Heartland Tour

Alright, ya’ll, this is YOUR CALL TO ACTION. Okay, so any...

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:01:00 -0400

Alright, ya’ll, this is YOUR CALL TO ACTION.

Okay, so any way that you have stumbled upon this blog, you must have a little bit of interest or knowledge in LiNK or North Korea. As you’ve read, we are the nomads, or at least one team of nomads.

Nomads are the essence of this social movement. We are the avenue to which the American public becomes educated about and aware of the humanitarian crisis that is going on as you read this in North Korea. We are the ones who tell the stories of the thousands of North Korean refugees who are hiding out in China waiting to one day live in liberty and freedom; the stories that otherwise might go unnoticed and unrecognized by our generation. We are the ones who shake students’ hands, who look the audience in the eye, who share meals and laughs and stories with thousands of young adults across the United States, ultimately calling them to action on behalf of North Koreans.

This ‘we’ I speak of, is a larger ‘we.’ It includes you too.

Are you someone who is interested in being a part of something greater, something inspiring, something adventurous and challenging? Be a LiNK nomad.

We are looking for Summer Nomads and Interns! Intern with our team at LiNK’s office to strengthen our programs for North Korean refugees, or tour the country as a Nomad to enable others to discover or more deeply explore the North Korea crisis.

Internship/Nomadship dates are June 8 to August 20. End date is flexible. Application deadline is April 16. (Click the picture to explore the application!)

This weekend, I turned to our lovely host, Heidi, and said,...

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 23:22:00 -0400

Welcome to our Wisconsin farmhouse.

Torque - the most beautiful lab.

Leah found a skull. Then she cried.

Pat got creative/morbid.

A random sign in Chicago.

This weekend, I turned to our lovely host, Heidi, and said, “Goodness, I feel like I’m on vacation here at your house.” We had the weekend off and were able to do a bit of relaxing out in the country at her house, where we were lavished with a hot tub, Tim Tam slams, good company, and warm, beautiful weather, which made for warm, beautiful walks looking for skulls (!).

This is all said with the reminder that we are SLAMMED with screenings this week while we are in Wisconsin and Minnesota! Our regional manager, Matt, is coming for a little visit to help us conquer it all :) We’re excited to see him and are ready to make these last few weeks stellar. Let’s do this!

-Leah

Do you love coffee? I love coffee. Listen up, if you’re...

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 12:44:12 -0400

Do you love coffee? I love coffee. Listen up, if you’re with me on this obsession.

As you may or may not know, we have partnered with Full Circle Exchange which is a socially conscious brand that sells coffee,chocolate and tea. We will be receiving 30% commission for every item sold this year but our goal is to sell 625 bags this month (enough to rescue a refugee) so please send this link out to your friends and family and have them buy their coffee here. Its 100% fair-trade and organic.

Click on the picture to find out more!

America's High Five

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 00:37:37 -0400

Well, we finally made it - back to the land of Kat and Pat and all that is in the shape of a mitt.

It’s been real to be here so far, meeting the friends and family of Kat and Pat and understanding what their roots are that support their crazy adventures of traveling the country in a van..

And I also wanted to let you know that WE HAVE A BILL that has been introduced into the House of Representatives by Rep. Ed Royce for our Legalize Adoption Campaign. It’s bill number HR 4986 and it’s called the “North Korean Refugee Adoption Act of 2010.” This is amazing in so many ways, but it is a huge step in the right direction of securing the ability of North Korean stateless and orphaned children to be adopted here in the US. Keep writing letters to your representatives and now you can ask for their cosponsorship for this very real bill!

Last, I wanted to leave you all with some news articles about North Korea that have been passed along to me and have caught my attention and given me hope.

Resistance takes root

North Koreans use cellphones to bare secrets

Hope all are well! Let us know how you’re doing and what you are up to.

Peace.

Blessing

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:27:59 -0500

We have officially left the dear state of Texas. ::TEARS:: Thank you, Texas. We didn’t mess with you and you treated us well - we are eternally grateful. With that said, we have moved further north into the Midwest, now having just arrived into Oklahoma City, OK. Listen, Oklahoma, you should know that you have some very high and steep standards to live up to, but I have no doubts that you will be able to.

Last night was a very special night to end our Texan journey. After giving our presentation to the youth group at Hanbit Presbyterian Church in Houston and having eaten a half Korean, half American meal, Pastor Luke stood to give his two cents on the matter. The youth were writing their letters to Senator Cornyn and I was sitting on a couch in close proximity to answer any questions. Pastor Luke spoke of blessings. He said, the simple fact that we are born on American soil and have citizenship in the United States provides that we are blessed. We have freedom and opportunity, no matter the seemingly difficult hardships we face. As I sat there, I became overwhelming conscious of the fullness of my belly and the comfort of my seat. I become overtly cognizant of the beauty in which we I am granted to live in.

I feel lucky to be so blessed that I can travel the country telling the story of North Koreans. This job is a blessing and we nomads can’t ignore it. Sure, it’s hard. Lots of sleepless nights and long hours of driving and strain on finances, but it’s the least we can do. It’s an honor to have the ability to do this.

To hear the stories of the rescues as they happen and understand that lives ARE being changed, to know that policy WILL be created to change the lives of North Korean children, and to have reassurance that we will have a warm floor to crash on every night is a blessing.

Let us not hold onto this blessing of liberty, but pass it on to others as we can.

Signing off Oklahoman style,

Leah

Greetings - we are the new Heartland team for LiNK’s...

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:17:07 -0500

Greetings - we are the new Heartland team for LiNK’s Spring Tour! It’s good to meet you all and welcome to one wild ride that is the midwest. In the last 6 days we have managed to cut across half of our beloved nation in a van we call Daisy. Daisy is precious, but she’s been make weird shutters that is making us a little nervous…

We are currently in Baytown, TX right outside Houston. Pat is passed out on the floor, Kat is working vigorously at figuring out our inventory situation, and I’m here staring at these two, plus about 200 rolled t-shirts covering our room. Welcome to Day 3!

I guess first things first. We should get to know each other a little. It’s more comfortable to follow a blog when you feel like you know a little bit about that person or persons.

Meet Pat: Pat is a native of Michigan and has his fingerless gloves to prove it. (They’ve come in pretty handy, as it’s SNOWING in Texas!!) He’s 20 years old, though he’ll be the first to tell you “he’s turning 21 in April!” He’s a veteran when it comes to traveling on the road, as he did a semester on the Invisible Children Middle America Team back in 2008. He has a heart of gold both for social justice and for serving others, and his 6’ 6” stature makes for interesting team pictures.

Meet Kat: That’s right I have 2 teammates with rhyming names - the giggles in my head never go away when I introduce them. Kat is 23 and a graduate from Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She has been interning with LiNK since June 2009 and has definitely had a taste of the LiNK kool-aid and can’t get enough. She’s goofy and whacky and sometimes whips out a Southern accent from nowhere. She’s beasting it out as our Accountant and Merch Gal like nobody’s business.

Meet Leah: It’s hard to write about oneself, but I’ll give it a try. I’m 22 and hail from Western North Carolina where I grew up and will always consider home. Those Blue Ridge Mountains are painted inside my eyelids. I graduated from university last August and have been on the road since - last semester with Invisible Children and again this semester with LiNK. I prefer my sleeping bag to bed sheets and attempt to cut my own bangs. My catch word is “absolutely” and I can’t stop saying it as much as I try.

There we are. Oddballs of course, but it’s what makes a good team. We’re excited to include you on this journey.

Our first few days of screenings here in Texas have been interesting, but fulfilling. Today about 20-30 kids came to talk to us about starting up a Chapter and I’d estimate we collected about 200 letters to Senators Hutchison and Cornyn for ourLegalize Adoption Campaign. We’ll be back at Ross Sterling High School tomorrow to put on another full day of screenings, and I can’t wait to see the response!

Here’s to the next ten weeks!

FIN.

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:58:24 -0500

Hey everyone! Sorry for our lack of updates…tour has been nuts. Absolutely nuts.

Annnd…now it’s over! We had our last screening tonight and I think we all have mixed feelings about it. It’s exciting to look back and see all the progress we’ve made, all the people we’ve met, and the places we’ve seen. The past ten weeks have been amazing and it’s hard to see them come to an end. Not to mention I think we’re all a little hesitant about trying to get back on normal schedules and sleeping on these things called “beds”. People keep talking about them, and I think I vaguely remember using one once, but I’m not too sure.

It does feel nice to be done, however, and I think I speak for the whole team when I say that I’m happy with all we have accomplished. Plus I’m pretty stoked to get back to LA and see the other nomads, so we can swap hilarious stories and relax together…on the BEACH.

So, all in all, tour was fantastic. I want to thank everyone who housed us, fed us, gave us haircuts, had fun with us, and took care of us over these last 10 weeks—y’all are what made tour what it was and I deeply appreciate you supporting us in these ways. None of this would’ve been possible without great contacts and receptive audiences who were eager to get involved…so thank you. I also want to thank our lovely regional manager, Matt Wood, for being so supportive throughout tour and putting up with everything we may have put him through. He’s a champ!

Even though this tour is over, LiNK’s work is not. I want to encourage any of you reading this, whether you be a fellow nomad, a follower of this tour since the beginning, or a random person who happened upon this blog during your internet adventures, to continue working towards getting the hundred (http://www.linkglobal.org/thehundred/home.html) out and ultimately, ending this crisis in North Korea. Our work is far from over, but we’ve gained a lot of momentum and we need to keep that going. So do what you can, help in the ways you know how, but don’t forget that we’ve got a long ways to go and will need help getting there. I’ll be right there with you, doing whatever I can from the chilly midwest.

Weeeell…that’s all for me. Thanks again, guys.

Go now, and live!

-Kelley

心して桜ちれちれ鮎小鮎 kokoro shite sakura chire-chire ayu ko ayu “Be...

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:21:00 -0400

心して桜ちれちれ鮎小鮎

kokoro shite sakura chire-chire ayu ko ayu

“Be brave, cherry blossoms

and fall!” the little trout

so we’ve been on tour for a while now, and this haiku has come back to me every so often as a very appropriate call to all of those who are deciding to risk their own physical safety, financial security, or personal relationships, to make themselves a part of the ongoing fight to bring justice and freedom to those who are not given the rights that they so deserve. often people who make this decision are treated with disbelief or even animosity by their friends or family, instead of the respect that they deserve. now i am certainly not saying that these activist individuals should be overly praised or are in it for the accolades (not that there really are many), but sometimes people on the outside seem to take an affront to giving ones time with a completely altuistic purpose, instead of falling in line with the idea that the standard path of money/security/prestige must be followed. and i dont mean this as some desired recognition for the things that i am working on, because i have been fortunate enough to have met many amazing people all around the world that continue to insipre and support me, whether directly or indirectly.

basically this poem most likely was originally meant to be interpereted as a call to not be afraid of death, since when the cherry blossom falls it has obviously reached the end of its life. however, i see it a bit differently. i see it as a call to dive into the unknown, to make the leap into something that may not offer security, but it will most certainly be an amazing, exciting, and enriching experience. that little cherry blossom may have to take that blind leap, but the river that they land in will carry them along to yet unknown lands with many little fish cheering them on along the way. so all of you out there that are feeling exhausted, unsupported, or just plain tired of being misunderstood by those you hoped would know you best, just remember; i, and others like me, are motivated and encouraged by your efforts everyday, and by working together we will see the things that others sheild their eyes from, and make these issues impossibe for them to ignore any longer. so fight on dear friends, and take that leap!

Can you believe it? Tour’s already half-way over! I will admit that I’m pretty excited...

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:23:57 -0400

Can you believe it? Tour’s already half-way over! I will admit that I’m pretty excited about that, but I’m still having a great time and am excited to see what the next few weeks have in store. It’s crazy to think about how much land we’ve crossed and all the things we’ve done. Sure has been one heck of a trip.

We’ve had a pretty slow last couple weeks, which is kind of a bummer. I’m ready to get to Chicago, which is going to probably the most chaotic and busy week of my life. It’s gonna be awesome.

Anyway, thanks to the people who have put us up in the last week or so (The Beyer family, Mallory&her roommates, my brother); it’s been great. Oh, and thanks to the Paul Mitchell school in Wichita for the best scalp massages ever and the free haircuts! hooty hooo!

and here’s a random photo I took in St. Louis:

on kind of a sad note: this photo may be the last one I post from tour. I seem to have lost my camera battery’s charger, and those babies aren’t cheap…so unless I find it…no more photos. Sorryyyy. I am mega bummed about this. Maybe I’ll just start drawing pictures of everything.

That’s it, bye!

-Kelley

Hey everyone! Sorry we’ve been a little slow on the updates. Honestly, we’ve had a...

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:49:43 -0400

Hey everyone! Sorry we’ve been a little slow on the updates. Honestly, we’ve had a pretty slow few days. We’re in Dallas right now and have had a few days off…most of which have been spent booking. It’s been nice though, and I think I speak for the whole team when I say I feel refreshed and rested. Thanks to Sujean and her family for taking such great care of us. It’s amazing what a big plate of Pad Thai and good conversation can do for a person. Your hospitality will not be soon forgotten. =D

Next stop: Wichita. Yeeeeah!

Bye guys.

-Kelley

some photos from our screenings in Texas. thanks everyone,...

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:41:00 -0400

some photos from our screenings in Texas. thanks everyone, you’ve been great!

-Kelley

thanks for the music austin! daniel ha, a great LiNK chapter...

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:26:04 -0400

thanks for the music austin! daniel ha, a great LiNK chapter member, playing with a bluegrass group at momo’s. also caught a great jazz sextet at the elephant room. and these were just happenstance, didnt even have time to catch the more slightly known acts in town like asobi sekusu. definitely going back to austin, great music, food, bookstores, and amazingly friendly people.

a few photo highlights from tour so far. it’s been fun and...

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 18:38:13 -0400

a few photo highlights from tour so far.

it’s been fun and beautiful. =)

-Kelley

The Heartland Nomads run into some epic weather.

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:34:14 -0400

The Heartland Nomads run into some epic weather.

finishing colorado

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:49:20 -0400

well, we’ve been here for a week and i think we are all ready to move on. denver and colorado springs have been up and down by the day, from sleeping in a park to in a mansion, from 500 person screenings to 3. so far its tough to keep the eyes on the prize, but it think once we fall into the groove, we’ll be just fine. we have already met some amazing people, thanks to jeff for putting us up so well, we had a blast. now we are off the texas, we are spending 3 weeks there, so here’s looking forward to pickups, bbq, and some southern hospitality. see y’all soon!

denvers take on boba tea. yeehaaww!!!

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:39:53 -0400

denvers take on boba tea. yeehaaww!!!

A taste of life on the road with the Heartland Nomads

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:04:33 -0400

A taste of life on the road with the Heartland Nomads

best first day ever!

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:13:01 -0400

okay, a quick rundown of the first driving day of our trip. buzzing from bullhead city, az to colorado springs should have taken about 13 hours (according to mapquest). 15 hours in, we realized there was a slight disparity between mapquest, our gps, and the reality of pee breaks, tourist traps, and faulty credit cards. an added bonus was the hour we forgot to include for the time change. so when we found a kind soul willing to put us up for the night, we were pretty overjoyed.

deciding that i didnt want to be any later absolutely necessary, i was pretty much taking the beautiful colorado mountains at a hellish pace, which the white knuckles of my teammates can attest to. okay, maybe not SO bad, but leeann leadfoot IS my new moniker. as i came into a small town, i thought, “oh, probably some black & whites around, should slow it down”. the flashing lights in my mirror said the same. fortunately the cop was a gem, and although he still ticketed me with a minor infraction, he could have done much worse. he was actually apologizing for having to give me a ticket, but had already called it in as per procedure when the driver is going *cough 25mph cough* over the speed limit. and to make it that much sweeter, when we got out of the mountains the text came in that our contact bailed, and no need to rush, because we had no place to sleep anyway.

this leads us to the 7-11 like a block away from the screening the next day. being a former EMT, i started chatting up the paramedics that were hanging out at 2 am. they told us they knew a great place to park and get some sleep, so we followed the ambulance to a nice secluded spot. yeah, a nice secluded spot to hide a body, which im sure is how they found it in the first place. after a kind wave goodbye, we decided on a nearby park instead. there was NOT enough room for three to sleep in the van, and since i am partial to the outdoors, i decided to throw down my sleeping bag and get some much needed rest. after 5 minutes, i was sleeping soundly. maybe 2 hours later, i woke up to the most physically impossible hard rain i have ever experienced. it was like i was getting shot in the face with a high pressure hose. which is pretty much what it was, a giant sprinkler in the face. and another hitting me from the side. and from above. i scrambled up and tried to grab everything, ipod, phone, stuffed animal (thanks alice!). yeah, theres me running across the park lawn, giggling like crazy, with no pants on and my sleeping bag streaming behind me like a sail. im lucky there were no cops around then, i would have been locked up on a 5150. (but dont you worry, they came to hassle us the next morning as i was trying to dry my stuff out). so i crawled into the van, pressed up against the steering wheel, and shivered myself into an uneven sleep. my teammates were quietly smirking, im sure…

GALA!!!

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:55:21 -0400

We are only a few days away from the 2009 Benefit Gala!

Join us online as we stream LIVE from The Times Center in New York City. Online viewers will have access to the entire program featuring keynote speaker and field correspondent to The Oprah Winfrey Show Lisa Ling; 5 new videos; exclusive interviews with North Korean refugees from LiNK’s shelters, Congressman Ed Royce, director and producer of “Seoul Train” Jim Butterworth, and much more!
Be sure to tune in at 6pm EST this Saturday, September 12th, for special interviews during the VIP reception, and to learn about how YOU can participate online throughout the evening. For more information or to tune in, click here: www.linkglobal.org/nightof

t minus 20 minutes

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 17:10:00 -0400

so, we are all set to hit the road as soon as the last of the diligent nomads are finishing their hard work inputting the info into our many redundant software programs. i of course am not the diligent type, so i will be keeping you all abreast of our many amazing adventures. you can thank rob croft as our current videographer, although we will all be showing of our mad (sad?) skillz soon enough. tonight we will be staying at my grandmothers lovely home out in the arizona desert, hoping to get there in time for a beautiful evening. we are lucky enough to be travelling with the westnomads for the first day, and we will go our separate ways tomorrow (but not before a jump in the colorado river). hope all is well for those out on the interwebs, be talking to you again soon…

leeann