The Casey Lartigue Show!

TNKR's most popular Website page That's right, the most popular page on TNKR's Website is.... the budget page! Yes, boring budget information is what people click on the most, even faster than refugee testimonials. If every person who checked the budget page became a monthly donor of at least $5 a month, then TNKR would already be financially sustainable! Here's our 2019 audited budget information , as translated by staffer Young-Ah Kim. You can also see the history of our budget from 2015-2019. Knowing how interested people are in budget issues, we started posting this information even before we became an official organization. https://lovetnkr.org/tnkr-budget/ One thing is clear: TNKR is winning! Every day we hear about success stories from students and volunteers. This morning's inspiring messages are from two TNKR students who passed the first round in a competitive scholarship competition. They said they never would have had a chance without TNKR being with ...

TNKR co-founders Casey Lartigue and Eunkoo Lee were featured guests at a TNKR High School Global Union concert fundraiser for the Durihana School for North Korean refugee adolescents. I remember when two high school students (Jun and Eugene) came to me, saying they wanted to be volunteer tutors, but I challenged them to think more broadly. We have many volunteer tutors, but we urgently need to build up the organization's capacity. We occasionally have high school kids pop up, want to volunteer for a day or for a few weeks, then ask for a certificate. It is rare to get high school kids who adapt to what we need, then build an entire project out of it. Jun and Eugene have built an incredible project that has now raised about 9 million won ($7,800) for TNKR this year and have another 8 million won ($6,900) pledged in the future through 2022. We are saving this money for our eventual move to a new office. Last night, the Global TNKR High School Global Union raised 3 million w...

I had a great time speaking today at Daejin Girls' School, those lovely girls cheered and applauded like I was a pop star! Whenever I speak to any group of youngsters below the age of 25, I am never sure what the response will be.

I'm not famous, but there are some times that I get recognized. Today was one of those days.

Posted by Bana TV: 19. 12. 16 오늘은 '배나무 이사회' 89회를 촬영했습니다. 'TNKR (Teach North Korean Refugees) 활동에 대해'를 주제로 2015년 한국 입국, 현재 TNKR에서 영어를 배우고 있는 평양 출신 나민희 님께서 사회를 보시고, 2013년 TNKR을 공동 창립, 현재 공동대표를 맡고 계신 한국 출신 이은구 님과 미국 출신 Casey Lartigue 님 모시고 말씀 나누었습니다. 나민희 님은 "지식을 떠나 사랑을 나누는 이런 단체에 더 많은 관심이 있어야 한다고 생각해 배나TV에 모시고 나왔다"라고 말씀하셨습니다. 이은구 대표님께서는 "TNKR은 비영리민간단체로 탈북민들에게 미래를 위해 무료로 영어 학습 할 수 있는 기회를 제공한다"라며 "탈북민들에게 더 다양한 기회를 제공하고자 하는 것이 설립 목적"이라고 하셨습니다. Casey Lartigue 대표님께서는 "TNKR은 탈북민 학생이 중심이 되어 선생님 선택도 직접 한다"라고 하시며 일반영어, 영어 대중 강의, 취업능력 향상 프로젝트 등 구체적인 교육내용에 관해서도 소개해 주셨습니다. 영어뿐 아니라 탈북민들에게 자신감, 세계에 대한 지식을 늘리는 기회를 제공하고 싶으시다는 말씀도 하셨습니다. 어떻게 이 일에 관심을 가지게 되었는지, 설립 초기의 에피소드, 어려웠던 점, 도움 주신 분들, 자원봉사자, 함께 한 학생들, 기쁘고 보람되었던 일, 가장 기억 남는 순간, 향후 계획, 후원 요청 등에 관해서도 이야기 나누었습니다. '배나무 이사회' 89회는 12월 24일(화)에 업로드됩니다. 많은 시청 부탁드립니다.

Yesterday started with TNKR Special Ambassador Cherie Yang  getting interviewed on TBS eFM radio about her new YouTube channel . It would have already been a big day if we had taken the rest of the day off. But we didn't! This, of course, will alarm my number one cheerleader,  Eben Appleton , who wants me to continue saving the world, but she is also always worried that I'm not getting rest and not socializing enough.

Each of the three Harvard University events I've been to in Cambridge and Seoul in the last month have been special in different ways. Of course the conference TNKR hosted at the Harvard Graduate School of Education from Nov 15-16 was super special. The annual alumni dinner on December 1st was fantastic yet again. But last night's Happy Hour was absolutely unforgettable. What were some memorable things about last night? * Workable Words:  Very often at such gatherings, people chit-chat without focus. Yes, I know, it is a Happy Hour, so I expect Happy Talk. But as the evening went on--but before the more serious drinks got poured--it seemed that we were going to breakup into working groups. This is more of what I expected a few years ago when I began attending Harvard alumni events. There are influential, smart and well-connected people at many of these gatherings--but there usually aren't many workable words. After reflecting on it, I will suggest we alternat...

  These photos would have been impossible in April 2015 when Eunhee Park joined FSI (then TNKR). We have met her many times--I can't recall ever having a meeting where we didn't feel more inspired after meeting her. Every meeting has laughs and jokes. But she is also an extremely thoughtful lady, so eventually, the topic gets serious. She is a lady who wants to learn and enjoy her life. Eunhee is one of our ambassadors, she has even raised money for the organization and hopes for the day we will have a strong organization. She joined us the year before we became an official organization and has been part of us growing. Here's my Korea Times in 2016 as she was going through her metamorphosis. She was the first refugee in FSI to go from anonymous, nameless and faceless to a public figure. We were even on TV together earlier this year. Eunhee and FSI co-founder Eunkoo Lee analyzing a profound quote that I had presented to them. We all laugh and joke, but with Eunhee the topic ...