Get Cute Korean Socks To Help NK Refugee Moms

Do you like helping others and keeping your feet warm too in style? If you answered, yes, then you can be part of a 'win-win' situation to help North Korean refugee moms and treat your feet to a daily dose of cuteness. Teach North Korean Refugees (TNKR) is a nonprofit organization in Seoul that provides high-quality English education to North Korean Refugees. I'm involved in TNKR's Track 1 (English tutoring) for North Korean refugee mothers. Our goal is to help these lovely moms achieve their goals to learn English to be successful in South Korean society as well as to help their children learn English. This program empowers these mothers as well as their children, providing everyone with an opportunity to achieve a bright future. In our modern times due to globalization, 'English is indeed a door to the world.'

For every 20,000 won (about $19.00) I will mail you a pair of cute and quirky Korean socks. (Socks may differ from the picture shown.
It's a surprise!) . Simply make your donation and email me your preference of male or female socks and your mailing address to melshelsby@gmail.com. There are so many fun options and it's for such a good cause! For 30,000 won, I can send you two pairs! Thanks for being a part of this worthy cause. Your heart and your feet will thank you. :-D

(Donations can be accepted, although this project is now on hold. It received an A-rating from Seoul City Hall, but the response from refugees wasn't strong enough for us to seek a second grant).

According to South Korea's Ministry of Unification, more than 31,000 North Korean refugees have escaped to South Korea since the late 1990s. Overall, 71 percent of them are females, and the trend is even higher. In 2017, about 83 percent of them who arrived in South Korea are females. As has been reported by various reporters and organizations, many of them were victims of sex trafficking or sold as wives in China as they were escaping to freedom.

In addition to the challenges they have as immigrants to a new country and as women settling in a new male-dominated society, those who are mothers have children they brought from North Korea or China, or had after arriving in South Korea. Like mothers everywhere, they focus on their children, making them the priority rather than developing themselves.

For a few years now, TNKR has been considering ways to help North Korean refugee mothers who would sometimes drop out of our program because of childcare issues.

We recently received a grant for our proposal to set up a project offering Skype tutoring for North Korean refugee mothers who cannot easily commute for face-to-face tutoring in English. The grant is good for three months, we would like to raise more funding for this project to keep it going in the future and to also provide some support for TNKR to administer this project (all of the grant money is going directly to the program, meaning the program cannot continue beyond the current three-month allocation).

If we can keep this project going, we would like to expand it so that the project can also support occasional face-to-face tutoring sessions by tutors who can visit refugees near their homes. We have other additions in mind that could continue providing support for North Korean refugee mothers adjusting to living in South Korea while also raising their children.