TAKANO Takako, executive director of ECOPLUS, hosted the reflection session.A reflection session by volunteers for “Welcome Yap” Project in past two weeks was held in Waseda University in Tokyo in the evening of Friday, 23 March. Among eleven volunteers, eight persons and a videographer who had been with us almost the period joined the meeting.
They donated their time and money for the project heavily since the first meeting in last November accumulating meetings and site visits to identify the most ideal places for the Yapese students. All of activities of each day was organized by responsible team members of the day. One of volunteers was an IT engineer who took days off for this project and joined almost entire period.
Volunteers exchanged opinions with smiles.During the meeting, they exchange comments and fanny stories during the time, watching photos of Yapese students during the project. Many commented they will come back to Yap to see students they spent time together this time.
The project was supported by so many students, families, ex-participants of ECOPLUS’s program in Yap, and organizations, like Keidanren Nature Reserve Fund, United Airlines, Patagonia, Minamiuonuma City Board of Education.
Discussion reflecting the days in Japan started After the Yapese students gathered with their host families in the morning 18th March, they had a social gathering. We saw their big smiles in the pictures during homestay, so that we could immediately find they had a wonderful time. Also, Yapese students gave a presentation and introduced about Yap, and their host families listened carefully.
来日8日目の3月18日。朝10時に集合し、ホストファミリーの皆さんと一緒にお別れ会をしました。ステイ中に撮影された写真はどれも笑顔に溢れていて、各々素晴らしい経験をしたということが一目で伝わってくるものばかりでした。子供達によるヤップの紹介も行われ、ホストファミリーの皆さんも真剣に聞き入ってくださいました。
Discussion continued, ふり返りの議論が続きます After that, they enjoyed making ice-cream by making good use of snow, and playing with snow. Then, they had a reflection session about these days, and shared their findings and thoughts from their own perspectives.
お別れ会が終わり雪遊びやアイスクリーム作りを楽しんだ後は、これまで8日間で学んできたことの振り返り。新潟と東京を比較して気づいたことや、全体を通して学んだことについて、各々の観点から、様々な意見が出ました。
For dinner, they ate more than the first day. We kept laughing during dinner and seemed to get to know well each other through these eight days.夕食では初日より食べる量が増えていたり、笑いが絶えなかったり、8日間もの間一緒に過ごしてきたことを実感しました。
Environmental Education Center 環境学習施設えこっくる江東を訪問 隣接する環境学習情報館えこっくる江東にも訪れました。ヤップの子供達から「写真や模型、体験型のアクティビティ等を通して、水問題やゴミ問題について学ぶことができて分かりやすかった。」という意見がありました。また、分別することの重要性を各々が再認識しました。
おりしも、米国では「Make America Great Again」のトランプ大統領が就任。英国のEU離脱、各国での保護主義への回帰などの中で、いかに世界のほかの人々とつながりつつ、身近なコミュニティの中での学びを深めていくかの議論が続きました。子育て、地域おこし、環境教育、持続可能性教育、野外教育、国際化などの様々な分野の人々が集まり、「豊かさとは何か」「どういう場所で、どう生きるべきか」などを真剣に考えた2日間でした。