Record of Our Activities

 On September 16th, the first lecture for training global leaders was held. Thirty first-year and second-year students participated in the event.  Masaya Hara was invited as a lecturer.  He is a student at the graduate school of Kyoto university and majors in Asian and African studies.  The title of his lecture was ‘Let’s Think about Support in Farm Villages in Africa’ and a group discussion was carried out.

They focused on the Republic of Zambia.  Students learned its life, culture, and Zambian values.  They discussed what is the support needed which will be essential for people there.  All of the students were positive and a lot of students asked Mr. Hara questions after the lecture.  Through this event, students’ outlook will broaden and the number of students who will be active in the global society will increase.

[the participants’ comments]

＊I learned about usual life in Zambia and the support they received.  I thought that giving some money was not good because local people would be lazy. However, I found it one of the good ways to develop a poor country because it would lead to economic activation and it would also lead to an increase of currency.  We should consider whether the country is really poor or not and we ought not to label the country poor with our self-centered view.  Even though only a little money is used in Zambia, it is not proof that the country is poor.  The degree of happiness in the country is not low.  I deepened my idea on the subject; I had a good time.

＊I thought I needed to replace my stereotype that African countries are developing and they are poor.  We should not accept whatever we see or hear in the media.  I think it is appropriate to approach and consider problems from many other angles, and it needs to be filtered into the society or people in developed countries.  I’d like to find various ways of supporting them by myself.  I came to be interested in JICA and Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer.  I’m glad I joined this program.