According to news reports, the Taliban has rapidly expanded its control area in Afghanistan and has taken over almost the entire country. It is reported that many civilians have been killed and injured, and we are heartbroken. In the eastern province of Nangarhar, we partnered with Your Voice Organization (YVO), a local NGO, to support local educational activities. Although our activities ended in May this year, YVO’s activities have continued since then and we have kept in touch with YVO and continue to be interested in the situation in Afghanistan. We have been in contact with the YVO staff and have started to understand the situation. According to YVO in…
The first online tour in Cambodia
[Original by Mariko OMURA, Cambodia Project (May 26, 2021); Translated by J. Tsuchiya/A. Taguchi] Hello. This is Mariko Omura from Cambodia. Shortly after the lockdown was lifted on May 18 in Cambodia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan raised the level of infectious disease warning for Cambodia to LEVEL 3 (suspension of travel advisory). Indeed, the number of infected people in Cambodia has not decreased as fast as expected. But the country’s economy has been dependent on tourism, and I would love to see the town of Siem Reap be busy with many tourists again. What I can do now is to hope that this pandemic can soon be…
Schools Closed due to Another Armed Conflict: Students’ and Teachers’ Reflections
[Original by Ko IMANAKA, Sudan Project (June 9, 2021); Translated by C. Rosenberg] JVC runs five supplementary schools in Kaduqli. At the end of March, an ethnic conflict broke out in Shair district, which is near one of the schools. A group of herders were traveling with their livestock when a dispute with the locals over water for their livestock broke out, which descended into a gunfight. The Sudanese Armed Forces were dispatched to the scene, but the locals blocked the roads and set checkpoints for the passing vehicles in resistance. Soon after, the following events occurred: A man uninvolved with the conflict who came to Kaduqli for a wedding…
Emergency support for Gaza, Palestine
In the Gaza Strip, Palestine, 11 days of airstrikes by Israeli authority killed 256 people including 66 children and injured about 2,000 people since May 10 (as of June 6). The airstrikes intensified day by day, and people spent days in fear. We received heartbreaking messages from the local people every day: “I might be the next to die,” “I just want you to pray for us,” “I can’t stand up because my legs are shaking, and I can’t even press the buttons on my phone because my hands are shaking.” Although a ceasefire was reached on May 21, the buildings and infrastructure in Gaza have been terribly damaged. While…
Unbelievable sales of herbs! Where does this great confidence come from?
[Original by Mariko OMURA, Cambodia Project (May 18, 2021); Translated by E. Miyazaki/M. Olagoke] Hello, this is Mariko Omura from Cambodia. The three-week lockdown finally ended on May 6 except for certain regions! I will finally be able to return to our project site near Siem Reap soon. I thought that the restriction on selling alcohol would also end at the same time, so I drank all the beer stocked at home. But I found out that the restriction will continue until May 22. Oh well… She did it on her own for her son! Ms. Sok Soth. I would like to report about what happened after we were so…
Riding on a newly bought XXX ever since two decades!
[Original by Mariko OMURA, Cambodia Project (May 11, 2021); Translated by J. Tsuchiya/H. Lai] It has been nearly three months since I updated this page last time. This time I will introduce Ms. Bopper I notified before, who has been working in the project site for many years and has experienced the biggest challenges and changes. You know Ms. Bopper? Ms. Bopper shows up in our blog sometimes. She eagerly participated in the JVC’s training sessions because in her family only she can work to make money and she couldn’t leave the village to work. Besides, one day she gained about US$ 130 in a trade of her processed ginger…
Intern Interview 2020: Tara SATO
[Original posted in Hatena Blog by Kazuto KANAOKA, 2020 Public Relations Intern (March 29, 2021); Translated by C. Rosenberg] Hi everyone! I’m Kanaoka, a public relations intern at JVC! In our sixth interview of our 2020 cycle interns, we selected Tara Sato, who like our previous interviewee Yuna Tamamura, is an intern on the Korea Children Campaign! Tara is always so cheerful and full of energy! Since she was little, she’s been participating in the Korea Children Campaign; we interviewed her about many things, including how it feels to be on the promotional side of our activities. Let’s take a look at her answers! First of all, could you introduce…
Staff Interview: Shigeru KIMURA (Public Relations & Fundraiser)
[Original by Yui SHOJI, 2020 Public Relations Intern (March 23, 2021); Translated by M. Kanai/A. Taguchi] Hello, everyone. My name is Shoji. I am a 2020 Public Relations intern. In this session, I invited Shigeru Kimura from the Public Relations & Fundraising group. He was once a JVC representative in Thailand. He spent more than 10 years in total in Thailand ever since his first visit as a student! He was in Thailand even on the day of his graduation from university. After leaving JVC for a while to launch activities on his own, he later rejoined JVC in 2015. I would like to ask him what international cooperation means…
2020 Northeast Asian University Peace Exchange Program – A Tour of the Okubo Area
[Original by Yuna TAMAMURA, an intern on the “Korea Children Campaign,” the Relief Campaign Committee for Children, Japan (March 23, 2021); Translated by H. Ueda/M. Olagoke] Thank you for your interest in my report. I am Tamamura, an intern on the Korea Children Campaign. Under the global pandemic, how are you doing, everyone? I’m making a report of the tour of the Okubo area, Shinjuku, which we conducted in the fall of 2020 taking measures to prevent the infection of COVID-19. We walked around downtown of the Okubo area, sometimes stopping at and dropping by places with exposed traces of historical struggles which we had so far passed by unnoticed.…
Activities and Status Report During the Corona Pandemic
[Original (March 26, 2021); Translated by K. Adachi/A. Taguchi] JVC runs supplementary classes for the children of refugees who lost the opportunity for education in Kaduqli, South Kordofan State of Sudan. Kaduqli is a region that has experienced conflicts for a long time and the importance of education is being emphasized in order to build a society that does not rely on violence. This year, we constructed multiple school buildings and donated desks and chairs. Considering the risk of infection from the new coronavirus, elementary schools in Kaduqli are currently dispersing the students for each grade level. We will continue to collaborate with the Ministry of Education and related parties…