Gina Fanamedeo

This is Geena Fanamedeo of Florence, Benton County, Iowa. She studies Flute and Composition at the local conservatory. She was born and lived, until about nine years ago, in Kaesong, North Korea under the name Doy-Pham Kim. Her best friend and classmate, Than Euh-Kyung, lived next door and the fathers of the two girls, both widowed, were also best friends spending most of their free time smoking and talking in quiet voices in the back of the garden. On that fateful night of November 10th, 2009, at about three AM, her father woke her up and told her to dress, he did not switch on the light. A light backpack was ready for her with a change of clothes and a small wooden box that her father said to be opened only "when needed, you'll know when!". Outside, in the bitter cold, stood Euh-Kyung with her father and they started walking quickly and quietly towards the woods and the near border. Suddenly there was shouting, shooting, and blinding floodlights. Kim felt her hand yanked, running as fast as she could, falling, getting up and running again. Suddenly it was dark and quiet again until she heard voices, a mix of Korean and (what she thought was) English: somebody pulled them into a warm hut. Her friend's father still clutched her hand, tears in his eyes, kept repeating: "My daughter, my daughter". They made it to the U.S. as father and daughter and given new names. Her final exam piece, a concerto for flute, harp and chamber orchestra is called "The Border" and is dedicated to "Father and Euh-Kyung". Geena never opened the little wooden box.