[Original by Maki KATO, Afghanistan Project (May 14, 2019); Translated by Y. Miki/S. Altman] In the villages where JVC’s Afghan staff work, we continue steady efforts to practice peace actions. This time we are reporting about a workshop on drawing peace pictures. This activity was realized because the teachers in the village requested us to come conduct some peace actions at their school as well. What is peace? It’s easy to say but difficult to imagine its specific shape. It is also very different depending on the people and the environment where they live. In this workshop, about 50 students of the Ahmad Kot boys’ school, which is located in…
Are You Okay with Insects…?
[Original posted on EXPAT by Mariko OMURA, Cambodia Project (September 28, 2018); Translated by M. Goto/S. Altman] Hello everyone, I live in the farming village, Kampong Kdei, which is an hour and half away from Siem Reap. Japanese people often say that Phnom Penh, the capital, resembles Tokyo and Siem Reap, the town full of ruins, can be compared to Kyoto. How about Kampong Kdei where I live? Is it … Gifu!? (no proof) Anyway, this is a calm countryside, which is not very far from sightseeing places where many tourists come. When I say that I live in the countryside, people ask me “Are you okay with insects?” They…
TRIP DIARY TO KESENNUMA: What has an intern in active service learned from Kesennuma on natural disaster, international cooperation and life as it ought to be?
TRIP DIARY TO KESENNUMA: What has an intern in active service learned from Kesennuma on natural disaster, international cooperation and life as it ought to be? [Original by Ayane ISHIZUKA, 2018 Intern for Home Page Renewal (October 2, 2018); Translated by Y. Nakamura/S. Altman] Hello, everyone. I am Ishizuka, an intern. I made a field trip to Kesennuma together with Mr. Toshihiro Shimizu, JVC’s Vice President, and Mr. Yokoyama, who is in charge of the Minami Soma Project. It was arranged as a fact-finding tour so that it would be reported in the Anayama-machi Sanma* Festival to be held in Anayama-machi, Nirasaki city, Yamanashi prefecture on the 13th of October…
JVC’s emergency appeal: Mozambique cyclone
Your cooperation is needed to help farmers rebuild their livelihood in response to their voices [Translated by M. Kanai/S. Altman] The worst cyclone damage in history in the Southern Hemisphere In mid-March, Tropical Cyclone Idai hit southern Africa with full force. Three countries namely Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi suffered great damages such as destruction of infrastructure and houses. The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has designated the scale and urgency of the crisis as Level 3 which is equal to that of Syria and South Sudan both of which are respectively under conflict. More than 90 percent of some 2 million people affected by the cyclone are said to…
CHARITY SALON CONCERT Music from utopia
– Listening to Afghan traditional music – Due to the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan, sad images of the country might be the first thing to come to mind. However, it used to be the meeting point of the ancient trade routes known as the Silk Road. At that time, there was a diversity of people and cultures interacting and they made music together while uniting. At this concert, you will experience some emotional melodies through a traditional stringed instrument rubab from this region and emotional music which holds nostalgia made by an old poet. Please enjoy their music while thinking about Afghanistan, called utopia, where the beautiful land spreads out…
The year I spent with the Iraq project
[Ghamra RIFAI, Iraq Project (March 28, 2019)] It is already March, and everybody is so busy trying to finalize the details of next year’s plan. While everybody is so busy closing up the fiscal year, I want to take a moment to reflect on this year that I have spent with the JVC Iraq project as a project officer. I arrived at JVC fresh out of engineering school and I had no idea how to run a project. I only had a lot of dreams and determination to create change. The year was started by a big jumble of preparing reports and applications for funds, and despite the 2018 FY…
Nonviolence-training workshop
[Ghamra RIFAI, Iraq Project (March 7, 2019)] During his last visit to Japan, Aree, the director of our Iraq partner organization “INSAN”, held many events including two nonviolence-training workshops with JVC. Nonviolence workshops have become a JVC-Iraq project annual tradition, during the Iraq staffs yearly visit to Japan. We hold these workshops to be a learning tool for the team but also to draw the attention of the Japanese public to various forms of violence that are being practiced unknowingly in daily lives and ways to avoid these kinds of violent tendencies that we all might have. In principle, most of us believe in cooperation, nonviolence, and acceptance of others.…
MR. MEHRAB KHAN’S LIFE
[Original by Sabirullah MEMLAWAL/Maki KATO, Afghanistan Project (December 11, 2018); Translated by Y. Miki/S. Altman] Here, I would like to talk about the story of Mr. Mehrab Khan. We are both from the Khogynai District and met each other more than 20 years ago. It was around the time when the Taliban controlled the political power here. According to the people in his village, he was very wealthy and had a great life working in the wood business as a timber merchant since his village was in a mountainous area. Although, I didn’t see him that often, he still seemed really happy. After this period of peace, the new government…
FROM A FEARFUL CHILD TO A RESPONSIBLE WOMAN: THE JOURNEY OF TABLW, A VOLUNTEER IN INSAN AND PEACE YARD
[Ghamra RIFAI, Iraq Project (January 24, 2019)] Tablw Nozad Tayib, a junior high school graduate Kurdish volunteer, was born in 1993 in Kirkuk and currently lives there in the Raheem Aawa district. Tablw lives with her five-member family which consists of her parents and three siblings. Her sister, Tania, is a sixth grade student and her brother, Towana, does not go to school. Tablw lived a difficult life of deprivation and pain, her father was a taxi driver and was barely able to make ends meet. She said, “we lived in a rented place and because of our bad economic situation my siblings and I had to drop out of…
AREE’S TWO WEEKS – Our Iraqi partner’s visit to Japan –
[Ghamra RIFAI, Iraq Project (December 13, 2018)] INSAN Iraqi Society works to build peace through building peace capacities of individuals and of civil society, enhancing good governance and participatory decision-making processes to ensure fair participation of all community components, as well as empowering communities through knowledge and development to ensure coexistence and cohesion. In 2008 JVC started cooperation with INSAN to introduce peaceful thinking to the Iraqi society through children. The cooperation started with JVC providing funds for peace building workshops for children in Kirkuk in Iraq and as the time has passed the project has developed to creating a place for children in which they can be themselves without…