Skip to main content

TNKR Member Jeff Villa: Finding Opportunity in Adversity

Jeff Villa recently returned to TNKR. He has been a Track 1 tutor, Track 2 speech coach, fundraiser, donor, and event attendee.

He is enthusiastic, the kind of person who tackles life. But as he writes below, life (with the aid of the coronavirus) tackled him back.

--Casey



Finding Opportunity in Adversity 


  "It’s amazing how quickly plans can change.  I was supposed to start a new job this month in Europe, contract was signed, plane ticket reserved, new apartment deposit was paid.  I was also going to wrap up graduate school alongside.  I was happy, excited, anxious to get started.  I was already saying my goodbyes here in Seoul, and my friends had a going away party for me.  I just couldn’t wait to get on the plane and start my new adventure.

  "I woke up one morning and read that Europe was closing their borders to non Europeans just days before my arrival.  Later that day my flight was canceled.  I got a call from the landlord of the apartment I rented saying they need to cancel the contract.  Every hour it seemed like more dominos just kept falling.  The company initiated a hiring freeze, so the job was off the table.  College campus was closed, so the classes I was enrolled in canceled.  Nobody giving me a refund.  Korean visa about to expire.  

  "Fast forward a bit and I am now staying in Korea for another year at least, all previous plans a big question mark.  Admittedly, I wasn’t feeling well.  Not to mention as my plans were falling apart I was stuck alone in my apartment.  Where am I going to refocus all of that energy now?  Feeling like the whole world was against me, it dawned on me to contact TNKR and see what was going on, and sure enough a matching session just around the corner.  I am so thrilled to be back with TNKR and helping these amazing refugees learn English!  The matching session was very exciting, I now have three students!  I thought two would be enough, but this group was so eager to learn, they laid out well defined goals, and expressed a serious desire to study hard, how could I not take a third??  Now I have my work cut out for me, now I have something meaningful and positive to focus on, so I can’t wait to get into it!

  "There is always opportunity in adversity.  TNKR offers such opportunities, not just to the refugees, but equally to the tutors to undertake something truly meaningful in life.  If anyone is experiencing adversity during these difficult times, I encourage you to get involved with TNKR and turn that into one of the most fascinating, unique, and meaningful opportunities you just may ever have." --Jeff Villa
Jeff joining TNKR, April 2018.
Jeff with Thae Yong-ho at a TNKR event in July 2018. Mr. Thae recently became the first North Korean defector to be elected to South Korea's National Assembly.


Jeff with TNKR student and author Sungju Lee. Jeff won a free copy of Sungju's book by having the most successful fundraiser in his Matching session group.


Jeff (sitting next to me) was also a speech coach for a special contest TNKR helped facilitate for the Hana Foundation in 2018.


Support TNKR: www.lovetnkr.org/donate

Jeff Villa's fundraiser for TNKR: https://give.lovetnkr.com/en/fundraisers/Donate-to-help-North-Korean-refugees-learn-E

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

Back in America, 4 days and counting

I got back a few days ago, I'm still unpacking... Some of the highlights so far: * Friday morning I was in the audience for a CNN/The Root discussion about being Young and Black in America . As a veteran of so many of these Washington talking events I am less than enthusiastic about them these days. Still, I bumped into a few friends, some of whom are neither young nor black. The discussion seemed so 1980s, with the panelists trying to figure out how to politically empower young black people. I guess it was appropriate then that the head of the NAACP was there. His most irrelevant concern was about hate talk radio...or I guess Rush Limbaugh being on the air all these years explains the high level of black-on-black crime. 20 years later, how is the Stop the Violence movement working out? The highlight of this particular panel was running into old friend David Plotz, who is now editor of Salon Magazine. I don't think I've seen him since college but he recognized me. I forgot...
Read more

Still writing (Korea Times, 2023-12-19)

Still writing by Casey Lartigue Jr. The Korea Times December 19, 2023 https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2023/12/626_365284.html
Read more

Mentoring while Black (Korea Times 2/16/2023)

  Mentoring while Black by Casey Lartigue Jr. February 16, 2023 www.patreon.com/caseylartigue
Read more

Michael Vick ain't got nuthin on me!!!

After football player Michael Vick admitted that he had been running a dog-fighting business I wrote that he was an idiot. If he was going to engage in such activity he should have gone to Indonesia or somewhere else. He certainly had the money to do so at that time. If he knew then what he knows now then he would have spent $10 million to run his dogfighting ring in Manila. Today I did something that probably not even Michael Vick ever did: I ate dog meat. I never expected that I would do so. It is a bit scandalous because Koreans don't just kill the dogs and eat them. Rather, they will beat them to death while they are still alive. That allegedly is to get the adrenaline flowing which allegedly makes the meat more tender which allegedly improves a man's stamina. I had told a friend that I wanted to give it a try. But as we sat down to eat I said: "I want to try this but don't give me any details until after we are finished eating." It just looked like regular me...
Read more