2016-02-02 Eunhee Park's debut

We had a GREAT time introducing TNKR (now FSI) to the American Women's Club, Korea. The event was scheduled to wrap by noon--instead, we got so many questions that it was almost one o'clock before I had to end the event because of another appointment!

Rhonda Rayner Kupka and her team were absolutely great. There are so many great organizations helping so many people, so it was truly an honor that they opened their doors to us. They made the TNKR team feel absolutely welcome. I gave the keynote for the event, but the main part of the program was the three refugee speakers who followed me. They each gave great speeches in different ways. TNKR co-director Lee Eunkoo Lee was able to join, and TNKR tutor Amber Miller also discussed her experience in the program.

Ken Eom is now a veteran speaker. He joined TNKR last March, but he has now given a number of speeches and is really comfortable. He is both poignant and humorous. We had one speaker who was giving her first speech in English and another who was giving her second speech.

We hope we will be able to collaborate with AWC after this. I have given many public speeches, in many cases, it is just a one-time event with no follow up. Several of the ladies in the audience said they hope to collaborate with us in the future, to help us build TNKR.so we can help refugees even more.

2021 Update: One of the speakers not showing her face at that time was Eunhee Park. She had joined us in April 2015. She decided that she would like to give a speech. A few days before, we had a practice session with her.

She has since gone from A-B-C to T-E-D and spoken many times about us changing her life.

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Moments and Movements

The Korea Times

March 24,2014

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2015/10/626_153960.html

www.patreon.com/fsi21

Honorary Citizenship (Korea Times column)

My latest Korea Times column is about being awarded Seoul Honorary Citizenship. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2022/12/626_342024.html Here are the photos and some of the media from the ceremony. https://www.patreon.com/posts/seoul-honorary-75768901

Victory Day! (2022-12-09 Book Talk, SUFS & Awards Ceremony)

Today was one of those incredible days that I will always remember. North Korean refugee Songmi Han, South Korean co-founder of FSI Eunkoo Lee and I (the Texan-American co-founder of FSI) spent 7 hours together at three different incredible events in three different parts of Seoul. We were laughing and joking almost the entire time. * 10 am book talk We started the day with a small group discussion with a family visiting from the USA. It was great for Songmi because the family was happy to hear from her. She didn’t have the pressure to make a formal speech. As the old saying goes, “If I had more time I would have written a shorter letter.” It is similar with public speaking. If I am invited to give a one hour speech, then I’m ready right now. If I get a request for a five minute speech as part of a panel then I need some time to figure out how to put that hour of content into five minutes. With no notes, Songmi told her story in great detail. The family members had not read her book

Greenlight to Freedom at the Hendersonville library (2022-09-28)

We visited the Hendersonville Public Library to see Greenlight to Freedom on the bookshelf! How did it happen? FSI Fundraising Fellow Eben Appleton asked what she could do for our trip near her area. I reminded her that high school students in the FSI-GHSU had donated Greenlight to Freedom to libraries across the USA. Perhaps she could donate a book to a library in the area? Off she went! She talked with a few librarians and got the book on the shelf of at least one library. Then as part of our trip, we visited the Hendersonville Library. When I first told Songmi about her book being at the library she was not that impressed. She was touched when she saw it on the bookshelf, however. There are many books in the world that have been published, but hers was one of them on the library shelf.

Birthday speech at Daejin Girls' HS (2022-09-05)

Today September 5th is my birthday! I cele brated by giving a speech at the Daejin Girls' School in Seoul. They cheered my every word and made me feel like the celebrity they think I am. If I had fallen off the stage then they would have blamed school staff for not properly preparing the stage. They engaged with me by asking questions based on what I said during my 90-minute speech (with interpretation by FSI co-founder Eunkoo Lee). A few years ago when I gave speeches to South Korean students I could expect them to be too shy to ask questions or for them to read questions written by their teachers. But not tonight! I was introduced by one of the teachers at the school. She told them that it was my birthday. They sang happy birthday to me. After the speech, it was photo time! They had already looked me up in the world of the Internet so they think I am a celebrity. We met with one of the school leaders. He had joined the speech and said he was impressed and had learned a lot. FS

Chanyang Ju’s discussion with travelers visiting South Korea (2022-09-13)

North Korean refugee Chanyang Ju was the featured speaker at a Freedom Speakers International (FSI) event with tourists visiting South Korea. I first met Chanyang in 2012 just as I got involved with activism related to North Korean refugees. At that time, she was an ABC-level speaker. In 2014, she gave the most incredible testimonial about me . It is amazing to see her giving a speech in English without any notes and engaging the audience even as they interrupt her during her unscripted remarks. I started the event by introducing a bit about FSI and Chanyang. Chanyang was engaging and humorous. It was clear to the audience that she was speaking with them, not at them. They started asking questions shortly after she started and kept it for the entire event. It went beyond audience members asking questions. They were trying to finish her sentences . When she struggled with vocabulary they were guessing what the word might be . It was an audience that was clearly listening to the sp

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