The Casey Lartigue Show!

FSI has moved into a better institutional neighborhood where we are the poorest in the area. In August 2022, I was elected as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Freedom Speakers International (FSI) and in January 2023 FSI achieved incorporation status in South Korea. This has meant that FSI must upgrade operations and structure and I am the one, as chairman and co-president, who will be blamed if it doesn’t happen. I really should not be the chairman, for a variety of reasons, but anyway I am. Eunkoo and I are not the typical executives of a growing organization. In addition to being mainly responsible for building and fundraising for the organization, we are the hands-on leaders who are constantly in contact with North Korean refugee speakers. We look forward to the day we can afford staff to handle many tasks. Until then we can expect to continue having more days like yesterday, even on Eunkoo’s birthday. 2023-02-10 Meeting #1: planning We started Eunkoo’s birthday with a planning...

We still have four full-time staff members, downsized from 6 shortly before and shortly after the pandemic. However, we have been joined by three volunteers working in the office. The schedules are staggered so different volunteers come in on different days. Most of them were complaining about the photo, but I got everyone to briefly pose for a photo. Next time, I will herd hungry cats instead. Sharon first joined Freedom Speakers International in March 2015 as a student and speaker. She contacted me on her birthday. So that means I was a wonderful birthday gift for her. I believe she joined us as a part-time staffer in 2018. She is now working full-time as an accountant with FSI. She has joined every program in FSI history--studying history, public speaking, career development, and she is now our North Korean Refugee Keynote Speaker Network. I had a special reason to buy her flowers, and it isn't only because she bought me lunch last week when I insisted that she not do so. It als...

  [통일로 미래로] 영어 배우는 탈북민들…“북한 실상 알린다” / KBS 2021.11.06. - YouTube

  Today is the birthday of a really special lady: Sharon Jang! She is absolutely adorable, one of the loveliest people I have ever met. Sharon is one of the Ambassadors in (TNKR) Teach North Korean Refugees. I will never forget her birthday for one main reason: Last year on her birthday she contacted me, she wanted to join TNKR. Her English was at a very low level, she asked me something like, "Do you teach english me?" It surprised me at the time, she was the first North Korean refugee to contact me directly. She joined both Tracks 1 and 2 of TNKR, studying English but also started collaborating with coaches to engage in public speaking. Although many people are afraid to engage in public speaking in their native languages, she was willing to try even though her English was at a low level. It turned out that she was great! Her first speech silenced everyone in the room and even caused one of the other refugee speakers at the event to start crying. She was profiled by the Dai...

  The Teach North Korean Refugees project presented this morning to the British Association of Seoul (BASS). The event was absolutely lovely, the audience was engaged and respectful, and yet they weren't not afraid to laugh along with the speakers. First, from two of the emails I received shortly after the event: Attendee A: "It was quite a moving morning hearing such heart-rendering stories." Attendee B: "Thank you for organizing and bringing together the North Korean presenters today. Each of their testimonies was moving and an eye-opener I think for all of us." I kicked off the event by talking about the volunteer project we were trying to develop into an official organization. Sharon was speaking publicly for the first time. She's a newcomer to South Korea, a newcomer to our project, and a newcomer to English. We politely encouraged her to speak in Korean, but she was determined to try it in English. She did, and had the audience in tears, even before sh...