2014-09-21 Mulmangcho 2nd anniversary celebration

Wow, what a wonderful time! The Mulmangcho School (for Adolescent North Korean Refugees) opened on September 28, 2012, I started volunteering two weeks later. Prof. Park Sun-young asked me to teach English to the children, but I declined. Instead, I suggested to her that I might be able to find some teachers who would ENJOY teaching the students. I wasn't sure I could find anyone, but I told her that I would do my best to find teachers.

Most weeks, we have between 5 to 8 volunteers show up to teach North Korean refugees kids.

They honored me on Sunday by giving me another "Certificate of Appreciation," having me as part of the cake cutting ceremony, singling me out on another occasion. I also had a chance to swing dance to entertain the kids, which seemed to have impressed the adults (the kids probably would have preferred real magic).^^

Swing dancing http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GA6YGVFcRlQ

Thanks to my substitute dance partner Ginny Min-Jin Song, a new volunteer who has already volunteered at the school, been the translator for a refugee interviewed for a documentary, and, Sunday morning, was willing to dance on stage even though this was her first time to try swing dance (I taught her then led her). She's also the person who has taken on the impossible mission of improving my Korean. Good luck to her.^^

Special thanks to other special volunteers-Cielo Yoon, Maynard Villamer, Grace Stables, Serena Ha. They have all added something special to the school. Cielo, for a while, was the liaison who helped us avoid chaos. Maynard was the super teacher/guitar teacher who brings an incredible amount of energy to the school. Grace Stables (Sarah) shares her horse farm so the kids can go horseback riding once a month. Serena joined when she heard me talk about Mullmangcho at the Sunday Discussion group we are both members of...
FYI, I mentioned Sarah in one of my columns months ago.
http://freedomfactory.co.kr/bbs/bbsDetail.php…

Some of our other valuable volunteers: Rachel Stine, In-Jee Lee, Luna Yoon, Naomi Chambers,

Welcome to Greg Salvo, Peggy Inkorea, Julia, Kyung Ho, Kim Kyun-soon and Mike Ashley.

Many teachers and volunteers have come and gone during that time. Now year three starts. For me, that means chasing teachers who wait until the last minute to sign up, dealing with changes and cancellations, late arrivals calling me after the bus has left asking me where I am (My response: "On the bus."), occasionally some teachers who grumble about me asking them for a resume and application, oh, and emails every week from people interested or just curious.

"Yoegi Anjuseyo!"

* I have a short reflection in today's Korea Times about an encounter with an unfriendly looking Korean man on the subway. It was a reminder not to be too quick in judging people in Korea. 09-13-2011 16:47 'Yeogi Anjeuseyo!' By Casey Lartigue Jr. The recent incident in which an American English teacher bullied an elderly Korean man and other passengers on the bus reminded me of a more pleasing incident from years ago. I was on the subway, taking the train outside of Seoul for a work assignment. I have the habit of standing on the subway to strategically position myself near the doors in case my stop magically appears. On that particular day, there was a Korean man STARING at me. Not just looking at me, but intensely staring at me. He had an incredible frown on his face. Not just for one stop, but for several stops the guy just kept staring at me. If I had known more Korean then I would have been able to curse him ...

Rich talking back

The rich are talked about very often in negative terms, but how often do the rich respond in kind? Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart, who inherited most of her money but apparently has also done very well with it, recently railed against class warfare and had some advice for the non-rich : "There is no monopoly on becoming a millionaire," she writes. "If you're jealous of those with more money, don't just sit there and complain. Do something to make more money yourself - spend less time drinking, or smoking and socializing and more time working." She complained about politicians raising taxes, regulations that slow investment, and other anti-business policies that harm the poor. "If you want to help the poor and our next generation, make investment, reinvenstment and businesses welcome."

Humanitarian with a guillotine (Korea Times, February 1, 2013) by Casey Lartigue, Jr.

Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan said the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, `` I’m from the government, and I’m here to help .” For many well-intentioned activists, politicians, and intellectuals, that should be updated as: ``We are here to help you. You’re under arrest.” For example, ``sex workers” around the world oppose anti-prostitution laws. Prostitutes may not know the theoretical arguments but they do know in reality that prohibiting prostitution means they lack protection in dealing with abusive pimps and madams, violent patrons and crooked cops. Locally, a Korean woman busted for prostitution recently appealed to the courts pleading , ``I cannot survive without this job. I don’t want to be treated as a criminal for making a living the only way I can.” How should someone who genuinely wants to help her respond? If you say ``arrest her” then you are qualified to be a “harmful humanitarian.” In your desire to help, you have elimin...

2014-02-14 Yeon-Mi Park`s debut

Yeonmi Park, February 14, 2014, making her debut! Yesterday I was one of the speakers at a special session on North Korean refugees at the Canadian Maple International School. Wow, it was a wonderful time! * Yeon-Mi Park delivered her first major speech in English. She was wonderful! She told her story (35 minute speech without notes), discussed different aspects of North Korea, and then handled questions from students for more than an hour. She did seem to be nervous at the beginning-she took a deep breath just as she started, looked at me, then told her story from her heart. * Returning from the speech, I told Yeonmi that she had star potential. She told me that she didn't believe it, but I told her that the way she handled Q&A and told her story, I would be lucky to have her still returning my phone calls within a year. * The students had many questions. They have been learning about North Korea. They are now reading "Escape from Camp 14" featuring Shin Dong-h...

2020-07-24 Pandemic Tutoring

The question comes in various forms, as a request, a recommendation, a plea, an insinuation, an accusation, and sometimes (or most of the time) it is a demand and complaint at the same time. In my in-box yesterday: "And I wanted to know if TNKR also transitioned to online services as any other educational institutions globally under the pandemic." This was from a previous volunteer who is now in the USA, so I took more time to answer him, and will expand it now so I can share it with others asking. As context, TNKR started in 2013 as an informal volunteer group connecting North Korean refugees with volunteer tutors. In 2016, we became an official organization despite lacking funding. Mainly because we have limited resources we keep focused on our main mission, but try to expand based on the needs of North Korean refugee learners. We have developed a learner-centered organization that has a great reputation among North Korean refugees. That means we are not a social club or re...

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