2020-09-07 I should have walked off during the recording!

Update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qR1PEEiJjI&list=PLn7xtnmarHFo0ddUJrmXFFN6Wd2VyrL9I

TNKR will be featured in an 8 minute segment on MBC TV in South Korea, this Saturday morning September 12th during the show Unification Observatory from 7:20 a.m.

저희 TNKR이 MBC 통일전망대에서 소개될 예정입니다! 이번주토요일(9월12일) 오전 7시 20분입니다~

An MBC film crew spent more than 5 hours at the TNKR office today, interviewing staff, volunteers and students.

Have you ever seen a lousy movie and wondered, "Why didn't the actors quit during the filming?" That was my feeling today as we were being recorded by MBC TV. Most of it was wonderful and I am sure it will look great on TV. And it will be even better if they cut the worst scene I have ever been in during my many years of being featured in media. The main reason I didn't walk off the set? Lovely Sharon Jang called me an angel during the middle of the scene, so it might not have looked good for the angel to storm off in a huff.

By the way, I don't have a TV, I have never knowingly watched MBC TV (except for a previous time TNKR was in a short segment on MBC news), so I am not sure how you can watch it. If they send a link then I will post it, even if they don't cut the lousy scene.

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2020-11-12 Nothing compares to TNKR

www.lovetnkr.org/donate I was delighted to host Eunhee Park at a speech last week to graduate students. Eunhee has spoken at the Asia Liberty Forum, the Oslo Freedom Forum, given a TEDx Talk, and also won local English speech contests. She is the kind of speaker who is ready to a thoughtful speech, to answer any questions, and to even ask questions of the audience. Some audiences aren't ready for a speaker like her ready to engage them! Many audiences just want to passively listen. I gave a speech to them about a month ago, then invited Eunhee to follow up. ***************************************************** Nothing compares to TNKR A few years ago, when high school students applied to volunteer with TNKR, I was like the old neighbor yelling, "You kids get out of my yard!" After experiencing enough high school kids expecting to get a volunteer certificate for volunteering for a few hours then never contacting us again, I wrote them off. We were trying to build an organi

2020-10-31 Those wonderful moments...

That wonderful moment when your organization gets featured by a huge government office. In this case, South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I am sure they did research about us or have been watching us for a while. http://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=mofakr&logNo=222130813183&redirect=Dlog *********************************************** That wonderful moment when a staffer in your office buys you a drink after she has run an errand. Sharon has been a student at TNKR since 2015 and a staffer with us since2018. She and TNKR co-founder Eunkoo Lee work together closely. *********************************************** That magic moment when donors pledge their support for TNKR. Some donors want to know that an organization is barely surviving and the donor will be the one to save the organization. But Haanong wants to support us and to know that we are growing and getting stronger. *********************************************** That wonderful moment when you go to an

2014-11-01 Teach North Korean Refugees "Female Teachers Only" session,

Teach North Korean Refugees earlier today hosted its 20th English Matching session. We have now matched 124 refugees, 174 volunteer teachers, and 9 South Koreans working for NGOs or helping NK refugees in some way. Special thanks to Nina Hong, Katie Yuk, Claire Jessica Tighe, Kristen Lefebvre, Gabrielle Wray, Angela Miller, Noa Sunyoung Lim, Hannah Gzik, Nicole Kahansky, Suzanne Atwill Stewart for joining TNKR. It was a particularly sweet session--7 North Korean refugees, 10 volunteers, 1 reporter, 1 Ambassador, 2 co-directors, 1 cameraman, and 1 donor--and a partridge in a pear tree! Because of rumors of dating, we banned male tutors from this session ( as I explain in more detail at the bottom of this post ). One refugee was clear. Her English wasn't that great, but she said: "I want strict teacher." We want to create a project so serious students like her won't have volunteers trying to get her to go hiking or hanging out. I got criticized by

2020-10-19 Breaking News: TNKR is busy busy busy!

Last week was a busy time, many meetings both in-person and online. In this blog post: Partnerships Interviews Volunteers Speech ______________________________________________ 1) Partnerships New TNKR board member This is significant, a former Supreme Court justice has agreed to serve on TNKR's board of directors. This is important, it shows how TNKR has become a more mature organization. During 2021, we hope to develop more partnerships with organizations and individuals who can help raise TNKR's profile and impact. Meeting with a huge organization They have a huge building and many projects going on. They could fit all of TNKR in a corner and not even notice. Even our budget could disappear into their budget without them noticing until an auditor pointed it out. Despite that, they would like to partner with us. This is another sign of TNKR's maturity as an organization. Years ago, we would not have dared to meet with them, we were a fly-by-night group with no apparent pa

2019-11-02 Hana Foundation Youth English Speech Contest

The Hana Foundation held its third Youth English Speech Contest. I was delighted to be a judge for the third consecutive year and for TNKR volunteers to also mentor many of the contestants. ******** From A-B-C to T-E-D * Eunhee Park , grand prize winner of the Young Adults category, is a TNKR student and ambassador. It didn't take long for the judges to conclude that she was the winner yesterday. It is hard to believe that four years ago, she was at the ABC level. People naturally focus on the winner of a contest, but one thing I try to stress in TNKR is the process . Eunhee competed in three TNKR English speech contests before she won, going from honorable mention, to 2nd place, to Grand Prize winner last year. She is fearless, thoughtful, so she probably has an advantage over others who fear the stage. That's also why she was the NK refugee to be co-MC of a TNKR English speech contest. She has now started a YouTube channel ( SUBSCRIBE! ) and be sure to ch

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