Why foreigners volunteer to help NK refugees

Tech North Korean Refugees (TNKR) co-founder Casey Lartigue, left, is tutoring a North Korean refugee at the TNKR Study Center in Seoul in this recent photo. / Courtesy of Casey Lartigue

By Casey Lartigue Jr.

While most researchers who contact me want to learn about North Korean refugees, in recent months I have also been interviewed by researchers curious about the volunteers helping those NK refugees.

Last Friday, TNKR National Director Eunkoo Lee and I were interviewed by researchers who insisted that TNKR is a pioneer in the field of volunteering in South Korea. They were intrigued by the amount of choices refugees have in TNKR: choosing their own tutors, choosing as many tutors as they can handle, and choosing their own paths of study rather than following a set curriculum. Many interviewers keep the focus on refugees after they hear that, but these researchers were more curious about the (non-Korean) volunteer tutors.

The first thing that surprised the researchers is the application process. We require volunteers to submit a copy of their state-level ID, a detailed application, a long checklist of items, and a resume customized for refugees with specific details squeezed into a one-page Word document with no fancy formatting.

We then require attendance at an orientation, for applicants to remain in touch during the application process, to sign a waiver agreeing to many things, and to show a clear understanding about our approach. At the matching session, they nervously wait, like sides are being chosen at an elementary school game, hoping to be chosen by refugees. Then later they are expected to remain in contact with us, send us quick reports after classes are over, and to send more detailed reports later.

It seems like chutzpah for a tiny unfunded all-volunteer NGO to have such demands, but we receive about 20 applications per month. When North Korea is hot in the news, we have had as many as 50 applicants in one month. Would-be drop-ins used to showing up the day of an event to volunteer at other organizations are shocked when we reject them, but many join us later on.

The researchers were curious about volunteers willing to endure such a process. When volunteers first apply and then when they first introduce themselves to refugees at the Language Matching session, we have them explain what inspired them to tutor NK refugees in our program.

There is a lot of variety among more than 600 volunteers who have joined us tutoring at least three hours a month for at least three months, but we broke down their interests into five main categories.

One, avoiding children. Many applicants say the opportunity to tutor focused NK refugee adults energizes and inspires them. After wrestling for 20 to 30 hours a week with children who would prefer to be playing video games or dancing to K-pop, many tutors say they enjoy tutoring North Korean refugee adults who are focused on their learning goals and clearly appreciate the help they are receiving. Some tutors have discussed the opportunity to teach without a curriculum, rather than having to turn the page at a certain time at a company or public school. Some say teaching English is the only way they can help.

Two, NGO-hoppers. They volunteer at soup kitchens, community centers and schools, or have tutored refugees in other countries. Some are connected with other NGOs focused on North Korea, but say their activities (editing, helping with events, or IT) don't give them opportunities to interact directly with NK refugees. Some volunteers are worried about injustice and see this as an opportunity to undercut the NK regime's negative propaganda about the outside world.

Three, professionals in non-teaching fields. We have had psychologists, journalists, film producers, researchers, human rights advocates, artists and anthropologists join TNKR. They want to incorporate North Korean refugees into their fields or just broaden their knowledge.

Four, curious people. Some are deeply interested in North Korea, and some others only know what they have learned in the most recent alarmist media and blog postings. Not sure how to help, they teach English to refugees.

It makes me unpopular when I announce to applicants that the main part of our program is a safe zone for refugees to study without getting probed about North Korea, but they join anyway.

In the final category are those inspired by our approach of truly empowering refugees to choose. Some volunteers said they came to Korea for the opportunity to volunteer with TNKR. Some lost souls have even named me as a reason they wanted to join TNKR.

The final shock for the researchers: 25 percent of TNKR volunteers this year have raised money for the organization. I sometimes must count to 10 to remind myself not to focus on the 75 percent who haven't raised money. That's because it is incredible, as the researchers and others are starting to agree, that we are building a community of support around North Korean refugees with volunteers from around the world.

Casey Lartigue Jr. can be reached at CJL@post.harvard.edu.