If you read any one of my blog posts. This one is the one I want you to read. I have just over 400 followers on my blog. Let’s do something together!
About a month ago our friends Pat and Alyssa brought something to our attention that Tom and I had heard about, but only vaguely.
Here is what I know. It’s 2013. North Korea has been recognized as the most repressive country in the world.“UN reports have described the human rights situation in the country as sui generis – in a category of its own, and “harrowing and horrific.” The North Korean regime attempts to deny its people almost every basic human right you can imagine. North Korea’s human rights abuses are so bad, in part, because the regime has had to rely on extreme repression to stay in power. Regime stability is the ultimate objective for the ruling elite, and the brutally efficient system of political oppression, including the prison camps, public executions and collective punishment, are the tools they have used to maintain their system.”
“…Five political prison camps hold an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 inmates, and some of them are the size of cities. They have existed five times as long as the Nazi concentration camps and twice as long as the Soviet Gulags. Many people imprisoned in these camps were not guilty of any crime but were related to someone who supposedly committed a political crime. Often they have no idea what that crime was. There is no due process or rule of law. Even children who are born in the camps are raised as prisoners because their blood is guilty. Forced labor, brutal beatings and death are commonplace. The regime denies the existence of these camps, but multiple survivor testimonies have been corroborated by former guards as well as satellite images of the camps…” -Taken from http://libertyinnorthkorea.org
Tom and I have begun to watch documentaries of North Koreans who have escaped the country alive. Our most recent one being: Camp 14 on Netflix. It is devastating to me what is happening, and more devastating that SO MANY people do not know about what is happening in North Korea.
We have also watched Inside North Korea– Where Lisa Ling goes into North Korea undercover as a medical coordinator to take a look at the country’s government and dictatorship. As well as parts of Kimjongilia. I felt helpless, heartbroken, and desperate to do something to help these people. There is also the documentary Seoul Train that you can watch here:http://www.sockshare.com/file/7D01D0B6694AF52F
About a month ago Alyssa and Pat posted the link the their fundraiser to help free the people of North Korea. It takes $2,500 to free one refugee from their system of undercover workers. Liberty in North Korea will be rescuing 100 people in 2013!
BUT they need your help.
We can’t even imagine growing up in a prision camp,being separated from our loved ones, going hungry every single day, or being neglected of basic human rights.
Here is what you can do:
1. Be informed. Read an article, watch a documentary, read a book. Poke around on the website I posted below.
2.Share the link on facebook, twitter, blogs, or with anyone you know! (That takes one second…)
3. Donate. Nothing is too small. A 10$ donation=2 starbucks mocha’s. I mean. Really? You get the point! Alyssa and Pat are 27% of the way to their goal of freeing a refugee.
Here is the link to help refugees:
http://fundraise.libertyinnorthkorea.org/patandalyssa
Praying for humanity today. Especially North Korea.