HFHJ Newsletter Habitat for Humanity Japan Number 27 October 2012 News Around the World From Classroom to the Society itsumeikan Moriyama high several occasions where students had R school of Shiga prefecture sent to overcome cultural differences. it’s 26 seniors to Thailand this sum- Communicating with the local people mer. On August 17th, the team ar- was a big one; not only the language a dream come true for their newly rived at the capital city of Bangkok but also the contents were all new to met friend in need. to participate in the Global Village them, so the students had to adjust Some shared “working together in a program (GV) in Pathumthani for 10 quickly. Yet through physical labor, team does lighten the work load for days of building houses with local everyone started to smile and com- the home partner. But it also makes families in need. municate. This allowed for all to see everyone smile and share the fulfill- The school operates various initia- the significance of working together ment. I will never forget the feeling I tives to educate its students on being towards one common goal, and later had at the dedication of the completed global citizens, and this exposure grow into one team. After each day’s house.” Others said “I am grateful to trip for the whole senior class is one work, the students and the teachers have met all the people involved in of them. This year, Habitat was se- held meetings to share stories and this project, and glad that I had this lected to be the partner, making it discuss about the program’s purpose. opportunity to be here at this moment the first Japanese high school team Building a Future of my life.” apart from international schools. On the first day at the work site, The team completed one house to Lessons from the Field there were only pillars and the roof help one family start their lives far away from the volunteers’ own daily “Putting lessons from the classroom over the house’s foundation. With lives in Japan. Yet at the same time, to the real world” was the aim for road bumps like boiling heat with the experience opened up a whole the initiative. The students re- occasional heavy showers standing new starting point for the volunteers searched about Thailand’s social is- in the way, the students questioned if themselves. sues, history and culture to prepare they could really complete the house for the trip. or not. Working alongside the home partner, motivation didn’t seem to However in actuality, there were run out, simply wanting to help make 1 “Rebuild Sri Lanka” was held for 7 days from August 5th to 11th in a city of Negombo. Total of 150 volunteers from 6 countries like America, Aus- tralia and New Zealand gath- ered to build 24 houses for those affected by the Pacific Ocean tsunami in 2004. 42 of these volunteers were from Japan; 36 university stu- dents and 6 adults, and they have completed 12 houses. Since 1996’s launch, Habitat Sri Lanka had assisted more than 17,000 families. Yet giv- en the road to realize a country without poverty housing is still a long one, the event was held to help the fight along. News around the World (2) Walking along the Families Restarting Their Lives Rebuilding for the Flood Victims in Northern Thailand Last year’s flooding in Central and North- returned home from evacuation, their gent needs. ern Thailand brought great damage. While damaged hoses lacked walls, functioning many houses in Phitsanulok were under- toilets, sound foundation, exposing people water over 6 months, the government’s to serious safety and health issues. response was not prompt and international attention hardly reached outside Bangkok. Habitat Japan launched house repairpro- In result, many families, who are of vul- ject in October. With funding from Japan nerable groups often times, are still living Platform and in partnership with Habitat without basic functions in their houses. Thailand, the project is aiming to spend 6 These families are living in poverty, head- months to rehabilitate more than 50 hous- ed by single mothers, includes elders, sick, es in and around Bang Rakam district of disabled, babies and many children in Phitsanulok, in hopes to better the living their households. After the flooding, many conditions for the flood victims with ur- For a Better Water and Sanitation in Northern Sri Lanka July, Habitat Japan began a new initiative that people have no choice but to go in the well. Habitat Japan plans to build 200 toi- in the district of Manar with support from woods for toilet. Not only is this unsani- lets and 10 wells within the year of 2012. Japan Platform, we started building la- tary, but there are poisonous snakes and trines and wells so that those returning to insects lurking in the brush; using la- their homes after the Civil War could have trinesthere was a life-threatening affair. access to clean water and better sanitation. On the other hand, there was only one well for drinking water in the area. Sannar is The new work site is called Sannar in the quite a large village and the trip to the well district of Manar, where over 200 people and back was over 5 km for some families. have resettled in this village, but there Often, there appears long line of women at were no usable toilets in place even after the well that had come to get water at the two years since the war ended. This means 2 A Summer Filled with Compassion for Tohoku Youth Camp 2012 Student-run organizations at various schools portunities September 29th to 30th, the an- nual youth camp was held in across Japan called Campus Chapters (CC) are around to pro- Gotemba, Shizuoka. Gathering there to support Habitat Japan’s work. The mote Tohoku more than 100 students, largest members volunteer to build houses overseas via via selling number in history, from CCs the Global Village program and to help recov- local food, and across Japan. The camp was themed “Exchanging and Under- ery of disaster-hit Tohoku. Besides their in- fundraise in standing” to encourage discus- volvement in the field, they often organize city corners sions to learn about Habitat’s fundraising events to financially contribute to resulting in donation of 750,000 yen in one work. Also, it was one of a few opportunities for many student the cause. month. The team’s hard work resulted as mak- members to meet with fellow ing this the largest scaled student led initiatives This summer, Kwansei Gakuin University’s volunteers in different parts of in history of Habitat Japan’s youth program. the country and Habitat Japan’s Sanda chapter organized an event called staff all at once. “SHIFT 12.” It was named as such that their Hanako Chiba, the leader of SHIFT 12 told us initiative would help ’shift’ the disaster recov- “Distance between Tohoku and Kansai is large At the workshop, project com- petition was held. Many teams ery efforts to accelerate in better way. but caring people in unity can make it seem were proposing creative ways to small, ” looking back her summer dedicated for spread words on Habitat around July, 41 students participated in Tohoku volun- those still suffering from the disaster’s impact. Japan through the network of teer trips to a temporary housing complex in students. In September, the fund was utilized to better Ofunato, Iwate. Visiting the home partners living condition at a temporary shelter complex helped them see the reality of persisting hard- in Ofunato. ships that the disaster victims live with, today. Other chapters also raised funds across Japan, In August, the team took advantage of all op- involving 150 young volunteers from Kyushu to Tokyo. “It’s really not about how much we raise, but the important thing is to tell the story to as many people as we can,” says Mitsuru Sato. Many were inspired by these leaders’s work, the planning for the next fundrasing initi- ative in winter has already started. In collaboration with a Our Week of Building Hope popular travel book “Chikyu-no Arukikata Japan Hope Builders in Thailand World Trotters)”, orga- nized anotherJapan Hope Builders team to Thailand this summer. A team of 15 students and 3 adults built a house in flood-damaged Pathumthani, outskirts of Bangkok, Thanialnd. The house was for the Pa- nida family who had been sharing a house with 8 other relatives including their parents, but the cou- ple needed private space to The trip taught me how powerful the love of mankind can be. raise a newborn daughter. I tend to keep distance from others but now I can see letting After 2 years of searching people in to your life can be so wonderful. For that, and to and working hard, the have met Panida and others, I am truly thankful. couple became a Habitat homeowner. - Yuki Kishi, A Senior Student as a University 3 Habi-Bito Noriko Tanabe Teacher, Ritsumeikan Moriyama High School class, and tangible results and experi- shortly after the work started. Having What comes after leaning was an answer ence. To show the school that the pro- witnessed her students trouble shooting Noriko Tanabe had been eager to find. gram is good and safe enough for her as they build a house, she was convinced Teaching social studies at Ritsumeikan students, not only for the adults and uni- that this is just Moriyama High School, she always won- versity students.