I'm not young, not sure what I'm a professional at, will never run for Congress, and I'm not North Korean. Nevertheless, I was the Chair of a panel discussion about North Korean refugees yesterday at the CITYNET Young Professionals Congress.
I introduced the Mulmangcho School and talked about my experience volunteering for North Korean refugees.
Some random thoughts:
* I forgot to introduce what Mulmangcho means! It was an oversight, I guess I talk about the school so often that I forget to mention that. I guess I need a checklist of things to say.
* One funny thing about forgetting: A distinguished speaker at the event who is a fluent Korean speaker asked me what Mulmangcho meant. He hesitated to ask me during the panel discussion because he didn't want to embarrass me, in case I didn't know. My response: "You should have asked me when I was on stage! If I didn't know what it meant then I would deserve to be embarrassed publicly."
* A few people at the event are promising to volunteer for the various things I am organizing. Of course, I don't believe until I actually SEE them volunteering. I even doubt myself until I actually arrive.
Special thanks to Barry Welsh for recommending me for this. I was in a hurry this morning so I didn't mention it then.
CYP-2013-Report_WebSize-Final.pdf (citynet-ap.org)