Skip to main content

2015-07-12 "I have a right to choose"

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.

www.lovetnkr.org/donate



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/









Popular posts from this blog

Park Jin welcoming remarks to FSI (and Casey Lartigue)

  National Assembly member Park Jin makes the welcoming remarks at FSI's conference featuring North Korean diplomats. Park Jin | Greeting message to FSI and Casey Lartigue mention - YouTube
Read more

Does a flower turn to the sun?

I tend not to address points raised by people commenting on posts. In the back-and-forth of such discussions, people sometimes say things they don't mean or take extreme positions. In other cases they are just trying to be provocative, especially when they can remain anonymous. But a discussion on Greg Mankiw's blog caught my attention. That's because a couple of the folks suggested that parents don't really have the knowledge to make decisions about the quality of schools. Between 2002-2004 I was actively involved in the fight to get school vouchers for families in DC. I often heard the argument that parents don't know how to choose between good and bad schools and that, anyway, parents had enough choices with the school system's "out-of-boundary" options and charters (that had also been opposed). Without getting too deep into the out-of-boundary program, I'll point out that Woodrow Wilson HS, considered one of the best schools in the city, recei...
Read more

2018-09-28 Not everyone at KFC cooks chickens

Most of the people who contact us at TNKR naturally want to tutor North Korean refugees. Many potential volunteers are shocked shocked shock ed to learn that they can volunteer with TNKR in other ways. I tell many of them: "Not everyone at KFC cooks chickens. There are also delivery people, accountants, marketers, personnel, and a host of other positions." Earlier this year, we began developing the TNKR Volunteer Leadership Academy. I'm still waiting for someone to take over that little project. Until then, I will continue with developing it. And be developing it, I mean telling people, "Don't write me a long business plan about what you would like to do. Just start doing it, keep me updated and in the conversations, then let's talk and update." We have had a recent influx of volunteers who want to help TNKR in other ways. Jackie Cole is now running our Instagram. She constantly surprises me with the flyers and videos she posts. I made it clear from the ...
Read more

Common Sense on North Korea (Korea Times, April 2, 2012)

By Casey Lartigue, Jr. As interesting as Kookmin University professor Andrei Lankov’s writings are, there is nothing quite like attending one of his lectures. He can barely restrain himself behind the podium, often pointing and waving his arms. I also enjoy his unscripted speeches, but his answers in Q&A sessions are like the difference between watching Michael Jordan shoot baskets in warm-ups and an actual game. I have finally discovered the secret behind Lankov’s consistently solid analysis about North Korea: Use common sense. At an Asan Institute conference last summer, he argued that North Korea watchers should try to understand North Korea from its perspective. Don’t most people know that you must understand the mindset of others you are dealing with? Yet, common sense in theory gets ignored politically. From the North Korean perspective, nuclear weapons are the best thing they’ve got going. They will NOT give them up easily, even if President Obama ...
Read more

Random scenes in Seoul

Yesterday morning I stopped by to buy some kimbab 김밥 at one of the places that sells rolls for 1,000 won (about $.80, depending on how much the Korean or U.S. government have screwed up their respective currencies). I stop by there often so of course the woman there recognizes me. Of course, they probably recognized me from the first time I went there... Yesterday, she asked in Korean if I liked tan mu gi 단무지. I said yes, that I loved it. As I was trying to pay, she hurriedly cut some up right then, then fed it to me, like I was a 6 year old child... I could see everyone in the shop watching... then, I said, "맛있어요!" delicious! I could see everyone smiling. I'm surprised they didn't start applauding. * * * Friendly fights Saw a funny fight the other day. Two guys in a restaurant were wrestling with each other, knocking over at least one table. I watched, not really interested in getting involved. They could be two friends fighting over a woman or for some other reason,...
Read more