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Dear $%name%$, here is 2020 NGI Annual Report. Thank you for yo
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Publishing the annual report
Dear Fellow Partners, thank you!
Greetings to you all. Though 2020 was very difficult, not only for us, but for many others around the world, it has also been a time in which we experienced God’s amazing grace and love through adversity. Thanks to your continued prayers, support, and love, NGI was able to see the fruits of our efforts increase in abundance this year through the many programs we conducted.
Despite ongoing difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to raise our voice in defense of human rights and freedom of North Korea through over 20 gatherings and the Nehemiah One Million Prayer Petition Campaign.
Through the Sea Route Project, we were able to send 800 bottles of rice, Bibles, and hand-written letters northward from January to June. Unfortunately, new laws passed in South Korea late in the year made it illegal to send leaflets into North Korea, which ended this program abruptly.
We continued visiting North Korean refugee families, operated consulting centers and online counseling programs and we helped several North Koreans stay healthy and settle in South Korea safely.
Lastly, we were able to assist about 70 teenagers and young adult from North Korea by offering them English language education and spiritual training through Nehemiah Discipleship Camp and Nehemiah English School, which we founded in March 2020. The school was opened after much prayer and planning, and has been constructed as a place where where the children of God are nurtured and can grow to become leaders like Nehemiah for their generation.
As we continue to work in 2021 and beyond, we will continue to commit ourselves and our resources to professionally, and in an organized manner, help our client base develop mentally, emotionally, and spiritually to become global leaders, rooted in God's Word and Call for his people, and who will work for the reunification of the two Koreas. Please join us in nourishing these important seeds of spiritual revival so that they may become trustworthy pillars after the North and the South are reunified.
The 2020 annual report is created for sponsors so that they may get clear information about the various projects conducted by Nehemiah Global Initiative (NGI), and verify the details of how their donations have helped impact lives.
- Kenneth Bae
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1. Nehemiah Prayer Gathering
‘Nehemiah Prayer Gathering’ is a weekly gathering where all those who care about North Korea gather together to worship God, pray for North Korea, and for the reunification of the Korean peninsula.
The Nehemiah Prayer Gathering was originally planned to occur on the second Tuesday of every month in 2020. However, due to COVID-19 and the many public health and safety restrictions put in place, it was impossible to proceed as planned. When conditions began to improve and restrictions were lifted, we were able to hold a few meetings in January, November, and December.
In 2021, the Nehemiah Prayer Gathering has begun meeting again on the second Tuesday of each month at the NGI center in Yangcheon-gu. We invite everyone who wants to pray for North Korea with love in their hearts. (F3, 341, Sinwol-ro, Yangcheon-gu, Seoul)
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2. Nehemiah One Million Prayer Petition Campaign
‘Nehemiah One Million Prayer Petition Campaign’ is a movement that started in 2017, centered around bringing together one million people, from all over the world, vowing before God to pray for the freedom of North Koreans, and the restoration of the land. This campaign was inspired by the nearly 180 thousand people who petitioned former President Barak Obama to appeal for the release of Pastor Kenneth Bae during his detention in North Korea.
Unfortunately, the prevalence of COVID-19 in 2020 halted all opportunities for our team to travel and tell the world about the realities of North Korea, and in turn increase this prayer movement. Naturally, this means that the prayer movement has slowed down significantly.
However, it has not stopped. Rather, we found that people have sought it out online and in person, looking to join and and show their love, through prayer, for North Korea. There are now 5,527 fellow partners in this campaign living in 912 cities, from 72 countries.
We want to thank all of you who have shown your love for North Korea and have joined together with us, hand in hand, heart to heart, for the sake of the land and the many North Koreans who still live under persecution and pain. We sincerely ask you to continue to pray with NGI and remember the tears of the oppressed until the day of the reunification in Korea.
Please sign the Petition to Pray through the website, where you will also have the opportunity to receive our monthly prayer eNewsletter as an NGI prayer warrior. Please share the prayer information for North Korea with the people around you and pray with us.
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As we have spent quality time with North Korean women over the past year, we have come to realize that, while they have plenty of basic every day needs, they are in great need of emotional support.
From the very first moment they enter their independent, free lives after Hanawon, North Korean women face the overwhelming pressures and realities of needing to fit into society and make a living simultaneously.
They also have to fight the loneliness they feel and the fear of starting completely over, knowing very little about their communities, local cultures, and workplace expectations. This often leads them to feel rushed and be impatient, worrying about what kind of work they can do, and if there is a place for them in society. They often end up struggling unnecessarily, hurting themselves both physically and mentally. Most of their problems come from their immediate families, from new relationships, the families they've started, and the challenges of raising children.
In order to help the North Korean women in our care, we invited a professional counselor to our center. Through individual counseling sessions, five women were provided much needed emotional support and guidance. Of course, as is often the case, the participants wanted to see immediate result in their lives, not understanding that these things take time and multiple counseling sessions to get to the heart of things. However, through these sessions they began to grown and heal, and our staff also learned what we as a community need to do to provide continued support to them, and others within the community.
Looking forward, we hope that NGI can feel like home to them, providing a place of rest, and an opportunity to feel embraced by our staff and by God, the father. We ask you to pray with us, and for us, that North Korean women can feel safe, valuable, and re-assured as they build their identities and new lives in Christ
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2. Visiting Households
Under normal circumstances we are actively visiting the Hanawon facility, visiting families in our community, and sharing meals in our center. However the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic greatly reduced our ability to conduct these outreach programs.
None-the-less, some people still came to our center, joined us for lunch, and left with peace of mind after talking with us about our work and hearing about how we walk by faith. Despite stopping all visits to the Hanawon facility, we were able to make about 25 visits to households in the area and reach out to several individuals in the community through phone calls.
One of the stories shared with us during this time is from a precious North Korean woman named 'MyoungHwa'.
We met her through the process of pre and post surgery, doctor's office, and home visits by our staff.
We had heard about the challenges facing her family, and became aware that she was not prepared to take care of herself after surgery, so we reached out and volunteered to deliver meals and assist. Through our visits we had an opportunity to hear her story.
MyoungHwa lived in South Korea as foreigner for over a decade, suffering from extreme pain and weakness in her joints. Being unfamiliar with the modern medical system, but also having deep anxiety and fears around the medical system and surgery, she avoided seeing a doctor and having surgery for many years. However, her pain became too great to the point where surgery became a necessity.
Though she had lived in South Korea for quite sometime, she struggled to trust anyone. She carried the burden of feeling a sense of strong emotional instability which often caused her to emotionally withdraw. Thankfully, with the support of our staff, loving care of the medical staff, and the skilled hands of the surgeon and medical doctors, her surgery was a success, she healed quickly, her anxieties were eased, and she was able to make a full recovery.
Through this experience we witnessed Myounghwa find peace of mind. We also personally learned that the most valuable moments we can spend with North Korean women can end up being the small stepping stones laid out in a path to make them feel that that are loved, valued, and that life is still worth living.
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3. Hanawon Visit
Hanawon is an organization affiliated with the (Korean) Ministry of Unification, where North Korean refugees go after they come to South Korea.
While there, they are investigated by government agencies such as The National Intelligence Service. Hanawon provides North Korean refugees with three months of education for social adjustment and assistance with emotional stability, cultural heterogeneity, and socio-economic motivation.
Prior to COVID-19, NGI would visit Hanawon every two months to interact with North Korean refugees, and to maintain our ability to meet the North Korean refugees rescued by NK Relief.
However, due to the COVID-19 lockdown blocking escape routes throughout China, and various other routes throughout Asia, the number of North Korean defectors dropped sharply to just 229. This is less than one-third of the total number of refugees who entered in 2019.
Our hearts year to return to Hanawon to visit with and care for our North Korean brothers and sisters. Additionally, our minds are with those who are desperately waiting for the moment they can make their way to South Korea and join us at Hanawon. We invite you to visit the Ministry of Unification website for more information.
Reference from: Ministry of Unification website
https://www.unikorea.go.kr/unikorea/business/NKDefectorsPolicy/status/lately/
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1. Nehemiah Discipleship Camp
“I want to repay God and those people who love North Korea by doing something meaningful with my life. I hope my life will be loving so that love never stops flowing throughout the world. This is my dream that I found during my trip in US." - Nayeon (23) -
Because of your continued support, prayer, and help, Nehemiah Discipleship Camp (NDC) was held successfully from January 17th and February 1st 2020. This was the very first NDC, which allowed eight North Korean young adult refugees to participate in the theme “Dream, Destiny, and Discipleship.” The participants, ages 18-24, submitted applications to participate and were selected by personal interview where they talked about their desire to have a personal relationship with Jesus, or find a special calling from God during their camp journey.
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*God sent his people from everywhere – Their Service
Those who love North Korea, including some seniors who are actually from North Korea, took care of our meals for our entire trip even though they hadn’t met our camp attendees ever before. Not only that, wherever we went we met people filled with the love and passion of God, expressing it toward North Korea, and filling and encouraging our hearts.
*God’s people with God’s love – Their Home Stay
There were many people who willing opened their houses to us with love. Because of their servant hearts and love for God's Word, our North Korean refugee participants, who had left their families behind in North Korea, felt deeply loved by both our hosts and God, deep in their hearts.
“The ladies served us as if they were our mothers. They welcomed us, and took care of us in the same way that they would their own children. It was the very first time since I left North Korea that I felt so comfortable, as if I were staying with my mother. It was such a warming and comfortable time here."
– Haeun (22) -
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*Telling their stories to people who are praying for NK
Being able to tell their stories about North Korea to the people they met allowed program attendees to not only share the plight of North Koreans, but also to share their personal journeys, testimonies, and share about how they met God. Every place they visited and spoke had people gathered from communities all around. The words of our camp attendees allowed everyone to hear to true testimonies of the North Korean people, feel the love that God has for them, and created a wonderful opportunity for us to listen, visit, cry, embrace, and pray for one another.
“God has never forsaken or given up on North Korea. Now, I know it because of those who are still praying for North Korea.” – Ye In (23) -
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2. Nehemiah English School
Nehemiah English School (NES) was officially established on March 9th , 2020 with one full-time student. Through this school, we offer education to North Korean refugees, focusing on the whole person by providing intensive English education, biblical mentoring/counseling, and worship services so that the next generation will be prepared to become leaders like Nehemiah for the next generation.
Our aim and goal is not just to raise their intellectual abilities, but also to nourish their minds with Christian values and to help them become courageous members of Korean society.
In 2020, NES conducted: 1) Full-Time English School, 2) Online English mentoring, and 3) Part-Time English School for the summer and winter breaks.
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(1) Nehemiah Full-Time English School (12 weeks)
Nehemiah Full-Time School is conducted from 9A.M. to6P.M., and is intended for students who want to learn English intensively. There were two Full-Time School semesters held in 2020. (Spring, Fall)
In March of 2020, at the beginning of spring semester, we were not sure whether to start the program due to COVID-19. However, there was one student who quit going to an alternative school and wanted to fully study English here, with us. So, we felt that that this was God's direction, and began the semester.
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Soon, another student joined in the middle of the semester and we were able to end the first semester successfully in June. In fall semester, we had three students join us who successfully finished the semester in December.
In the full-time classes, we focus on the students’ grammar and speaking ability. In later lessons we added a ‘public speaking’ section so that students can start writing and preparing for public speaking .Through this program students not only overcome their fear of speaking in English, but they are able to improve their writing skills as well. Also, we hold worship services and bible study every Wednesday to support the students’ spiritual growth.
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[ Fall semester (Sep - Dec) completion ceremony of full time school ]
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There were many trials and errors in the spring and fall semester, which is natural in the first year of a program. We also had some difficult administrative decision-making moments happening simultaneously. And, even though enrollment was low this first year, it allowed us to build strong relationships with our students, deeply embrace them in Christ’s love during their time with us, expand their English skills and build up their confidence and identity in Christ Jesus, which is the cornerstone of our work. As a result, the school has become a place to pray for students as well as build their knowledge.
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(2) Nehemiah Summer / Winter Short-term English School
We planned the short-term English school for students who wish to study English during school vacation, around 6-7 weeks. This was intended to for students who wanted to join full-time but weren’t able to, or those who simply wanted a bit more time to improve their English skills participated.
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[ Summer day camp orientation ]
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* Summer Day Camp (6 weeks)
Our short-term summer English school was held as ‘Summer Day Camp’ from July 20th to August 24th.
A total of eight students joined, and the classes were divided into two groups; Beginner and Intermediate class. The school held Bible study session every Friday with a volunteer teacher, majoring in theology.
On Wednesdays, all students and staff joined worship services and talked about the Word of God together.
The students in beginner class had fears of the English language and had little understanding of English grammar. With this in mind, the classes for this group mainly focused on developing students’ speaking ability in order to build confidence in English. For intermediate class, the main focus of the class was to improve students’ reading and writing abilities, as this is where they needed the most improvement.
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[ One day trip In Sokcho ]
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At then end of the semester we took a day trip to the beach in Sokcho so that we could de-stress, connect more personally, build memories, and celebrate our time together learning English exhaustively over the prior weeks.
Through these six weeks of intensive English Summer Camp programming, students in both classes felt that their English had improved and they expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the course based on the survey they completed. Even though the course was only for six weeks, we witnessed great progress among the students, due to their diligence in following every lesson. We deeply grateful for the students, staff, and volunteer teachers who took their time to serve the students and school.
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*Winter English Discipleship Training School (7 weeks)
The short-term winter English school was held from January 4th, 2021 to February 19th, 2021. We started preparing for the school in mid-December, announcing the short-term school program to Korea Hana Foundation and Woorion. Through these announcements we were able to get a lot of registrations, but accepted only 12 students in total who were able to join our program 9am to 6pm every weekday.
The main theme for this short-term English school was “God will make a way”. All classes in short-term English school were conducted online because of the continued impact of COVID-19. (More details will be included in the 2021 Annual Report.)
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B&C who were in charge of NES in 2020
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NES began from one “seed”, carefully planted and nurtured by the staff and supporters of NGI. From this one seed, who was desperately in need of English education and continued support, we have witnessed amazing growth in personal skills, both writing and speaking, but also have seen our relationship with her deepen, her life in Jesus Christ deepen, and God's plan for NES be affirmed.
And with this one seed, we have seen it now multiply into 2, and then 8. Despite the impacts of COVID-19 and government restrictions limiting our ability to gather and provide classroom instruction, new students kept coming to us from out of nowhere. Each semester the students gained confidence, found their vision, and confessed their faith in Christ. Though we were in our very first year in 2020, our program was continuously developing, growing, learning, and witnessing God’s love and faithfulness despite our inexperience.
For the students who were with us during a three monthlong semester, we were able to listen, pray, comfort, encourage, and be a friends/family to them. We also had many opportunities to fellowship with our short-term students during the summer session. Many of them had never experienced English in daily life, even though they had been studying English in South Korea. Many times they were dealing with self-deprecating thoughts, and frustrations like “I can't speak English well”. However, after the six week summer program we witnessed significant growth in both their English language skills and confidence, which in turn increased their personal confidence, outlook, and hopes in life.
We are not entirely sure of how this was possible, other than giving the credit and glory to God. Through his wisdom, plan, and Will he guided these students to NES, wishing to express his love for them through our staff, wanting to restore their lives, build up their confidence and self-worth, and rebuild the first love relationship between them and Himself.
While NES 2020 was surely not perfect this first year, God was present, found his people, embraced them, turned our collective difficulties into His goodness, and tied our hearts together as one. Of course we know that we are and never will be perfect, and our ‘perfect plan’ is incomparable to God’s ultimate, perfect plan. That’s why we humbly raise this school unto him, that God will do his work. With this in mind, we will keep running NES through God’s good guidance.
May God use our desperate prayers, so that NES will be formed more and more to God’s plan, and that He would use NES as His soul saving channel.
My sincere gratitude and love to each and every one of you, who have supported and prayed for NES throughout last year. May God’s peace be with you!
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3. Nehemiah English School 1:1 Mentoring Program
“ I barely knew anyone here since I just moved from North Korea(to South Korea),which means I had no friends to share my daily life. Ever since I met the teacher here, she’s been my friend and family. I could share good things and bad things that happened in my daily life. It also helped me to improve my writing and speaking skills to share my days with the teacher.”
-Student JeongHee (24)-
Nehemiah English School offers twelve weeks of one on one English mentoring for North Korean refugees students who want to improve their English skill. (Two hours, once a week, for twelve weeks.) Every student will be matched one on one to volunteer mentors. The mentors support spiritual, personal, and social aspects of the mentee’s lives, as well as skills to improve their English, with the goal of helping the North Korean Refugees develop into the leaders who will be the “Nehemiah” of the next generation.
In 2020, 32 volunteers came, with precious hearts for North Korea, to serve NES (Nehemiah English School) from USA, Australia, China, Germany, UK, Taiwan, Brazil, Korea, Venezuela etc. They served North Korean refugee students for one to three semesters, each teaching one to five students at a time, filled with the love of Christ. They provided a safe place for the students to connect, learn, and grown which was fundamental to the program goals.
“The most memorable experience was to share the Gospel and pray together with my student. I t was a great privilege to witness a lost soul accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, and really come to believe they are children of God.” – C, Volunteer, UK -
“One on One Online Mentoring” is well known among North Korean students, and there are 49 students still waiting for volunteer teachers who can teach them. Please pray that we can recruit more Christian volunteer teachers who have a heart for North Korean Refugees. Please also pray that all the students who are taking classes now will experience the love of God every time they have class.
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4. Nehemiah Scholarship Fund
Understanding the importance of education, the Nehemiah Scholarship Fund was set up to assist North Korean refugees who are enrolled in school and are in desperate need of financial support for school and living expenses. This priceless scholarship helps them keep studying and continue their journey to become educated and spiritually rooted leaders who will be ready to lead. One such example is our current recipient, Grace.
Grace is a college student in the USA who introduces the reality of North Korea through her personal story of multiple escape attempts, and her eventual arrival in the USA. After arriving, she continued to struggle as the government of the USA asked her to relocate multiple times, making it difficult for her to connect with her community, enroll and attend High School, and work for a living. Yet through it all, Grace continued to remember her journey, and those who are still seeking freedom.
Today, Grace continues to live in the USA, is a student at Seattle Pacific University, and is a human rights activist for North Korean refugees in America. She has dreamed of this for ten years, but the realities of her dream have required that she work in a restaurant and drive a cab to make money for her tuition
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[ Grace and her class' students ]
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This past summer, Grace spent some time with us at out South Korea location, learning more about our organization and the struggles of North Korean refugee students. She was heartbroken to hear that barriers to learning English was the leading cause of them dropping out of school. This led her to join NGI as a volunteer.
As we spent more time with her, we felt led to raise $10,000 to help provide financial support toward her tuition (about $30,000 annually), expenses for her living, and pay for her internship with us. Thankfully, many people came to support us which allowed us to meet our goal.
We would like to sincerely thank everyone who supported this program financially, and with your prayers. We thank you and love you from the bottom of our hearts, and we strongly believe that the support given to Grace will not only help her achieve her dreams and ensure comfort in her life, but also become the forward momentum to open the doors to North Korea.
We ask that you please keep supporting us with your prayers and love so that North Korean refugees may keep their educational hopes and dreams alive, regardless of their hardships, just like Grace.
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5. Nehemiah Internship Program
Every summer NGI recruits some young college students from overseas who have a heart for North Korea to participate in our ministry. Despite the barrier of COVID-19, two students from the US joined NGI for three months during the summer of 2020: Sohaila from the University of Chicago, and Grace from Seattle Pacific University.
To give a brief description of these two interns, Sohaila is an Egyptian-American who couldn't work in the field due to coronavirus but performed her tasks in the design department diligently despite 7 hours of time difference. Sohaila devoted her compassion to North Korean refugees with her previous experience of volunteer work for refugees from the Middle East
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[ Grace (center) with staff and students ]
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Likewise, Grace, who was one of the 2nd Nehemiah Scholarship Fund recipients, is a North Korean refugee living in the United States. She became NGI's first intern who was herself a North Korean refugee living in the U.S and took service under NGI, spending an extra 2 weeks in quarantine on arrival for her internship in Korea.
She took charge of the intermediate class from 9am to 6pm weekdays for 7 weeks, diligently teaching English, which she herself had struggled to learn when she moved from China to America.
It was a precious time for all the staff who work at NGI to be supported by, and learn the values of connection and community spirit through the two interns that God sent us.
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Changes in NGI Ministry Direction
Throughout the past year we have been renewing our ministry commitment daily, praying for vision, affirmation, confirmation of direction, and more. We have trained ourselves to hear God's voice and obey, and through our prayers regarding financial hardships due to the impacts of COVID-19, our inability to reach out to those in our community, the challenges with public speaking and creating awareness, etc. God has spoken and told us to fix our eyes upon Him, depend on Him, and ask Him for His Will.
Through this challenging season, and our personal assessment and re-commitment, He has confirmed that NGI is our God-given ministry, and that our work through NES is of His Will and design. And while rescue is a vital part of seeing the North Korean people as fellow image bearers of God, worthy of and in need of human rights protections, it is time to refocus and delegate the work appropriately.
Going forward NGI will faithfully focus on our new call to vision by becoming a professional educational organization for North Korean refugees that focuses on raising them to become leaders like ‘Nehemiah’ for the next generation. Our sister organization, NK Relief, will be taking over the “Remember Ministry” and “Restore Ministry”, and portions of our original, foundational work so that we can focus on this new vision.
NK Relief has the sole vision of rescuing, resettling, and providing emergency relief to North Korean refugees residing in countries outside of North Korea (referred to as “3rd countries”), as well as visiting and assisting North Korean refugees in South Korea. It will also manage the ‘Nehemiah One Million Prayer Petition Campaign’, provide counseling, and conduct other outreach programming for North Korean refugees centered around remembering and restoring them.
With this in mind, we ask for your partnership, support, and constant prayers.
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Thank you for your support!
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