May, 2019
On Saturday, May 18, JICA Kansai hosted a seminar entitled "What International Cooperation Students Can Do - Case Studies of International Student Exchange Programs and Nepal Earthquake Reconstruction Assistance" (supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and JICA Kansai Center). As with the Tokyo event held a week ago, many people attended this event as well. Thank you very much.
The event consisted of four parts.
Akinori Seki, President of the AAEE, gave an opening speech, followed by an introduction of the AAEE and its international student exchange program by Asae Ose, Student Assistant Leader of the AAEE (3rd year, Faculty of Global Studies, Sophia University).
In the first part , we reported on the activities of the Mero Sathi Project "Journey to Think about 'Happiness' - Two Weeks of Talk with Students from Japan and Nepal" held in February. The presentation was made by Ms. Yuna Hatate, a second-year student of the International Studies Department of the University of Tsukuba's College of Social and International Studies. Before the project, Ms. Hatate said that she could not answer with confidence whether she was happy or not. As a result of two weeks of research on happiness, she noticed a difference in the way of thinking between Nepalese and Japanese people. She concluded that for Nepalese, "satisfaction with the status quo," "connection with others," and "patriotism" are at the root of happiness, and that the best way to be happy is to notice the happiness around you. She concluded that the best way to be happy is to be aware of the happiness around you. She said that after returning to Japan, she became grateful for the things she takes for granted, and she would like the participants to think about the happiness around them.
The second part of the session was a debriefing session on the March Mero Sathi Project "Goat Hut Project Next Stage," which was conducted by Kinki University students as part of the Nepal Earthquake Recovery Project in response to the 2015 earthquake in Nepal. The Goat Hut Project, which started as a way to help rebuild the lives of the poor in the areas affected by the earthquake in Nepal, aims to contribute to the reconstruction of the disaster-stricken area by raising goats, a high-grade meat, and using the profits from the wholesale of the meat to support local schools. Mr. Noriki Maemoto, a third-year student of the Faculty of International Studies at Kinki University, and three other project participants were invited as presenters to share their experiences of interacting with local villagers under the theme of "What is common sense? The presentation involved the entire audience, who listened intently.
In the third part, Prof. Akinori Seki gave a keynote speech on "Volunteering and 'Happiness'". While introducing his own life experiences, from a psychological approach, he identified the characteristics of people who are involved in volunteer activities as "immersion = happiness".
The fourth part was a group discussion led by Kinki University students with the audience. The fourth part of the session was a group discussion led by Kinki University students with the audience: "Why do you volunteer? Why not? The theme of the discussion was "Why volunteer? There were a lot of multifaceted opinions, such as "as a means of self-gratification" and "as a contribution to society.
At this event, we were able to think and discuss with the audience about international cooperation that only students can do through AAEE's past student exchange activities and the debriefing session of the Mero Sathi Project that was launched in the wake of the Nepal Earthquake. We hope that this event will make you more interested in AAEE's activities.
Also, for the first time in AAEE's history, we were able to hold the event at JICA Kansai in Kobe. It was a great opportunity for people who are not usually able to attend such events to come and learn more about AAEE's activities.
We would like to thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and JICA Kansai for sponsoring the event, the people who came to the event, and all the people who helped us by providing facilities and other support. We will continue to keep you updated on the AAEE activities through our Facebook page and website, and we look forward to your cooperation and support.
