[LIFESTYLE] Unorthodox refugee support group pushes the envelope

By Ko Dong-hwan

Social networking sites are ARK’s main communication channels with the public.
Social networking sites are the main channels through which ‘refugees in action (ARKs)’ communicate with the public.

The three Korean facilitators from ARK posted an ad on Facebook looking for foreign activists and met Bereket from Ethiopia, Dorcas from the Congo and Musab and Mariam from Egypt in 2021.
Three Korean facilitators of ‘Refugee in Action (ARK)’ posted an overseas activist job advertisement on Facebook in 2021, and met Bereket from Ethiopia, Dorcas from Congo, and Musab and Mariam from Egypt.

“We work as a team so everyone participates and shares ideas,” Dorcas told The Korea Times at Dongjak FM, a public underground space run by Seoul’s southern district office of Dongjak where, according to Bereket, foreign residents of the city often visit for private meetings.
Dorcas told the Korea Times at Dongjak FM, a public underground space run by the Dongjak-gu Office in southern Seoul and where foreign residents come for private meetings, “We work as a team, so everyone participates and shares ideas.”

She declined to share with The Korea Times why she came to Korea 13 years ago, because she was “tired of repeatedly speaking about her dark past publicly.”
Dorcas refused to tell The Korea Times why he came to South Korea 13 years ago because he was “tired of repeatedly talking about his dark past in public.”

Stand up and fight
fight back

ARK, which describes itself as an “ark for refugees from different countries,” stands up to fight for their rights rather than conform to Korea’s immigration system and local society, which can at times be relatively unaccepting and difficult to assimilate into.
ARK, which describes itself as “a refugee ark from many countries,” fights for the rights of refugees, who are often relatively unacceptable and hard to assimilate, rather than conforming to South Korea’s immigration system and local society.

“This is probably the first initiative in Korea which is jointly laid out by refugees and local Koreans,” said Bereket.
Bereket said that the ARK was “the first attempt in Korea to be jointly organized by refugees and local Koreans.”

A professional photographer and a freelance journalist for Pressenza, an international press agency, Bereket fled political usurpation in Ethiopia where he took part in a movement against a rising faction and came to Korea in 2014.
Bereket, a professional photographer and freelance journalist for international news agency Pressenza, came to South Korea in 2014 to escape political extortion in Ethiopia, where she participated in a campaign against a rising faction.

The Koreans and the foreign activists have different roles. The facilitators, using their familiarity with the country, arrange an “empty space” in the country, like a framework, for the rest of the members to fill with their own perspectives and values. This is how ARK strives to be strictly refugee-oriented instead of being planned and orchestrated by Koreans who support refugees.
The roles played by Korean and foreign activists are different. Facilitators use their familiarity with their country to find and provide a framework for “empty spaces” in Korea that the rest of the group can fill with their own perspectives and values. This is how ARK operates as a refugee-centered organization, instead of being planned and coordinated by Koreans supporting refugees.

“Sometimes it feels time-consuming, but we make some consensus where we can all do it together,” Kang Eun-sook, one of the facilitators and the bookkeeper of ARK, said.
Kang Eun-sook, host of ARK and bookkeeper, said, “Sometimes it feels like it takes a lot of time, but we are forming a consensus that we can all do it together.”

KEY WORDS
■ channel (communication) path[수단]
■ decline (politely) decline, decline
■ repeatedly
■ refugee
■ conform to
■ assimilate into
■ jointly
■ usurpation extortion, usurpation
■ faction faction, faction
■ -oriented[위주의]
■ orchestrate (carefully) organize

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