North Korea Human Rights Advocate

Liberty in North Korea (LINK), which is one of the most active and largest organizations helping North Korean refugees, is competing with 189 organizations for the grant from Pepsi and only the top 2 will be awarded $250k. 

The poll ends on February 28th, and anyone can vote once a day, but can vote again daily every day.  It’s currently in the 4th place, 2 more spots to go. Here is a message from Hannah Song, the president of LINK:

Here’s some information about our project idea: Liberty House. Since the passage of the North Korean Human Rights act in 2004, almost 100 North Korean refugees have resettled here in the US, all over the country.

LiNK has helped to resettle fifteen of these refugees and has sought to provide them with supplementary assistance (scholarships, financial aid, tutoring, mentoring, community, etc). With the launch of our recent campaign over the holidays, TheHundred, we anticipate many more refugees making it here to the US over the next year.

We have had the tremendous privilege to see refugees as young as 14 and as old as 65 settle down and begin new lives; a couple finally married after waiting years in the underground; two babies born here who are now American citizens; a young woman already in community college studying to be a counselor for other North Korean women who were also sexually trafficked. Although learning a new language and culture are difficult, they are resilient, hard-working and determined to take on this new opportunity.

Through our extensive research surveying refugees who have resettled both in the US and in Korea, and observing resettlement centers in South Korea (including Hanawon and other agencies), we realize that the assistance they receive from the government is often not enough.

We are taking those learnings to create a unique program here in the US to help refugees acculturate and succeed in their new lives. With this grant we will be able to launch a transitional home that will serve as a safe environment and community for these refugees as they learn English, American culture and history, how to use an ATM and sign-up for a grocery card, apply for their citizenship and find a job, and eventually gain independence to successfully live on their own. We have many of the partnerships already in place – but we lack the funding to move forward.

We are SO close and are very hopeful that we could win this! We need everyone’s vote once a day, every day, until February 28th. Pepsi will award the $250k to the top 2 groups. Signing up only takes a few minutes and voting takes 30 seconds! Please vote here and help us spread the word by tweeting, facebooking, emailing and asking your friends, family and networks.

[Excerpt from One Free Korea]

It only takes less than a minute to cast a vote. Please vote for LINK to help it actualize its worthy cause!

[Update]: Here are their goals addressed:

• Provide job training, and career counseling for refugees.
• Provide medical and psychological services for North Korean refugees.
• Provide food for North Korean refugees once resettled in the U.S.
• Facilitate language acquisition and cultural orientation for refugees.
• Provide housing for North Korean refugees once resettled in the U.S.