May, 2019
On Saturday, May 11, at JICA Chikyu Hiroba, our organization held a seminar entitled "What international cooperation can be done only by students - Case studies of the International Student Exchange Program and Nepal Earthquake Reconstruction Assistance" (supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and JICA Chikyu Hiroba). We would like to express our gratitude to the many people who participated in this event.
The first part of the event consisted of four parts. In the first part, Student Assistant Leader Asae Ose, who acted as a moderator, gave an opening speech and introduced the AAEE, and Akinori Seki, President of the AAEE, gave a keynote speech on "Student-led International Cooperation: SDGs Global Partnership and Mero Sathi Project. He reviewed the history of student-led international exchange activities, including the Mero Sathi Project, which has been ongoing since the Great East Japan Earthquake in Nepal in April 2015, and talked about the unique activities of students and the future prospects of AAEE.
In the second part, I reported on the activities of the Mero Sathi Project, which was held in March this year mainly by volunteer students from Kinki University. The project, titled "Goat Hut Project Next Stage," was designed to bring more profit to the school through the Goat Hut Project, which is a project that AAEE has been working on to help rebuild the lives of the poor in the areas affected by the Nepal earthquake. The event was held for three weeks in Nuwakot District, Nepal.
The presenter was Mr. Noriki Maemoto, a third-year student of the Faculty of International Studies at Kinki University, and three other participants. When the presentation started, the venue became cheerful. They talked about their progress and emotional struggles up to the completion of the goat shelter, and their discussions on "what is normal" through their interactions with the local people, involving everyone in the hall.
The third part of the session was a report on the activities of the Mero Sathi Project held in February, "Journey to Think about Happiness: Two Weeks of Talk with Students from Japan and Nepal. The presenter was Ayaka Sakuma, a third-year student of the Faculty of Integrated Global Studies at Sophia University. The theme of the program was "Happiness," and she talked about the results of her reflections, including her own emotional changes. For Nepalese people, happiness is rooted in "satisfaction with the status quo," "connection with others," and "patriotism," which is different from the tendency of the root of happiness that Japanese people consider, as revealed by the survey results. In addition, the consideration that happy people may be able to notice the happiness around them may be a hint for us to reevaluate our own happiness.
In the fourth part, AAEE student assistant Ikuya Nagashima led a group discussion with the audience. The theme was "Economic Development or Respect for Traditional Livelihoods".
In groups of 5-6 people, we discussed whether promoting economic development is necessary for people who are satisfied with their traditional lives, and shared the results with the whole group.
All the groups showed a variety of opinions from all standpoints, and thanks to all the participants, the discussion was very meaningful, including approaches to economic development to protect traditional livelihoods. In conclusion, the AAEE would like to suggest that we ask, "What is happiness for them? In conclusion, the AAEE proposed to ask "What is happiness for them? In order to find out what happiness means to them, exchange and dialogue will be an important means.
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 experience of the Mero Sathi Project that was launched in the wake of the Nepal Earthquake. We hope that the event will make you more interested in AAEE's activities.
Also, for the first time in AAEE's history, we will be holding this event at JICA Kansai in Kobe. We hope that holding this event not only in the Tokyo metropolitan area but also in the Kansai region will provide an opportunity for people from distant places to become more familiar with AAEE's activities.
We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and JICA Chikyu Hiroba for sponsoring the event, to all the people who came to the event, and to all the people who helped us by providing facilities and other support. We will keep you updated on the activities of the AAEE through our Facebook page and website, and we look forward to your cooperation and support.
