TNKR had an absolutely fantastic forum with students visiting from the USA. These forums are great for several reasons:
* It gives refugees studying in TNKR practical opportunities to practice public speaking. Over the years, I have noticed that many North Korean refugees who gave public speakers weren't really prepared. When we decided to create our own public speaking program, we wanted to be sure that we weren't like a speaker's bureau with speakers who were expected to already have become polished speakers. It was going to be a work in progress. That meant, despite people asking for us to post speeches online or to even do Facebook Live, our focus was going to be on having the speakers develop at their own speed and that their speeches wouldn't be presented publicly until they were ready.
* Audiences get to hear directly from North Korean refugees. Watching a documentary or reading an article can move people, but meeting directly with NK refugees can have even more of an impact.
* One of the speakers yesterday mentioned that several audience members were crying as they listened to the speeches. Sometimes speakers will cry as they discuss emotional things, but it is even more likely that audience members will cry in a cozy setting like the TNKR office where they are close to the speakers.
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I kicked off yesterday's event with a brief introduction of TNKR. I must always be aware that the audience isn't there to hear me, so I need to introduce TNKR to make sure audience members know about the great work we are doing and that the event wouldn't be possible without the TNKR staff and volunteers doing work behind-the-scenes.
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Meet Refugees at their individual levels.
Cherie and Scott then gave talks. They both came to TNKR as very high-level English speakers and have now become fantastic speakers. I know that it is natural for organizations to take credit for everything a person has done, but I am quite delighted when even great speakers come to us.
For those refugees who speak English at a high level, they really don't need our program. They can just go into the street to meet people. It is easy for them to meet many people who want to help them.
But as we have heard from many students in our program, they eventually learned that studying with friends was not possible long-term or intensely. They couldn't get into intense studying that was needed, friends mainly wanted to chit-chat and people of the opposite sex eventually would express interest in dating. The difference refugees noticed is that our program is focused on their individual needs, not helping at the friend level.
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Then after the speeches came the main event: Q&A. This is where speakers like Cherie and Scott can really shine. Almost anyone who has studied can give a speech by just memorizing or reading a text. Cherie and Scott can both interact in the world of English, giving thoughtful, humorous, and interesting answers to questions.
Yesterday's audience had many good and pointed questions. The speakers noticed how engaged the audience was. It was their first time interacting with anyone from North Korea. The cozy setting of course made it more intimate than a huge audience. My role during that time is to provide additional context, data, anecdotes without taking over Q&A. I'm not a safety cop merely directing traffic, I have some things to say also.
Several people said they would like to volunteer although only one person has followed up so far.
Several people said they would like to volunteer although only one person has followed up so far.
Photo Time
Q&A is the main event, but photo time is a close second! No matter how emotional the speeches have been, there are mostly smiles after such an event!
Then afterward, we talked with Cherie and Scott a bit more. For some reason, Cherie and Eunkoo began attacking the bear when they thought it was somehow related to me.
