alice, Sophie Boladeras, JiYoung Moon, Arielle, Matthew, and Cate Savoth. Initially, I thought it was enough just to set up the matches, let them sink or swim. But experience has taught me that we must monitor the pairs, because many were sinking. 

So I am delighted that Joo Yeon will take on the challenge as the Academic Adviser to these matches, either by directly monitoring the matches or having a team of assistants who will monitor each particular group. I'm thankful she has joined, for a host of reasons--on the bright side, she has brought incredible energy and passion to both these matches and to Mulmangcho. On my cynical side, I have another person I can blame.^^

I am delighted that the 10/16 group we set up is going well, that the volunteers are trying to prove that I was unnecessarily cynical! For some people, there is more curiosity than determination when it comes to helping NK refugees. After they get "the story" out of them, they lose interest. For the refugees, the idea of having a volunteer is better in theory than in practice when they don't improve quickly.

After having a great Saturday together, Sayaka and Joo Yeon joined me at Mulmangcho yesterday for another great time.

Scroll down to the bottom for my 2019 reflections.
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2019 reflection

2013-11-02: The Matching session that saved TNKR!
 
If you have followed TNKR, you know that Eunkoo Lee and I began this back in 2013.
But what a year of chaos that was! We took a break during the summer, I fired Eunkoo at one point, we were having serious conflicts about how to operate this, we weren't sure how far to expand this because we both had other full-time jobs and we were spending money out of pocket although some people seemed to think we had a cash cow somewhere. I unilaterally decided at one point to shut it down when I learned about the amount of socializing that was going on and even rumors about dating. I wasn't setting up this activity to be anyone's wingman. It was going to be a crackdown or a shutdown, and I opted for a shutdown.
 
We didn't have an organization, office, website, phone, budget, or name, so "shut down" sounds more dramatic than what happened in reality.
 
There wasn't really anything to shut down, just stop having Matching sessions. We had ceased operations with no plans to continue.
 
Looking at the photos, we were even using my flip-phone to take photos. Some people grumble about me holding up a TNKR brochure or name card in photos, but looking at the photos, it is just a bunch of nice people with no clear identification about what is going on.
 
Some refugees were asking then if they could study with us, but at that point I was saying that I had retired.
 
Then some of the refugees invited me out to dinner to celebrate my birthday. Eunkoo had mentioned to one of them about my birthday, word spread, then they insisted on dinner.
 
Surprise, surprise! They were saying how much they loved studying with tutors, so I asked if they would like to try again. YES! But I made it clear that it was not going to be a social club, I would only resume with something more serious.
 
So we decided to try again. We had a session on 10/16 with three of the TV personalities, then on 11/2 with some of the students who had been in the original Matching session months earlier.
 
When we resumed, we had others agreeing to help, we gave it a name "English Matching," but later I changed the name to "Teach North Korean Refugees," hoping the name would catch the attention of potential volunteers.
 
It is now 6 years later, we have had more than 400 refugees study with almost 1,000 tutors and mentors. We still have challenges, some still want to turn it into a friendship society or Secret Santa Club year-around. I am a social guy, I used to take photos with every new applicant and refugee joining, but then I was hearing some people didn't like it.
 
Our next recruitment weekend for tutors will be November 16-17, the next Matching session will be November 24.
 
Applicants should be apply through our Website, www.lovetnkr.org/tutor
 
https://caseylartigue.blogspot.com/2013/11/2013-11-02-matching-nk-teachers.html

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