YEONMI PARK

"We all have our own deserts. They may not be the same as my desert, but we all have to cross them to find a purpose in life and be free"

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Yeonmi was born in North Korea: a country where people were not free to sing, read a newspaper, make a phone call abroad, etc. Like many civilians, she was terrified of the autocratic supreme leader.

When Yeonmi was 14, her family decided to escape, however it was an arduous journey. She and her mother crossed a frozen river and three mountains to reach the Chinese border. They were treated terrible as illegal refugees, with no protection laws, vulnerable to criminals.

The two women lived fearfully in hiding, until they fled again to Mongolia.

They walked across the Gobi Desert, using a compass, and when it stopped working, they followed the stars. Mongolian guards initially refused to let them pass, until, Yeonmi emotionally convinced them.

Despite living safely in New York today, she tries to make a difference. She made a powerful speech at the One Young World Summit in Ireland. Her story moved the world, and she became a full-time activist for human rights. Every day, she works to liberate her birth country from its terrible dictatorship and to protect refugees.