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Integration, Erasure and Welcoming Spaces

Often when talking about migration people will raise the question of integration, and perhaps make claims that a group is ‘not fitting in’. This is often based on a model of ‘unilinear assimilation’, where at one end of the scale is the outsider and at the other end is the perfect citizen. When you set up a scale to measure how well a person fits into your ideal vision of society you are effectively arranging a threshold for who can be considered a valued human being. Across history this scale has had different markers attached to it, and different ideas about the extent to which a person can move across this scale. An essentialist approach might be to argue that someone’s birth determines the extent to which they can move around this scale. This is built on the idea that our qualities are unchangeable and determined by universal truths or typologies. This essentialist approach is easiest to understand in the context of racial segregation, where different regimes have determined that someone’s body must have certain features to be considered a legitimate citizen. One example of this is the ‘Brown Paper Bag Test’, a cruel but widespread way of determining someone’s position in society based on whether their skin was lighter than a paper bag. Failing the test would mean being excluded from schools, social clubs, and all sorts of opportunities. Today we see parallels in how certain politicians argue that “people with Muslim heritage can never fit in to our society” or that first generation immigrants will never be “true Danes”. Another approach to this scale suggests that people can be elevated through the scale by receiving education, cultural knowledge, and other forms of ‘enlightenment’. This approach has a worrying history in Western society because of its relationship with forms of colonialism and genocide. In the United States, Canada, and Australia there was a long history of taking children with indigenous, First Nations, Native, or Aboriginal heritage and attempting to ‘civilise’ them by kidnapping them from their families, isolating them from their cultural heritage, and imposing ‘enlightened’ Western values through education, punishment, and even attempting to ‘fix’ their bodies through skin-bleaching and dress codes. There has always been a strong link between regimes which promote assimilation and active attempts to control, stigmatise, or erase culture. Many modern-day citizenship tests still carry this philosophical heritage. It is very rare that when people discuss integration they talk making an environment more inclusive, instead they tend to attach all the blame to the person that needs to be ‘fixed’ or ‘corrected’ to a set of nonsense criteria. We can promote inclusivity through social initiatives that develop dialogue or providing spaces where we can celebrate differences. There should never be pressure put on an individual to abandon their identity and heritage if they are going to be accepted in a space. Instead of talking about integration (in the sense of assimilation), we should talk about being a welcoming space that acknowledges and supports differences and attempts to build bridges rather than homogenise. By Simon Fern Image: Hennessy/Creative Commons

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Excited Afterthoughts: a response to “Between Two Worlds”

I love that Maya wrote in her article: “to have more than one passport didn’t make you half this and half that, rather, it made you more American.” People often ask me where I am from. When I was little, I was constantly confronted with this question from peers and teachers: “where are you from?”. The Answer that most put them at ease was: I am from the Philippines”, as this confirmed their suspicions of my complexion and dark hair and they relaxed in their confirmation biases. As I grew up and my language skills greatly improved, more and more people have added the comment: “but you are more Danish. You speak fluent Danish. You think like a Dane. You are not as Asian as those Asians that you surround yourself with”. To that, I say that I am more. I am Filipino and Danish and from the Global South and European. I reject none. I embrace all. I am fully all of those because I strive towards excellence to understand and contain all of these sensibilities and positionalities. I don’t adhere to only one positionality; I have the linguistic and cultural fluency to switch to whatever suits the context. It sounds braggadocios, but just in case there is not an afterlife, why is it not okay to strive for excellence in this life? Our proficiency in language becomes one of the indicators of our national identity. In life, we should strive for the highest excellence in the three languages we speak. Fluency is not enough; understanding is more profound and rewarding. We shape how people interact with us through our command of the language. Words can have mental conditions on their use, not captured by a simple Google translation. An innate understanding of words shapes our ideas of emotions, principles, the perspective of time, subliminal confirmation biases and overt/covert power relations. For example, Tagalog requires you to engage in conversation with implicit language learning. Implicit language learning requires a higher acquisition of unconscious knowledge. This type of communication means that the speaker must simultaneously convey and understand the structural relations of a more complex subliminal syntax of the language, not what is being explicitly expressed. Grudges will be held for a long time if you do not understand the subtext of the conversation. Danish is more explicit. You say what you mean, and things are not generally taken personally. It should be understood within a flat organisational structure. Power relations are low and autonomy is high. If people say that you are an idiot, don’t take it seriously. Life moves on, even if you do not. My point is that these skills and sensibilities require adequate proficiency if you only pursue it halfheartedly. Nor is it okay to devalue one’s efforts to become and strive to be more, by calling them “half” or ignoring the many colour palettes that they paint their own identities with. To only pick one – that’s immensely boring to ignore the feast of your colours, and just take one slice of stale bread because it is the closest one. Richness in life is about gathering up all of the knowledge and experience that you have collected up to now to help you dive into the things that you did not know. To nibble, taste or devour the delicacies of what makes you and makes the human being in front of you. It is an ongoing and delightful challenge to become more, a more wholesome human being with a richer understanding of life and its many raw and tender nuances. The richest person in the graveyard is not the one with the biggest bank account, it is the person who became fully themselves. By Julliette E. Lloren You can read Maya’s original article here: [Part One] [Part Two] Image: Julliette

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Between Two Worlds: crossing borders in language and identity (part two)

I view speaking Danish as a massive border that I have crossed. Although I carry a Danish passport, have a mom whose mother tongue is Danish, and have a deep personal affection towards Denmark itself, I never felt like I truly belonged here until I could communicate with fluency and ease in Danish. Perhaps for some this may seem unjustified. The easy answer to my quandary is to simply ignore other people’s perceptions and focus on oneself. This is easier said than done, and when you’ve got a chip on your shoulder and something to prove, that can seem like a Sisyphean task. The notions of ease and comfort are quintessential to everyday life. The boringly monotonous routine that one follows when living in their ‘home’ country is taken for granted when language is not an issue. For a perfectionist like myself, it was not enough to be able to order a coffee or ask where the restroom was in Danish. As long as I could still feel the gears churning when attempting a conversation, I simply did not feel Danish. In essence, language and identity are thoroughly intertwined. To me, this means that language can be the key to truly having a Danish identity. However, it is significant to acknowledge that identity is a deeply personal issue. Identity is a construct, it is fluid, and my perceptions of my identity and what constitutes my own Danish-ness are not meant to be used as a universal template for others undergoing similar experiences in Denmark. Once I was actually able to understand a whole night’s worth of conversation at a dinner party, or able to go on a date and only speak Danish, it was like something just clicked, and I’d crossed a milestone in the vast wall that was the Danish language. I’d opened up a whole new world of opportunities for myself. I could read the posters at my university, I could understand passers-by, I could listen to the Queen’s speech at New Years (albeit the Danish sense of humour still slips under my radar occasionally). In my own way, I’d truly crossed a border. By Maya Schwartz You can read part one [here] Image: Yeowatzup/Flickr

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Between Two Worlds: crossing borders in language and identity

Part One I’ve repeated the following anecdote countless times, as people are often confused when I tell them I have a Danish passport, yet they can hear an accent in my Danish: I grew up with a Danish mom and an American dad in South Florida. I was bilingual and perfectly fluent in both Danish and English. But when I was around 5 years old and started school, I was confused as to why no one besides my mom could speak this seemingly strange, guttural language. Over time I started to respond only in English when she would speak Danish to me. Eventually, she gave up, and we began to speak English on a daily basis, to the point where I forgot Danish and all its strange vowel sounds. This meant that when I moved to Denmark three years ago, I needed to relearn everything, from pronunciation to syntax and grammar. As a happy-go-lucky, pig-tailed little girl growing up in American suburbia, I never once doubted my identity as an American. It was incredibly common to have a parent that spoke another language. America is a melting pot. That’s what those who embrace diversity proudly proclaim about the US. To have more than one passport didn’t make you half this and half that, rather, it made you more American. I never explored my connection to Denmark on more than a superficial level by referring to my Danish summer trips every now and then. When I was in 9th grade my human geography teacher asked me to count to 10 in Danish so the other students could hear the similarities between the two Germanic languages. I remember feeling quite normal because I wasn’t the only one with roots in another country. I’ve never felt like I needed to explore my Danish-ness as another part of my identity because I was simply American. Then came the big move. Moving to the country that I’d only ever visited while on vacation proved to be utterly eye-opening. It challenged my perspective on big things like social welfare and how to run a government system, as well as the small things like sorting trash and what kind of groceries I buy. I felt instantly at home with my ‘progressive’ (by US-standards) values and through seeing my Danish family regularly. I loved every aspect of my new Danish life. For the first time, I truly wanted to feel Danish. I identify largely with Danish politics and the way Danes live their lives. I wanted people to look at me and be associated with Denmark as well as the US. I was ready to embrace being Danish as a part of my new, expanding identity. After the excitement of moving to a new place wore off, however, I began to adjust to the normalities of everyday life. The mediocrity of ordinary routines began to set in, and I started to notice not just how I felt about my surroundings, but how my surrounding were perceiving me. The absolute biggest obstacle I faced, by far, towards feeling welcomed by Danish society as a whole, was the Danish language. By Maya Schwartz Image: Cytis/pixabay

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Talking about borders: three key terms

Borders are maintained and reinforced by the penalties which they entail, and the consequent fear they inspire in our personal and collective imaginations. Sometimes these penalties and fears are appropriate and help to maintain barriers which protect us from harm. At other times, these penalties and fears are disproportionate and are ideologically motivated. When talking about borders, it’s important to be aware of some key terms and ideas. In this article we introduce and define the ideas of security theatre, securatization, and privatisation which are big topics in ongoing discussions about borders and migration. Security theatre is the process through which organisations promote things that give the appearance of protection without producing measurable outcomes. This might involve disproportionately arming border officials by giving them automatic weapons when it is unlikely that they will have any violent interactions. Some people argue that a lot of the safety checks in airports are a form a security theatre, confiscating your nail scissors is silly when you could buy other dangerous items like glass bottles in the duty-free area just beyond the security stop. Security theatre is potentially, and ironically, a danger because it means that instead of spending money on things that keep us safe we have instead paid for processes which have no measurable benefit. Securitisation refers to how the state frames issues as threats to our safety. An example of this might be xenophobic politicians suggesting that women who wear veils are a threat to security. These politicians are using the language of safety to hide their prejudice. Another example is governments discussing terrorism as a massive threat to the public, when something like heart-disease, lung cancer, or domestic violence is far more likely to result in someone’s death – governments can then justify disproportionate spending on military budgets, or passing laws which restrict our civil liberties. Privatisation is the process of transferring a public service to a privately run industry. Maintaining borders, and security in general, is a profitable industry. Large companies exist to profit from managing and reinforcing borders. It is important to understand that these groups have an interest in promoting an agenda which increases government spending on security. You may notice employees of these private security firms acting as though they are equivalent to police officer or government official when they are most like not. When you are going through a border, look at who is profiting from running that border. This article is part of a series which will try to introduce and explain important ideas about how to talk about and understand borders of all kinds. Being able to name and illustrate these issues is a vital step towards deconstructing and challenging them. By Simon Fern Image: Nerthus/pixbay

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Reflections on the Concept of Happiness: the Case of the Nordic Countries and Korea

Recently, I was invited by some of my former Korean students to give several lectures in Seoul. The topic of my lectures was happiness. The audience was made up mainly of educators, students and journalists at the “Ohmynews” global citizen media outlet, ‘Naked Denmark’ business forum and Odysse High School in Seoul. All three institutions have a special interest in the Nordic education system, which according to them holds the secret behind the high level of happiness in the Nordic region. The Koreans seem to be obsessed with and craving for increased happiness. The reason for this is that according to the world happiness surveys, the Koreans are rated right at the bottom of the happiness league of nations compared with the Nordic countries who are at the top of the pack. To find out why the Koreans feel supposedly less happy than the Nordic people, let’s reflect on the concept of happiness: why are the Nordic people reportedly happier than other fellow humans in other parts of the world while the Koreans claim the opposite position? Let’s start with: the concept of happiness; the paradox therein; and possible reasons for the Nordic people always winning the happiness contest as opposed to the Koreans having no chance of bringing the award home. Happiness From my own perspective happiness is an ideal end station toward which humans strive to reach along their life journey. In other words, happiness is the feeling of mental and emotional wellbeing, experienced differently by different individuals. This feeling is influenced by many factors, including the attitudes of the individuals, the material, psycho-social wellbeing in given cultural settings and in different environments. Thus, for humans to feel happy, they need much more than simply fulfilling their biological needs. The other needs are as vital, because they are what makes humans humane. As happiness is an individual matter, I would like to ask you –the one reading this piece right now-: are you happy? What makes you happy? What are you doing to spread happiness around you? The Korean Paradox In spite of its amazing nature, temperate weather, friendly people, rich culture, hospitality, delicious and spicy food, high level of development, impressive advances in science, technology and innovation, Koreans are still in search of happiness. During my talks with journalists, teachers and students at Ohmynews, Naked Denmark and Odysse High School in Seoul, I was told that many Koreans suffer from work-related stress, family breakdowns, competition, socio-psychological, emotional violence and so on. These problems manifest themselves in high rates of suicide, loneliness and the constant search for happiness. Some are going to extremes to reduce their stress by checking into a prison called ‘Prison Inside Me’. As BBC reports, after working nearly 100 hours a week every week for six months, lawyer Kwon Yong-suk started wondering if solitary confinement in prison might be a better alternative to his situation. So, he creates the jail where people like him could find peace. You can read more about this special prison here. However, I do not think the above is enough explanation for the feeling of unhappiness in Korea. Other factors could be at play, like comparing themselves with the Nordic people, whose realities are different from the Korean peoples’. So, let’s look into those possible other factors. The Nordic self-perception appears to be different and more positive. The folks in the far north, see themselves and are seen by others as extremely homogeneous with a common understanding of and respect for the values of income and gender equality, mutual trust, and straightforwardness. These folks have built the world’s most generous welfare system which provides free education, high-quality universal health care, and unemployment benefits. These people live in a democracy in which the distance between the rulers and citizens is short. The region is far away from the global hotspots, giving the impression that the troubles are far away down south. The Nordic people are said to be the most secular and individually free from God, holy people, places, the family etc. Finally, the region considers itself to be free from colonial legacy and war-mongering. Thus, we see ourselves as innocent and good guys, soft power holders, peace-makers, development aid-givers, human rights promoters. All these traits: white, homogenous, democratic and social equality represent the ideals of the dominant western values of the modern world order. Therefore, we in the far cold north must be the happiest people on earth. However, an increasing number of people suffer from many existential challenges, including the feeling of being less useful to others, loneliness, depression, mental and emotional confusion, work-related pressures, spiritual emptiness and rising xenophobia. The long, dark and cold winters also could contribute to the increasing cases of depression in the region. THUS, in the final analysis, we need more than material well-being to be happy. As social animals, we individuals are not enough in ourselves. We need others for our own well-being because lonely people can hardly be happy people. Nor can we buy, legislate or socially engineer happiness. As already mentioned above, happiness is a mental and emotional state of well-being and individual feeling. This makes happiness hard to measure and apply to a whole region or society. We should keep in mind that chasing happiness is like chasing our own shadows, which we can never catch. Instead, we should try to develop a positive outlook towards ourselves and the world around us and be generous towards others. At the societal level, we should strive toward educating ourselves that our well-being is mutually inter-connected with the well-being of our fellow humans. We might not reach the final goal of happiness, but the process toward meeting it could hold the key to happiness. What are you waiting for, to start the long walk toward happiness with and for all? Garba Diallo  

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Are you a migrant or refugee in Denmark with a business idea?

                Are you a migrant or refugee in Denmark with a business idea? Are you someone that works with migrants and refugees? We want to hear from you about your experience! Come join the discussion on the 14th and 15th of February at the Ubuntu House in central Copenhagen (dinner provided)! Best, Leah

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Bruno Tarazón Soler, EVS member in Crossing Borders in Copenhagen.

Let me introduce myself. I am Bruno, a 25 years old Spanish-French student in International Law, passionate about Mother Earth and its offerings. I arrived in Copenhagen about a month ago, which means that I am still a ‘rookie’ in this part of the world that is so unknown to me. During these first couple of weeks I listened and I observed. It was like to throw myself into the procession of cultural immersion in a new country and now I can share my first impressions of Denmark, known as one of the ‘happiest’ countries in the world. One of the peculiarities that caught my attention during the first couple of days was a recycling machine in supermarkets in which used bottles can be exchanged for money. Someone explained, that there are people who do it to earn some money, but there is one more thing the initiative does – it pays back to ‘Pachamama’, our planet for being so. Or should I say the planet on which we live rather than “our planet”? I mean Mother Earth, just like our partner, loves us and shares her best secrets but it doesn’t belong to anyone and we should never take her for granted. This part of the Planet is cold and winds are harsh, but the air that blows is clean and full of hope, hope for a better future, the ‘winds of change’. Nevertheless, the workshop which I got an opportunity to­­ attend on the 9th of October in Askov Efterskole did not focus on sustainability or climate change but on one of the other problems which requires raising awareness among young people as well – the issues of migrants and refugees and the different challenges associated with them. To describe the event in one word, Awesome! Being a member of the Crossing Borders team through European Volunteer Service, my participation in the workshop gave me a chance to first of all observe and learn how my colleagues contribute to igniting a spark in minds of future, the youth. Danish youth seems well aware of importance of sustainability in today’s mistreated world but they should not forgo the empathy towards its fellow being who are suffering from one of the biggest refugee crisis in our days, even if it is taking place far from where they live. This motivated me, even more, to be a part of the atelier. In Spain, for instance, there already exists “A wall” which is so much in news nowadays, dividing the humans of the Planet (in Melilla), as if we were separating two parts of the same body. And the wall is not just metaphoric. Still in the 21st century it divides people from two different continents (in Melilla) that nonetheless contain the same elements: families, children and gazes. I also lived in Sicily for a year, where in the island of Lampedusa almost two hundred thousand individuals each year are disembarked on the watch of relentless EU. During the workshop, I could hear opinions of the students that shocked me: “we don’t want the refugees here” or “don’t come in Denmark”. However, I also saw some of them looking at the problem with maturity and commitment. For this reason, I will continue being part of these kind of experiences: to empower the latter to bring about the change, from within themselves, their colleagues, their family and then the country. I think that I am in the perfect country to do this, not only because of Denmark’s distance from the problem and thus a bigger need that arises to draw the attention to it but also the proximity with which the teachers can teach here, thanks to the non-formal space that the Danish educational system gives, which is truly an inspiration to other countries.   Big thank you to Crossing Borders for letting me to be a part of the project! Bruno Tarazón Soler, student of International Law en Universitat de València and EVS member in Crossing Borders in Copenhagen.

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Politics in Japan Series #2. The history and culture surrounding politics in Japanese democracy.

-#2: The history and culture surrounding politics in Japanese democracy. Written by Michiyo Terasaki, Crossing Borders National Coordinator for Japan. Japanese democracy began gradually during the Meiji period (1868-1912) when Japan was struggling diplomatically with foreign countries and needed to be recognized as democratic. There were some civil movements during those years, but the democracy back then was based on imperial sovereignty, and full voting rights for men and women first came in 1947, after WWⅡ, and brought by the United States, meaning it is an imported custom from overseas, applied by government in a top-down way, and not something which citizens won through struggle like in many western countries. Japan is very good at adapting and enjoying imported culture from overseas, in its own way, so we celebrate Christmas with a fancy illuminated tree and city, chicken and cake even though most Japanese people are not Christian, and you can also enjoy food from almost all over the world in Tokyo, with some Japanese-taste adjustment. But in terms of democracy, we haven’t been able to build our own, which means we haven’t changed the way of following one authority, and although the right to resist exists, it is not widely exercised. For example, if you think about the fact that the Japanese main party (the LDP, Liberal Democratic Party) has been dominating for more than the 50 years since WW2 (there are only a few exceptions: 1993-6 and 2009-12). In a way, you might be able to say that LDP dominancy in the parliament has been working for Japan in an economical sense so far, but since Japan has been facing the “Lost-decades” of economic decline for almost 30 years now, people have started to realize that Japan needs to change. But a multi-party system in Japan will not come easily. Looking at the recent case in 2009, whereby the second biggest party, DPJ (Democratic Party of Japan), became a major party and the balance of power between LDP and DPJ finally changed. It has been widely acknowledged for a long time that one of the reasons that the Japanese government can’t make major policy changes is due to the excessive strength of bureaucracy, and DPJ ran a big campaign to change this and got a lot of support. But what happened was that the DPJ didn’t have enough experience and skill to implement new policy, and unfortunately due to a lack of cooperation by bureaucrats this ended in a lot of confusion. This incident meant that Japanese citizens experienced trauma and disappointment in voting for a main opposition party. When LDP came back into power in 2012, they responded to the issue of the power that bureaucrats had by setting up the Cabinet Personnel Management Agency, so now the top bureaucrats are essentially selected by the government. This strengthened LDP’s hold on power a lot more. As you can see, Japanese democracy is still in the phase of power-struggle, and is far from a stable and healthy parliamentary government. Political apathy is rife amongst Japanese citizens, and confusion is one of the principal reasons for this. Political apathy has been a particularly serious issue in Japan among young people; statistics[1] show that the voting rate for people in their 20’s, for the upper house election last July, was 32.8%. That election was the first time that the voting age was lowered from 20 to 18, with the government widely campaigning for young people to take part in the election. But why didn’t they go to vote? One of the reasons could be that they don’t have much opportunity to have political conversations at home, at school and among friends, so there is little interest in forming opinions. Therefore, it is hard for them to believe that their one vote might have power and influence. Another explanation could be that young people are practical, in that they don’t act unless they are sure what they can get.  In fact, some statistics show[2] that about 60% of young people feel they don’t have any power within the political decision-making process. The reason Japanese people do not have the custom of talking about politics at home (or in general) could be, I think, related to the fact that Japanese democracy is something “imported”; a concept from overseas, and not something citizens fought for over many years. It has therefore not reached the level of all citizens, especially at home. Moreover, originally Japan is a hierarchical culture and society, so speaking up with your opinion towards the society or authority is not considered as a traditional or polite thing to do. There still are some demonstrations, but the number itself and participants are limited, and lower compare with other countries. Moreover, the term “Political activist” in Japan sounds dangerous (at least to me) and gives off ideas of ultra-right/left wing driving propaganda trucks with a lot of noise, but is generally, not common or familiar to most people. Japanese people become interested in politics usually when they are adults, and government policies start to affect their lives to some extent, such as in social welfare and tax. But in most of the cases their interest and knowledge are limited, and the media plays an important role in affecting them. [1] http://www.soumu.go.jp/senkyo/senkyo_s/news/sonota/nendaibetu/ [2] http://www8.cao.go.jp/youth/english/survey/2013/pdf/part2-2.pdf

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Dive into the NGO world & the life of an Expat: Masato

  Dive into the NGO world & the life of an expat: Masato Today, we want to introduce you to Masato from Japan. Masato has just started as an intern at Crossing Borders (CB) and was previously a CB student at the Krogerup Højskole in Humlebæk. The CB course at the Krogerup school is a course designed exclusively for international students, providing them with knowledge on different global issues. The Krogerup Højskole is a school based on non-formal education where there are no exams and a lot of visits so that there is a practical side as well as the learning. The students live together, eat together, clean together… you name it, they do everything together as a community. We asked him, among other things, about his experience in this school and the motivation behind his internship at Crossing Borders. Hope you enjoy! ?    ・Have you always been interested in the NGO world or did you just take the opportunity that was offered to you at Crossing Borders? Through my study abroad, I thought that I wanted to experience more practical things in the environment where many different nationalities and backgrounds are crossing, also I wanted to contribute to Crossing Borders, which I can do from my experience learning in CB international course at Krogerup Højskole. I can say that my life has actually been connected to the NGO world. When I was 7 years old, my parents have donated money to UN Women, which is a body of the UN, to contribute to the promotion of gender equality, women’s empowerment, and education. My father worked at a company, meanwhile, he was also working in that organization as a secretary general. I think we don’t often have many opportunities to meet foreigners in Japan, so I really appreciate to be blessed with an environment where I can meet many people who are from outside of Japan, especially from Africa. Then, I was interested in what is happening not only in Japan but also in the world. Influenced by that environment perhaps, after I went to Soka university in Tokyo, I was interested in working abroad in the field of education, so I decided to do a Japanese language and cultural volunteering for 1 month in Indonesia via an NGO. Through that, I gained 2 things that I experienced and I had more confidence. Firstly, I was able to adapt to a new environment, which is totally opposite to mine, thanks to my strengths such as open-mindedness, curiosity, and “soaking-up-power”. Indonesia is known as the world’s 4th most populous country as well as the most populous Muslim-majority country. Religion, food, the way of socializing, and infrastructure are completely different from Japan. The place where I was sent was in the countryside, so there were not any internet connection or hospital, and black out often happens. Because of these conditions probably, their life is very slow and relaxing, also they don’t care about small things, and cherish the time spent with their family. By contrast, in Tokyo where I grew up, life goes on without a break, and people fray their nerves because they care too much about details. In addition, they were forced to work until midnight instead of staying with their children at home. That is why I really liked the Indonesian way of life. Although the environment and the people are totally different, I engaged with any community I encountered with my strong “open-mindedness”. However, the beginning was not so easy, and I was really struggling to talk with them because I could use neither English nor Japanese. Before, I was explained by NGO staff that I would be able to communicate with them in English, and especially in Japanese, because I was supposed to have a host family with a Japanese language teacher. However, this difficulty made me realize how important speaking local languages is to build trust, so I learned Indonesian and Javanese (local language in Indonesia) through ordinary conversation. As a result, I was able to build a trust relationship with more than 600 people, such as the host family, teachers, students, NGO staff, and even chefs at the store where we often went. Owing to this, our team-work worked very smoothly. Secondly, I learned skills and attitudes to implement a project from the start to the end by myself. Some of the things I learned were how to find out problems by listening to the voice of those who are working, how to suggest ideas creatively, and how to implement and improve them. For example, nowadays, more than 600 students are studying Japanese because many Japanese companies have been spreading to the Indonesian market. Also, Japanese sub-culture has gained tremendous popularity. However, when paying careful attention to what is going on inside the classes, we find out that learning Japanese is based on reading and writing, the students don’t have any opportunity to speak with native speakers. Therefore, I suggested doing a workshop which is not only focused on reading and writing but also on listening and speaking, and on Japanese culture such as traditional dances and Origami (folding paper). In addition, we discussed things which can be improved. Thus, I have been working with NGOs in different aspects, so I would like to use this experience and contribute to the CB team more! ・As you have some experience in the NGO world, would you consider working with another NGO or volunteering again for example? Honestly, I would say I’m debating whether I should work in NGOs or companies right now. On the one hand, the NGO world is really fascinating for me as I have a mission which is to create an environment for children of the world to be able to achieve their self-actualization. CB and other NGOs’ visions correspond exactly to my life goal. NGOs’ purpose mainly revolves around finding solutions to social problems, so their activities relatively require effectiveness (at least in my opinion). Thus, given my goal, I

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