2020 comment: When Eunkoo Lee and I first started TNKR in 2013, the idea of refugees getting to choose was still fresh. It was so fresh that even the co-founders had to fight about it!
By 2015 July, when the orientation session below was held, we were starting to become known for refugees having choice. At the orientation session below, the refugees made it clear how much they enjoyed having the right to choose and how unusual it was for them in their lives!
Around the time of this 2015 session, we also were struggling with establishing TNKR. We didn't have an office, we were moving between two different locations so people who didn't pay close attention to emails would end up (a) getting lost (b) going to the wrong place (c) not showing up at all or (d) doing all of the above, then showing up really late!
Another challenge was holding a separate orientation session. In the early going, we would squeeze the orientation and Matching session into one 2 hour session. That was in the early days when:
* we didn't have many rules. Now we have a 20 page Track 1 Guide written by Volunteer Advisor Daniel Cashmar.
* We knew there were playboys and socializers targeting our program, and also that there were refugees who saw it as a dating opportunity. We had to stamp that out, mainly with monitoring and higher expectations.
* Without controls, TNKR would not be anything special, just another program where refugees and tutors/teachers get put together.
So we began making changes, taking more time to talk to refugees to understand how we could develop TNKR. TNKR still wasn't an official organization, but we were preparing for the day that we would be. That meant, we needed to have a strong organization, needed to start raising money (that was and still is controversial with the People of the Internet who want things for free), and we needed for the focus to be on studying rather than socializing.
Eunkoo and I both quit our jobs within the next 18 months, determined to make TNKR into a solid organization. Even now, people ask me about the "big" and "long-term" vision of TNKR. I still say the same thing. To create learner-centered study opportunities that empower North Korean refugees to make their own choices. People are still looking for me to teach something in particular, such as about democracy, capitalism, reunification, or (fill-in-the-blank).
Grant-writers and marketers who come to us will tell us we are doing something great, but then will make suggestions that amount to, "Great job, but now, do something else so you can attract funding."
Our challenge has been to attract enough grassroots support for the wonderful program we have already created.
Original 2015 post: Teach North Korean Refugees launched in March 2013. We designed the project so that refugees have the power to choose as many tutors as possible. We started that almost from the beginning, but it has taken time for the program's design to resonate with refugees.
Now, as they come to us, they are telling us that the thing they like about the project is that they get to choose. Two or three of the refugees said it clearly: "Thanks for the opportunity. I have the right to choose what I want." Another refugee who contacted me a few months ago said yesterday that "I have a right to choose."
I never studied any of the other programs, but based on feedback from refugees, they don't get to choose among tutors or teachers, and in other programs, they aren't set up to be the ones with the power to choose the direction of their study or the process of improvement.
They have been waiting from 6 weeks to 3 months to get into our program. I could see yesterday that they are really eager.
Okay, so that's the plan: To have a learner-centered project so that the beneficiaries are in control.
But it wouldn't be possible without the tutors. They give so much of their time to the refugees. Many of them hate going through the selection process. Several have given us feedback that they are worried they won't be chosen (of the 260+ tutors who have come to us, there are only 2 who haven't gotten chosen). But then, other tutors have stated that they appreciated the process because they knew that they had been chosen.
* * *
My plan has been to have separate orientation sessions for tutors and refugees. But as usual, it doesn't work out according to my plan. Three tutors got lost, there were two who canceled yesterday morning, and I think two or three more no-shows. I had a few on the waiting list, luckily some of them showed up. We now have 12 tutors signed up, but I will be having another orientation for some who were late or couldn't make it yesterday. That's in addition to have an orientation on Friday with a returning tutor.
Once we can finalize the tutors, we will share the resumes of the tutors with the refugees, then they can start planning for the Matching session on 7/18.
We have now had more than 160 refugees and 260 volunteers to come through the project. This Saturday, we will have about 8 refugees and 12 volunteer tutors at our 32nd language Matching session. .
2015/7/18 Matching session
https://www.facebook.com/events/1460248650951943/
TNKR
https://www.facebook.com/groups/451294051613839/
