Travel, Education, and New Connections…Modern Technology Makes it Easier!

Three Reasons for Young Adults to Use Modern Technology

Young adulthood is a time of uncertainty. An 18-34 year old might wonder, where should I live, what should I study, or even, who am I? Luckily, technology today makes life planning a little easier. For instance, young adults can try education online for free, they can use games to enhance their lives, and use the Internet to learn about the world around them.

Moocs Massively Open Online Courses, or MOOCS for short, provide young people with the opportunity to explore academic options without shelling out money. They can take classes at prestigious universities, like Harvard, MIT, or Yale, and learn from renowned instructors- all for free. Many MOOCS provide certificates of completion, and there might even be options for receiving credit toward a program. The number of MOOCS today are abundant. Students can take traditional courses, like Economics or Biology, or choose from more unique offerings, like Tolkien's Middle Earth and Nanotechnology. I just started my first Mooc Course on Psychics with Georgia Tech, and am very excited about all I have learned so far. Proponents of MOOCs discuss this new trend, describing it as awareness and enthusiasm for education with potential to increase educational opportunities in the developing world (Haynie, 2013). MOOCS provide affordable opportunities for professional development and career preparation.
Games Usually when games are in the news, it is because something bad has happened. Creeping up in popularity is a different kind of game designed by forward-thinking people who want to make a positive social impact in the world. Academic research touts the benefits of these 'serious games'. Possible benefits of social impact games include management of stress, improved cognitive functioning, crisis resolution, and decision-making skills; games can educate players on health, sexual, relationship, and other matters. There are serious games that let people try out their 'dream job' or live a day in the life in someone else's shoes. The interactive and entertainment aspect of game playing makes learning fun, and players can begin to experience the world from a new perspective (Massie and Shamblin, 2014). In a game environment, players can feel safer knowing that if they make the wrong choice, they can still turn around and start again, and there will not be real world consequences. Games like Depression Quest, SPARX, and MoodTune were designed to help people with depression and anxiety- common afflictions in young adults. See here. Other games, like this one, are being developed to boost self-esteem in vulnerable populations like young girls. This gamification of important social issues will continue to grow in multiple ways- the quality, contributors, interactivity, and use of multiple channels to create a dynamic experience will become more advanced. The White House has its own page just for gaming here, which discusses how "Games for impact (sometimes called "serious games") are designed to be at once entertaining and engaging, and also something more: educational, enlightening, and perhaps even designed to motivate action" (DeLoura, 2013).
Travel Consider explorers and travelers like Magellan, Lewis and Clark, Jack Kerouac- individuals that have charted new territory, crossed social boundaries, and inspired generations to make their own paths. It is important for young adults to go out in the world, learn how people are the same and different, and see the opportunity available to them. Travel can be expensive, but with the help of technology, expenses and time can be saved. People seeking to see the world can use modern technology to gain much more from their experience. On the World Wide Web, they can plan where they want to go and how they want to spend their time. They can research the history and culture of a travel destination online. Today, there are unique options like Volunteer Vacations. The World Wide Web enables young people to make unique connections with others around the world like them, and makes global travel much more accessible.
When I was 18, I left college after my first year, I backpacked around Europe, and still look back to this experience as more enlightened. Now, I plan to repeat this journey nearly 20 years later, and look forward to using technology to plan my trip as I go. A tablet with a wi fi connection can provide quick solutions to big problems. For instance, on a recent trip to Tibet, and I could not remember my hotel room number- all I had was my key card and my Tablet. I was able to speak my 'situation' into my tablet, and then have it translate for me, so the desk clerks could understand that I did not know where my room was. Something that could have taken hours to fix took a minute!
Conclusion The tools of our culture are designed to make our lives easier. But in recent years, technology has advanced to such levels that it is hard to keep track of the best tools to use. Fortunately, the most successful technologies will stand out- the modern technologies with the most advantages become clearer. Serious gaming stands out as a growing trend that will not go away. MOOCS continue to multiply. Finally, the information on the Internet grows and becomes more diverse, closing the digital divide and making it easier to connect globally- all great reasons for young people get on the tech wagon!

How to Use Your Smartphone to Bridge the Language Gap

Best Smartphone Apps for Getting Around in a Foreign Language

In most large cities around the world, people who work in the tourist industry are likely to speak at least a little English. Nonetheless, mastering a few basics in the language of your destination will earn you goodwill and help you get around. Navigating street signs, reading menus, and understanding product labels can all be tricky in an unfamiliar language. Your smartphone is the perfect tool for helping you learn a language, as well as finding words and phrases you don't know.
Learn before you go:
"Hello," "goodbye," "thank you," "please," and "pardon me" are good manners in any language, and not too difficult for most of us to learn. If you want to aim a bit higher, try Duolingo. Duolingo is a free, online language education program with lessons available in French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, and English. Use in on your desktop computer, or install the app on your smartphone and tablet. Your account is accessible from all platforms (including Kindle Fire HD!), and automatically keeps track of your progress.
I used Duolingo to brush up my high school French before a recent trip to Paris. Individual lessons are short - most took me about 10-20 minutes - and require you to read, write, listen, and speak in the language you're working on. I did not make use of the social media component, but that could be a fun way to connect with others learning the same language.

Look it up:
Get a dictionary that will let you look up translations in English or the language of the country you're visiting. For our trip to France, I chose the French/English dictionary for iPhone by Ascendo. The basic version is free, and sufficient for most needs. I ended up upgrading to the paid version, as it was helpful with my Duolingo French lessons.
A good dictionary will provide pronunciation recordings for words, as well as showing how a word is used in sentences. With the paid version of Ascendo dictionaries, you can add your own notes or a recorded clip to practice pronunciation of any word. There's also a list of helpful phrases organized into categories like "Food & Drink," or "Flirting." You can even record your own phrases to help you remember whatever you want to say.
Another great addition to your smartphone's travel resources is a food guide in e-book form. For example, I have a pair of e-books on names of French food and menu items. I downloaded these books to my iPhone for easy access with my Kindle app. They proved invaluable for checking before I ordered. I like to think I'm a fairly adventuresome eater, but I'm pretty sure I would not have enjoyed the "sabardin," which turns out to be, "highly seasoned offal cooked in white wine, encased in pig's caul."

A picture is worth a thousand words:
Your phone's camera can do much more than snap selfies in front of the Eiffel Tower. For example, a recent "Lifehacker" article recommended taking a photo of your suitcase. Imagine trying describe your bag to a non-English speaking attendant at the lost-luggage desk. Now imagine showing them a photo of your bag. By extension, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have photos of the other members of your party, and of the place you're staying in case you get lost.
So, download a few helpful apps, practice your basic greetings and phrases, and have a wonderful time!

Culled from Yahoo.com

Printer Preference in Windows 7

How to Setup Default Printing Preferences on Windows 7

Introduction
Let's say you need to print something, but you don't want to fuss with the options. You're not interested in color prints, or you just want a document printed fast and with black ink. Well you can print stuff the way you want it, every time you print on your Windows 7 Profiles.
5 Steps to Setup Menu for Printing Preferences

• 1. Click Windows Button

• 2. Click Devices and Printers

• 3. Go to Printers and Faxes- Make sure your default printer is earmarked with a green check mark; if it isn't than set it as the default.
• 4. Click Printing Preferences

• 5. Setup Printing Preferences- This will take you to the Main Tab of your default printer. Since this is a beginner's guide we will not concern ourselves with advanced settings, but we will stick to the very basic options.

6 Basic Settings on the Main Tab

• 1. Media Type- Plain Paper or Glossy Photo Paper are the main options.

• 2. Paper Source- Usually the Auto is set for the standard tray; some printers have rear trays which can also be used.

• 3. Color/Intensity- Auto gives you a standard computer colorization, and on Manual setting you can create how dark or light you want it.

• 4. Print Quality- This determines the quality of your print out. Be aware that the highest quality demands the most ink. So for final print outs you might want the best, for editing purposes you might want the lowest quality since you'll be printing it out several times.

• 5. Grayscale Printing- This does not use any color in the print out.

• 6. Preview before Printing- Helps you see what your print out will look like, it is a great ink saver.

Directions for your Default Setup on the Main Tab
The settings that you create will be the default print every time you print a document on that particular user profile. After you have selected your settings you will then Click Apply. They will then be the standard settings for that user profile until you change those settings on the Main Tab.
The following are a few suggested setups.
Typewriter Setup
This is for writers or editors who have to type stuff daily, and don't want to waste ink or color ink. You'll setup it like this:

• · Plain
• · Auto
• · Fast
• · Auto
• · Grayscale
• · Uncheck Preview

Photographer Setup
You'll have to go to the Page Setup Tab to select the correct photo size of paper if you're not doing 8x10's or if you want it to be a Landscape. But for those of you out there who are using standard settings you might want this setup:

• · Glossy
• · Auto
• · High
• · Auto
• · Uncheck Grayscale
• · Preview

High Quality Document Setting
For those that want a final print out of a document you can use this setting, which may include color charts or photographs.

• · Plain
• · Auto
• · High
• · Auto
• · Uncheck Grayscale
• · Preview 

Culled from Yahoo.com

Skin Toning can cause hypertension and more

Creams Offering Lighter Skin May Bring Risks

For years, Allison Ross rubbed in skin-lightening creams with names like Hyprogel and Fair & White. She said she wanted to even out and brighten the tone of her face, neck and hands. Mrs. Ross, 45, who lives in Brooklyn, also said that she used the lightening creams “to be more accepted in society.”

Tim Sharp/Associated Press (left); Eric Jamison/Associated Press

Sammy Sosa, the former baseball slugger, in 2007, left, and 2009. He said a cream to “soften” his skin had bleached it, too.

Yana Paskova for The New York Times

Allison Ross used creams for years to lighten her skin. She developed several severe side effects.

After months of twice-a-day applications, her skin was not only fairer, it had become so thin that a touch would bruise her face. Her capillaries became visible, and she developed stubborn acne. A doctor told her that all three were side effects of prescription-strength steroids in some of the creams, which she had bought over the counter in beauty supply stores.
“I never read the labels,” Mrs. Ross said. Instead, she took her cues from friends, many of them, like her, from the West Indies. “Once somebody told me Fair & White was the one they were using, I’d go to the Korean store and ask for it,” she said.
Dermatologists nationwide are seeing women of Hispanic and African descent, among others, with severe side effects like Mrs. Ross’s from the misuse of skin-lightening creams, many with prescription-strength ingredients, which are sold in beauty shops and bodegas and online.
Hyprogel, made in Germany, contains the powerful steroid clobetasol propionate and includes a warning to use only as directed by a doctor. Fair & White, from France, normally contains no steroids, but counterfeit versions with undisclosed ingredients have turned up in stores.
No major studies have focused on the use of such creams in this country. But dermatologists with practices that cater to darker-skinned women say adverse effects are on the rise. Ethnic beauty supply stores, where clerks often shrug at selling prescription creams over the counter, report that sales are strong.
Dr. Erin Gilbert, a chief resident in dermatology at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, said that she or a colleague saw a case of severe side effects from skin-lightening creams at least once a week. Dr. Gilbert attributed the frequency, which she called surprising, to the fact that the hospital served an “amazingly international cross section of women of color.”
Users are not necessarily immigrants, said Dr. Eliot F. Battle Jr., who has a dermatology practice in Washington, where he treats side effects from lightening creams “not only containing corticosteroids, but mercury,” a poison that can damage the nervous system. The patients are “Ph.D.’s to women from corporate America, teachers to engineers — the entire broad spectrum of women of color,” Dr. Battle said.
For years misuse was on the decline, Dr. Battle said, but now “it’s happening more because the Internet has been a great source for these patients to get physician-strength or prescription-strength products.”
Some users are seeking to lighten dark spots caused by acne or brown patches known as melasma, which are triggered by pregnancy, menopause or birth control pills.

But many others seek to lighten their entire face or large swatches of their body, a practice common in developing countries as disparate as Senegal, India and the Philippines, where it is promoted as a way to elevate one’s social standing. A small percentage of men in such countries also use the creams.
In November, some fans of Sammy Sosa, the former Chicago Cubs slugger, were surprised when photographs from the Latin Grammy Awards ceremony showed his face as uniformly lighter. Online critics accused him of wanting to be white. Mr. Sosa, a Dominican-born American citizen, told a reporter from ESPNDeportes.com that he had used a cream nightly to “soften” his skin and that it had bleached it, too. “I’m not a racist,” he said in the interview. “I live my life happily.”
Evelyn Nakano Glenn, a professor of gender and women’s studies at the University of California, Berkeley, said it was wrong to assume that skin-lightening was a cultural anachronism or an effort to negate one’s racial heritage.

“In fact, it’s a growing practice and one that has been stimulated by the companies that produce these products,” she said. “Their advertisements connect happiness and success and romance with being lighter skinned.”
Moreover, it is not as if dark-skinned women are imagining a bias, said Dr. Glenn, who is president of the American Sociological Association. “Sociological studies have shown among African-Americans and also Latinos, there’s a clear connection between skin color and socioeconomic status. It’s not some fantasy. There is prejudice against dark-skinned people, especially women in the so-called marriage market.”
There was an echo of the issue recently in comments by the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, as reported in a new book, that he had urged Barack Obama to run for president because the country was ready to accept a “light skinned” African-American.
In the aisles of ethnic beauty supply stores on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, dozens of skin lighteners are for sale, most manufactured abroad. Prescription creams with clobetasol propionate were available recently for as little as $3.99.

“Clobetasol is the most potent topical steroid we make in dermatology,” said Dr. Gilbert, who works nearby. “There’s almost no indication where you’d use it on the face. And it’s basically provided to people as cosmetic products. It’s illegal.”
A salesman at Blessing Beauty Supply, who would give only his first name, Monroe, said the secret to one best-selling cream, L’Abidjanaise, was that “it has steroids in it.” Asked why he sold prescription medications illegally, he declined to answer.
A spokeswoman for the Food and Drug Administration, Rita Chappelle, would not say whether the agency was pursuing such violations. “As a matter of policy, we do not discuss enforcement actions,” Ms. Chappelle wrote in an e-mail message.
Long-term use of a whitening cream with topical steroids can lead to hypertension, elevated blood sugar and suppression of the body’s natural steroids, doctors said. Some side effects, like stretch marks, may be permanent.
Some doctors also identified hydroquinone as a culprit in misuse cases. At a strength of 4 percent or higher, it is prescribed for short-term use to lighten skin blemishes like sun spots. Over-the-counter versions like Fair & White contain 1.9 percent hydroquinone, but bootleg versions are being sold with 4 percent to 5 percent, said Dominique Tinkler, the manager of product development for Fair & White’s American distributor, the Mitchell Group.
“We see it in New York, Miami, Chicago,” Ms. Tinkler said. “I mean it’s everywhere now.”
One unusual side effect of misusing hydroquinone is a blue-black darkening of the skin. Dr. Battle said he never used to see such cases, but in the last five years his Washington practice had treated them monthly.
The food and drug agency has been considering a ban on over-the-counter sales of hydroquinone since 2006, and it is already banned in England and France.
Doctors said some consumers wrongly assumed that all ingredients were disclosed on labels.
“There’s a basic assumption that there’s some truth in labeling,” said Dr. David McDaniel, a dermatologist in Virginia Beach and a director of the Skin of Color Research Institute at Hampton University. “That’s a false assumption for the skin-lightening market.”
Mrs. Ross of Brooklyn, who described herself as a onetime “queen of bleaching creams,” is recovering now with the help of her dermatologist from Kings County Hospital Center.
“I went through a terrible depressed phase,” she said. “I wanted to go back to use the creams a couple of months back. I just decided to ride it out with my dermatologist.”

Step by step guide on how to cook calabar soup

Edikang-Ikong Soup

There are various dishes in Calabar, one of which is the popular Edikang-Ikong soup. Edikang Ikong is a very expensive Nigerian dish and arguably Nigeria's most popular cosmopolitan dish. This special delicacy is prepared with vegetable pumpkin leaves (ikong ubong/ugwu), water leaf (mong mong Ikong), fish, meat, periwinkle (mfi ikpok), palm oil, cray fish and other essential ingredients. It can also be eaten with either garri, fufu, amala, tuwo, semovita or pounded yam.
Recipe

• Ikg/21b assorted meat (beef, oxtail, tripe, ponmo, bokoto and bush meat), snails (washed with lemon and limes)
• 450g/1lb stockfish (pre-soaked)
• 450g/1lb dry fish (thoroughly washed)
• 450g/1lb periwinkles
• 225g/8oz whole dry prawns (cleaned)
• 225g/8oz ground crayfish
• 1.35kg/3lb fresh Ikong ubong (pumpkin leaves; washed & shredded)
• 1kg/21b fresh waterleaf (washed and shredded)
• 200ml palm oil
• 600ml/1pt stock
• and salt to taste

Preparation
Wash the meat thoroughly and place in a large pot. Add some sliced onions, ground chillies and some meat stock. Place on heat and cook for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, remove the snail from the shells and wash thoroughly with lime or lemon juice to remove slime. Wash the smoked dry fish with salt and soak in slightly salted water for 5 minutes in order to kill any insect and loosen any sand or dirt.
Rinse thoroughly with lots of cold water. Top and tail the periwinkles and wash thoroughly. Add the snails, stockfish, dry fish, dry prawns and periwinkles to the pot of meat and cook for another 10 minutes and add more stock fish if required. Finally add the shredded Ikong Ubong (pumpkin leaves) and waterleaf, mix in properly. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes and then add the crayfish and palm oil. Give it a good stir and gentle simmer for another 10 minutes until well blended and the aroma fills the kitchen. Remove from heat and serve hot with fufu or pounded yam.

Editan Soup

Ingredients	Quantity
Snails (optional)	4 medium size
Smoked Fish	1 large size
Stockfish head	1 medium size
Beef (optional)	8 medium pieces
Periwinkle (in shell)	2 cups
Editan leaves	1 big bunch
Water leaves	4 medium bunches
Crayfish (ground)	3 tablespoons
Dry Pepper	1 level tablespoon
Palm oil	4 cooking spoons
Maggi Cubes	3 1½ litres Water
Salt	(to taste)

.
Preparation
Wash, season and boil the stockfish together with the beef for about 45 minutes and set aside for use later. Wash and bone the fish. Pour boiling water on already cut and pounded leaves then, strain. Rinse the leaves thrice to reduce the bitterness. Pick and wash the waterleaves and cut into tiny pieces. Get rid of some of its water by squeezing a little bunch at a time between your palms. Pick and wash the Odusa leaves then cut into fine pieces.Periwinkle can be used either in the shell, which is the traditional way, or out of shell.Chop off the tail end of the Periwinkle with a large knife, wash thoroughly to remove all dirt, and mud. Add waterleaves into the pot containing the meat and stockfish already placed on the burner.
Stir, add fish, crayfish, pepper, water, and Maggi cubes and allow cooking for another 6 minutes. Stir and add the palm oil. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the Editan leaves and cover the pot. Do not stir immediately after adding Editan leaves, then cook for 10-15 minutes but you can shake the pot to enable the leaves have an even spread. After 10-15 minutes, stir and taste the soup. Add salt if necessary, and cook for another 4 minutes. Editan soup is served with fufu, ekpang iwa or eba.

Afia Efere Soup

This light Efik soup is traditionally cooked without oil using goatmeat or chicken in which case, they are called "afia efere ebot" or "afia efere unen" respectively. Fresh fish can also be used.
Ingredients

• I kg/2lbs fresh goatmeat
• I medium smoked fish (washed)
• 250g/8oz fresh okro (sliced) - optional
• 100g/4oz ground crayfish
• 250g/8oz pounded yam
• 25g/I oz chopped fresh chillies
• I uyayakpod
• 1ltr/2pints stock or water
• salt to taste

Preparation
Wash and cut the meat into even size pieces. Season with salt and boil for 30 minutes or until soft and tender. Add the stock, washed fish, chopped chillies, okro and ground crayfish. Break the uyayak pod into small pieces and add to the pot.
Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Mould the pounded yam into small rounds and drop into the soup to slightly thicken. Add seasoning and serve with pounded yam.

Ekpang Nkukwo Dish

Ingredients

• 5 tubers of Cocoyams - grated into a paste (when buying, ask for the tiny ones for Ekpang Nkukwo, not the ones for boiling)
• Half wateryam - also grated into a paste
• Mfi (Periwinkle with the shell)
• One bottle of palm oil
• Ibat (dried fish)
• A cup of crayfish
• 5 cubes of maggi
• Fresh pepper
• Ntong leaves or iko leaves-shredded (they are all spice leaves)
• A bunch of young cocoyams leaves, shredded for wrapping( you can ask someone to help you shred the leaves for wrapping the cocoyams into the tender leaves)
• Ikpa i.e. ponmo, cut into tiny bits
• Snail (optional)
• Salt to taste

Preparation
Put some palm oil in the pot to cover the base of the pot, pour in the periwinkes. Mix the cocoyams with the wateryam, add sallt to the mixture and knead. Wrap the mixture into the cocoyam leaves little by little. After wrapping and arrangin in pot, add pepper, crayfish, maggi cubes, dry fish, ikpa and every other ingredient on the top of the food. Pour in some hot water. This is to prevent it from getting burnt while boiling and also note; do not stir it until it is done. When it is done, use a spatula to stir it gently and mix the ingredients. Do not stir it vigorously or else it will end up looking like egusi soup. After it is well browned, add more palm oil and other ingredients as you wish. Allow to boil more, you can then taste the cooking as the itchiness from the leaves and cocoyam has now been neutralised. Bring it down and serve it hot.

Afang Soup

Ingredients

• I kg/21bs assorted meats (oxtail, tripe, ponmo, bokoto and bushmeat)
• 4 snails (washed with lemon or lime)
• 450g/1lb stockfish (pre-soaked)
• 450g/1lb dried fish (washed)
• 225g/8oz periwinkle (top and tail shell)
• 225g/8oz whole dry prawns (cleaned)
• 225g/8oz ground crayfish
• 225g/8oz ground pepper
• 1 medium onion
• 450g/1lb afang leaves (washed, shredded and pounded)
• 1kg/21bs waterleaf (prepared and washed)
• 290ml/10fl oz Palm-oil
• 600ml/1pt stock or water
• salt to taste

Preparation
Wash the assorted meat thoroughly and place in a pot. Add the sliced onions, ground chillies and some stock or water. Cook for 30minutes. Meanwhile, remove the snails from their shells and wash with lemon or lime juice to remove slime. Wash the smoked dry fish with salt and leave soaking in boiling water for 5-8 minutes to kill any insect and loosen any sand or grit. Rinse out thoroughly with lots of cold water.
With the blunt end of a knife, top and tail the periwinkles and wash thoroughly. Add the prepared ingredients and the stock fish to the pot of meat, continue cooking for additional 10 minutes, adding more stock as required.
Finally, add the pounded Afang leaves, washed waterleaf and crayfish. Give it a good stir and bring to the boil. Add palm oil, check seasoning and allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes until the aroma fills the kitchen and the soup is well blended. Remove from heat, dish unto a plate and serve with pounded yam or fufu.

Smoking Prohibited in some places in Lagos

Fashola Signs No Smoking Bill Into Law

   

The Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola has signed into law the No Smoking in Public Places Bill.

Governor Fashola who assented to the bill at the Lagos House, Ikeja, was optimistic that the law would further strengthen the State Government’s commitment towards protecting lives of the citizens.
According to the law, people who smoke in public places will risk a three year jail term.
The bill prohibits smoking in areas designated as non-smoking areas, including museums, public toilets, library, nurseries, day care centers and any facility used for the care of infants.
The law also mandates owners of public places to place signs with the inscription; ‘No Smoking’ or symbols as part of enlightenment for smokers and would-be violators of the law.
It also mandates them to create areas far from the vicinity where people could smoke. Non-compliance by owners of public places, according to the law shall attract a fine of 100, 000 Naira or 6 months imprisonment, or other non-custodial punishment that the judge may deem fit.
In the case of a corporate organisation’s refusal to place a ‘No Smoking’ sign or symbol within its premises, any personnel in the management of the corporate body would be liable to a fine in the sum of 250, 000 Naira upon conviction. This may be a director or manager in the organisation.
According to the bill, anyone who repeatedly violates the provisions of the law, on conviction shall be liable to a fine of 50, 000 Naira or 6 months imprisonment or both. While anyone who smokes in the presence of a child shall be liable on conviction to a fine of 15, 000 Naira or 1 month imprisonment.

Culled from Channels News

Life in North Korean Prison

Life in a North Korean Labor Camp: 'No Thinking ... Just Fear'

By Ed Flanagan and Julie Yoo

SEOUL, South Korea -- An orphan who was caught trying to escape from North Korea told NBC News how he was "treated like an animal" in one of the country's notorious labor camps.

The head of a United Nations panel on Monday said atrocities committed by North Korea against its own people were "strikingly similar" to those perpetrated by the Nazis during World War II and released a 400-page report which shed new light on the camps. American missionary Kenneth Bae is currently imprisoned in North Korea after being sentenced to 15 years of hard labor on charges of trying to overthrow the state. The conditions he is being held in remain unclear.

The U.N. report came as no shock for Hyuk Kim, who was a homeless 16-year-old when he was arrested by state security in 1998 trying to cross the border into China in search of food. He was sent to North Korea's Jungeori Labor Camp after being ordered jailed for three years.

“At Jungeori, there was no sense of being human, if you thought you were a human being, you couldn't live there,” said Kim, who is now aged 33. “You were like an animal. You do the hard labor you were ordered to do, that’s it. No thinking. No free will. Just fear.”

UN Documents North Korea’s ‘Unimaginable Cruelties’

Nightly News

As his 4-foot, 9-inch frame withered away, Kim became obsessed with just one thing: food.

“Because you were so hungry, you thought about food and how to get more of it all the time,” Kim recalled. “Sometimes you got lucky and you were able to catch a rat or two as a snack, which you'd skin, dry the meat out and eat, usually raw. If you tried to cook the rats, the guards would smell the meat or fire, catch you and beat you mercilessly.”

In Jungeori, breakfast was served at 7 a.m. and consisted usually of a handful of cornmeal and 50-90 soya beans.

Inmates would toil until noon, when they were given lunch of more soya beans and cornmeal, before working again until 6 p.m. or 7p.m. However, some teams would be expected to work as late as 9 p.m. each day.

Dinner was typically served at 7:30 p.m. and the rest of the evening would then be dedicated to what qualified as the only entertainment available to prisoners: learning and memorizing the rules and regulations of the camp.

“If one prisoner got one word wrong, the entire team had to stay up until everybody got it all correct,” Kim said. If night study went well, prisoners would go to sleep each night at 10 p.m.

Conditions were horrific with as many as 50 people crammed into one room, each one having just enough space to lie huddled together, person-to-person inside.

One way to secure extra food was through barter. Cigarettes in Jungeori were the most valuable item to trade, with prisoners scrapping them together by surreptitiously lifting half-smoked butts belonging to the prison guards off the ground and consolidating the remaining tobacco into new cigarettes.

The trade was fraught with risk though, as being caught making or smoking these contraband cigarettes would also lead to severe beatings from the guards.

Andrea Mitchell: UN's 'Shocking' report on North Korea

NBC News

Kim recalled he did not dare to look ahead to a day when he would walk free from the camp. To think that far ahead was to invite death.

“If you thought about when you'd leave the camp each day, you were usually among the first to die,” Kim said. “Psychologically, you cannot fully adapt to camp life if your thoughts are stuck only on your release.

Jobs at the labor camp were assigned by the prison guards based off of an opaque rubric that included your hometown, physical health, occupation outside of the camp and whatever influential connections you may have outside the camp.

Truckers and drivers in the real world were assigned to the auto mechanic team, builders would be assigned to construction units inside the camp, while stout men from mountain regions were assigned to logging units. Farmers would be sent to till the harsh soil of nearby fields while others like Kim were assigned to a unit that moved packages and supplies to and from the Jungeori railway station to the prison.

The lucky few managed to find their way onto kitchen duty, where they could sneak in extra bits of food during their shifts.

During his time at Jungeori, Kim and his fellow prisoners watched three men be executed for attempting to escape camp and a fourth shot for being caught eating stolen food. Others simply succumbed to wounds suffered from beatings by the guards.

Kim, who was eventually released after around eight months, arrived in South Korea in September 2001. In recent years, he has served as a lecturer for a local Unification Education Committee in the country’s southern province of Chungnam. Kim is one of the few defectors who will speak publicly about their experience in the camps.

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Although Kim's stint at Jungeori was over a decade ago, recent defectors who’ve left similar labor camps have told him that conditions have only worsened. One female defector who arrived in South Korea in 2010 told Kim that the number of soya beans rationed out each day at her camp has dropped below the paltry amount he received.

Recent images of Bae, who has been held by North Korean authorities since November 2012 after being found guilty of “hostile acts” against the state, also provide hints of conditions inside the camps.

The Choson Sinbo, a North Korea-friendly newspaper, released photos showing Bae’s daily routine, which starts every morning at 6 a.m. and consists of eight hours of “work” broken up with half-hour “rest” periods. According to the schedule, work ends for Bae at 6 p.m., allowing him two hours at night for “cultural rest” before lights out at 10 p.m.

Previous video disseminated out by Choson Sinbo – a publication put out by a North Korean Residents Association in Japan – shows a solitary Bae at work hoeing farmland and conducting interviews from a windowed room with heating and a fan – comforts that seem at odds with the tough conditions described by Bae and North Korean camp escapees.

KYODO / Reuters file

Kenneth Bae, an American Christian missionary who has been detained in North Korea for more than a year, meets with journalists in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Jan. 20.

“There are many types of labor and prison camps in North Korea, but I’ve never heard of any that looked as idyllic as this one,” says Barbara Demick, an American journalist based in Beijing and author of "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea." “For most people, time at a North Korean labor camp is like a death sentence because of low food rations and extremely harsh working conditions.”

Demick added: “I spoke to a North Korean defector just last month who came out of a labor camp and she said her sleeping conditions were so narrow she couldn’t stretch out her legs. She was imprisoned for the fairly minor offense of crossing the border into China, not the much more serious charges laid against Bae.”

Amnesty International late last year released satellite imagery that showed expanded labor camps in North Korea in which an escapee claimed prisoners were forced to dig their own graves before being killed by guards.

It is likely that Bae is being held under special conditions as a result of his American nationality. In a video released last week, Bae notes that he had been treated “fairly” by his guards and had been granted time to watch television each night at the labor camp, though its antenna had been broken for a few weeks.

The free time has also given the devout Christian “more time with the Lord, with the Bible.”

Until now, American officials have been flummoxed in their attempts to free Bae. A reported second scheduled trip last week by Ambassador Robert King to secure Bae’s release was scuttled by North Korea after it refused to issue a visa. At the request of Bae’s family, Reverend Jesse Jackson has also offered to travel to North Korea to secure his release.

Ed Flanagan reported from Beijing.

Culled from NBC News