2010-2011 JAPAN-RWANDA YOUTH CONFERENCE(5th conference)

From the beginning of Japan-Rwanda Youth cooperation, the students of WASEDA University and National university of Rwanda are initiated to promote mutual understanding and create international network through anual activities which are to hold conferences and do many activities in both countries in order to create a cooperative relationship in many aspects between Waseda University and the National University of Rwanda and also to intensify and lubricate further exchange between the Rwandan and the Japanese culture.

Until now, JRYC have already carried out 4 conferences that include three conferences,in Rwanda and one, in Japan so that JRYC members are organizing an other conference in Japan named 5th conference which is supposed to start on 19th Decenber 2010 and take an end on 6th January, 2011 so that JRYC members from Rwanda must join the other members in Japan during that periode to accomplish the purposes of this cooperation.

Historically, this cooperation was only between WASEDA University and National university of Rwanda in the last 4 years but now it is expending and working with many universities in Japan like TOKYO University, OSAKA University, YOKOHAMA City University, UTSUNOMIYA University, TSUKUBA University, AOYAMA University and AICH City University and even some high insitute and schools in Rwanda. We are certainly sure that this strong commitment of both sides of JRYC, in Rwanda and Japan, will read to the excellent results.  

 

 

RATIONALE OF THE JRYC

 

The Japan Rwanda Youth Conference is a youth organization which is not under or influenced by any political or Christian ideas and is independent from any government influence.  

 

AIM

 

The aim of this youth cooperation is to make young people active and contribute to their countries’ development by understanding social and Cultural matters of both societies.

 

   

EXPECTED RESULTS

At the end of the 5th Japan Rwanda Youth conference, The JRYC members would like to reach the following results:

i, Reorganizing the cultural concert in Japan

ii, Fundraizing in that concert to help the noticed disabled people during  4th conference in Rwanda

iii, Gaining technology skills

iv, Making documentary  report, book, DVD, ….

v, Marketing their countries,Japan and Rwanda allover the world.

vi, Establishing a new project of 6th conference that must took place in Rwanda

vii, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outline of 7^th Conference

 

Aim 

1. To gain a deeper understanding of Japan and Rwanda by introducing its culture, tradition and social problems by the students. This will also give a chance for the students look back on their own society.

2. To build a trusting relationship between the students, understand each other and build friendship by holding conferences and living together.

3. To implement cultural exchange on grass-root level not only amongst the members, but to the general Japanese public by holding Rwandan cultural concerts and visiting a Japanese school.  

4. To consider and learn about peace-building by studying the history of wars in Japanese and the genocide in Rwanda.

5. To produce a documentary video explaining this project and screening it at reporting events and on the internet so as to promote understanding of Rwanda among the Japanese people.

Means of achieving the aims.

-To achieve aim 1, before the Rwandan students arrive in Japan, Japanese members will hold study meetings in order to understand thoroughly about the sites we are visiting. We must also prepare presentations to share information about these sites to be presented to Japanese and Rwandan students before we visit there.

-To achieve aim 2, Japanese and Rwandan students must spend much time together. We are scheduling home stays during the trip.

-To achieve aim 3, we must work harder in our promotion activities to invite as many people to the concert. Up until now we have been handing out posters, using mailing list of Waseda, using social network sites such as facebook, inviting friends and family, but this year we will reach out to newspapers and magazines.

-To achieve aim 4, we will visit Nagasaki this year. We will be able to compare their history to Hiroshima which we have visited in previous conferences.

-To achieve aim 5, we must strengthen our promotion activities so we can promote our video to more people.

 

Project Outline

-Date; 22^nd December 2011 ~9^th January 2012

(can be changed according to the holiday dates of National University of Rwanda)

-Place: Nagasaki, Osaka, Tokyo

-Participants: 25 Japanese members, 5 Rwandan members

-Contents;

We will invite 5 Rwandan members to Japan and together with Japanese members they will travel around Japan doing field work and conferences.

We will visit many sites for our field work. Some themes we will see in our visits are atomic bomb, post-war reconstruction, religions in Japan, tourism, poverty, homeless people in Japan. We will also hold a cultural concert and visit a primary school for cultural exchange.

After understanding about each topic in our field works, we will hold student conferences to share more information about the topic and to discuss about what we saw, felt and learned. At the end of all our projects, we will propose an action for our Japan-Rwanda Youth Cooperation to implement, according to what we saw throughout the projects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Schedule

(can be changed according to the holiday dates of National University of Rwanda)

 

Date	Project Contents	Place
22th Dec. 23th 24st 25th   26rd 27th 28th 29th   30th 31th 1st Jan. 2nd] 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th	Rwandan members arrive at Nagasaki Airport Visit memorial dome Group tour Conference Transport to Osaka overnight Arrival in Osaka, rest Field work in Kagamasaki Field work in Kagamasaki Conference Transport to Tokyo overnight Arrival in Tokyo, rest Home stay New Year, Home stay Conference Rehearsals Cultural Event Conference (project work) Conference (project work) Conference (project work) Conference (project work) Primary School Depart for Rwanda	Nagasaki         Osaka         Tokyo

 

Project Details

 

Atomic Bomb, Tourism and Christianity

in Nagasaki

Aim

-To learn the history of the atomic bomb and the process of recovery from that tragedy and think about peace building.

-To learn the know-how of the tourism industry in Nagasaki city.

- To learn the history of Japanese Christianity and Japanese religious view.

 

Japan, especially Nagasaki, and Rwanda have many similarities. For example, the tragedy in the history, reconstruction from that tragedy, working to develop the tourist industry. To visit Nagasaki, Rwanda members can learn Japanese history and culture and not only that, they will get some good hints for their country’s reconstruction and tourist industry. For Japanese members, this project is good chance to know our country’s history and culture deeply.

 

Summary of activities

Date: 23^rd ~ 25^th Dec 2011

Place: Nagasaki city

Participant: 15 Japanese members, 5 Rwandan members

 

Nagasaki city in Japan is very famous for the place the atomic bomb was dropped. We learn the history of Nagasaki including the tragedy of the atomic bomb and recovery from that. To learn the history of Nagasaki, We plan to visit memorial cite of atomic bomb, to hear the story of the atomic bomb from the survivor of the tragedy, visit and hear from the mayor of Nagasaki city.

Nagasaki city is famous not only for the place of atomic bomb but also for the tourist site. Nagasaki city government has been making many plans to strength their industry of tourism. We can study the know-how of tourism industry.

Nagasaki city is also famous for the city of Christianity. The principal religions in Japan are Shinto, Buddhism, and Christianity but Christianity is not so common religion in Japan. Nagasaki city, however, has the long history of Christianity. To visit Nagasaki, we can study the history of Christianity in Japan and the Japanese religious view.

 

Schedule

23rd Dec
9:00	Arrival at Nagasaki city
13:00	Visit the atomic bomb memorial cite
15:00	Listen to the story of the atomic bomb from the survivor
17:00	The end of the day schedule
24th Dec
We make 3 groups that are based on each theme of study and each group visit each place. GROUP 1 is one to learn the history of atomic bomb and recovery from the tragedy of atomic bomb. GROUP 2 is one to learn the history of Christianity and Japanese religious view. GROUP 3 is one to learn the know-how of the strength tourism industry. Each group has 1or2 Rwandan members. The reason why we divide the members and make groups is that Nagasaki has many things that we can study from but we don’t enough time to visit all place with all member so we make group so that we can make it possible for Rwandan to learn many things from Nagasaki.
Group 1
10:00	Visit other memorial cites *Shiroyama elementary school *Nyokodo And other cites
13:00	Visit NGO groups
15:00	Listen to the story of reconciliation from the NGO members
Group 2
10:00	Go around Nagasaki City and visit some church. *Site of the Martyrdom of the 26 Saints of Japan *Oura Cathedra
13:00	Visit Urakami Cathedra. (the cathedra destroyed by atomic bomb)
15:00	Listen to the story from the bishop.
Group3
10:00	Visit and see some tourism cite.
14:00	Visit city government
15:00	Listen to the story of tourism industry and study know-how of that.
25th Dec
10:00	Student conference and share the experience of each group.
15:00	Visit City mayor
17:00	Leave from Nagasaki city

During this stay, Rwandan members have a home stay.

 

5.Homepage address

(some pages is in Japanese so please see picture only)

*Nagasaki city (English)

http://www1.city.nagasaki.nagasaki.jp/

*The memorial cite (English)

http://www1.city.nagasaki.nagasaki.jp/peace/english/index.html

*Shiroyama elementary school

http://www.nagasaki-city.ed.jp/shiroyama-e/heiwa/heiwa.htm

*Urakami cathedra

http://www1.odn.ne.jp/uracathe/

http://www1.odn.ne.jp/uracathe/hibakuzou.htm

*Oura cathedra

http://www1.bbiq.jp/oourahp/

 

 

 

Poverty in Kamagasaki, Osaka

Aim

To realize human security in our world, solving the problem of poverty is one of its crucial goals. In this project we aim to deepen our understanding of our society’s problem through ‘poverty’.

In Rwanda where they have experienced great economical growth since 1994 and the lives of some areas in the country have been improved. But at the same time other areas still lack electricity or water and it can be said that the gap of rich and the poor is broadening. Such gaps are also seen in developed countries and even in Japan we have seen the situation worsening after 2008.

It is difficult to compare poverty in different societies. Rwandan and Japanese society have different reasons for its poverty and may not be easy to take up in the same discussion. However by defining the differences we should be able to find some similar problems or backgrounds. In this project we aim to think about what we can do as students to abolish or reduce poverty.

We have chosen to visit Kamagasaki* area of Osaka as our site for field work which is the largest dwelling area of day-workers* in Japan. We expect to make realistic propositions and wide discussions by hold fielding works such as taking part in soup runs* and night patrolling* and then moving onto conferences.

Here we aim to understand about the below topics.

1 .About the history of Kamagasaki and the problem of day-workers in Japan

2. Public groups or NGOs who give help, and those who receive them.

3. About those who enthusiastically want to become independent from aids.

 

*Kamagasaki

This a small city of about 800square meters where 20~30 thousand day workers live. Their lives are poor, homeless and jobless.

*Day workers

Men of old age who are unemployed due to age, health, lack of education. Many have dropped out of normal society at young age due to many reasons. They find work daily and work for low salary,.

*Soup runs

Many NGO’s provide free food for day-workers in Kamagasaki.

*Patrolling at night

NGO’s patrol areas where day-workers are sleeping outside, for their safety.

.

Summery of Activity

Date：27^th December 2011~ 29^th December 2011

Place：Osaka Prefecture Teizukayama, Nishinari Kamagasaki area」

Participants：Participant: 15 Japanese members, 5 Rwandan members

Cooperatives：Nishinari Vocational Training Center, NGOs helping day-workers

 

Schedule

27th Dec
10:00	Gather
11:00	Free walking in Kamagasaki
14:30	Student conference
18:00	Rest in lodging
21:00	Field work（night patrol）
22:00	Finish

28th   Dec
10:00	Gather
11:00	Field work (soup run)
14:30	Field work (Visit vocational training center)
18:00	Finish
21:00	Home stay at a members house
29th Dec
9:00	Gather
10:00	Field work
14:00	Student conference
17:00	Finish, leave for Tokyo

 

Field work;

We will take part in soup runs in parks and also distribute food at night patrol. By actually talking to day-workers and NGO workers we will deepen our understanding of the area. We can also compare this situation with the scene at the vocational center and see what makes the day-workers enthusiastic to learn and become independent.

Student conference;

We will discuss in groups what we saw and write a report. We will also consider the situation of poverty in Rwanda, try to find the reasons for poverty in a society, make a proposal. Each group will make a presentation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cultural Event in Tokyo

Aim

-To promote cultural exchange between Japan and Rwanda

- To show traditional Rwandan culture to the Japanese public

- To promote interest to Rwanda’s social problem and history

- To provide chances for other groups working in the same field to share information.

- To show how performers and other groups activities are contributing to peace building.

 

Summary of Activities

Date: 4^rd January 2011

Place: Tokyo

Participants: 25 Japanese members, 5 Rwandan members, performers, NGO or groups working in fields of Africa peace building or cultural exchange

 

Program

Part 1

1. Opening speech 2. Introduction of Japan-Rwanda Youth Cooperation 3. Presentation by Rwandan member 4. Panel discussion Possible themes and guests speakers: ‘Rwanda’s current growth and problems in each field (industry, business, social welfare, national policies)’   Guest speaker: Businessmen, Rwandan ambassador ‘Reconciliation amongst Rwandan people’ Guest speaker: NGOs workers in field of reconciliation ‘How we should build a society for ‘never again’ genocide’ Guest speaker: NGO workers in field of conflict prevention, peace building, disarmament

Part2

Performers in African arts to show dance, jambe drumming, singing Possible performers Performance by Mr. Sugee and the NUR students Performance by Jambe students Performance by a special guest A messages by JRYC students A message by the ambassador of Rwanda (Currently recruiting more performers)

Part 3

NGO or groups working in Africa, peace building or cultural exchange will hold booths Reception with Rwandan coffee. Audience will talk freely with performers and visit booths. Possible groups to hold booths Japan Center for Conflict Prevention, Africa Reconciliation Committee, African Development and Emergency Organization, Japan Asia Development Youth Committee, Youth Ending Hunger, Japan-Kenya Student Conference, Tupendane, Tunapenda Africa, Harvest Time

 

 

 

Visiting Primary School

‘Lets learn about Africa –Rwanda a country of a thousand hills’

Aim

Rwanda is a country of beauty yet experienced the genocide in 1994 when a million people were said to have died. In Japan, where we are so far away from Japan, we lack information about such matters. However, we as Japanese who have experienced the war in our land, and as a responsible actor in this international society, must learn about this history.

Kamakura city is rich in history and culture as it was the center of politics in the 12th century. Its tradition and the modernization which has combined well with it, is remarkable in its cultural significance.

Culture has an important role in peace building. In the UNESCO UNIVERSAL DECLARATION ON CULTURAL DIVERSITY it is declared that respect for the diversity of cultures, tolerance, dialogue and cooperation, in a climate of mutual trust and understanding are among the best guarantees of international peace and security. Kamakura city which is rich in culture has its potential in implementing peace building.

 

The primary school students of Kamakura, who will sure to become the peace builders of the future, will face the history of Rwanda. How will they react?

We cannot explain Africa in one word, and understanding about their diversity is crucial in understanding Africa. It is not easy to realize this basic respect for others and we have seen in history humanity struggling in conflict in the failure to do so.

That is why it is an important to practice understanding others correctly. In this project primary school children, along with Japanese and Rwandan university students will think and learn together about Rwanda and Africa.

Summary of Activity

Date: 3 lessons in July 11th, November and January 9^th

Place: Kamakura City Primary School

Participants: Primary school children of Kamakura City Primary School. 4 classes in 6^th grade(age 11-12)

Parents of children, neighboring residents

10 Japanese members, 5 Rwandan members

 

Details of Activities

Lesson 1 (July)

-Aim: 1 To realize how we know so little about Africa

2 To learn the diversity of African countries.

-Contents: We ask the students of their images of Africa. Japanese university students will take initiative if a game using photos of different African countries and other countries in the world.

GAME: Pictures of different countries around the world

University students will submit random pictures of African countries and other famous countries (ex. America, China). Primary school children will be asked where these pictures were taken. Since not much is taught in school about Africa, the children will not be able to guess correctly about the African pictures. The university students will tell them the answers and explain about each picture.

-Participants: School children of Kamakura City Primary School (4 classes in 6^th grade), Class teacher, Japanese members of Japan-Rwanda Youth Cooperation

Lesson2 (November)

-Aim: To learn about the history of Rwanda, to think about peace

-Contents: Japanese university members will make a presentation and show documentary about the history of Rwanda, especially genocide in 1994. We will collect some questions from school children which will be answered by Rwandan students by e-mail.

-Participants: School children of Kamakura City Primary School. (4 classes in 6^th grade), Class teacher, Japanese members of Japan-Rwanda Youth Cooperation

Lesson 3 (January)

-Aim; 1 Actually meet the Rwandan students to understand their backgrounds.

2 Cultural exchanges.

-Contents: All classes will gather in a hall and will have free questions and answering between Rwandan students and school children. After, we will have a role playing to deepen understanding of genocide history.

We invite parents and neighboring residents to join the next session of cultural exchange. Rwandan dance and singing will be performed.

-Participants: School children of Kamakura City Primary School. (4 classes in 6^th grade), Class teacher, Japanese and Rwandan members of Japan-Rwanda Youth Cooperation, Parents of children, neighboring residents

 

 

 

Project Work

Reflection and proposals on all themes in 7^th Conference

Aim

Student conference and field work are main activities of Japan Rwanda Youth Cooperation, because discussions in student conference and visiting to fields lead to ‘mutual understanding’, which is our group ideology.

Yet we cannot ignore ‘collaborative activities’ when we consider our ideology. In the past ‘collaborative activities’ were realized through managing some cultural events and taking action in a community in the past conferences. This year we want to combining these activities; student conference, field work, and collaborative activities.

This project work is a multiple activity, to make each plan in the 7^th conference meaningful.

1)    To promote a deeper understanding of all activities of JRYC

2)    To promote understanding of each society by discussing it each situation

To achieve these points, we settle main activities as following three.

1. Combining student conference, field work, and collaboration activities
2. Sharing advanced opinions in a small group
3. Reflecting the activities o JRYC

 

Summary of Activities

Date: 5 Jan 2021~ 8 Jan 2012

Place: National Olympics Memorial Youth Center, conference room and accommodation

Participants: 15 Japanese members, 5 Rwandan members

 

Details of activities

Participants make group of 4-5 members, and work for following projects together for 4 days.

A)     Reflecting and sharing what we learned and felt during the 7^th conference.

B)     Reflecting all annual JRYC activities (including those in Rwanda)

C)     Making a project which JRYC can do, in a group, by carrying on A) and B).

 

Schedule

5th Jan
Am		Orientation and making group
Pm		G)Briefing annual activities of JRYC General Reflection1 (share with other groups)
6th Jan
Am		G) Project Work
Pm		G)Project Work General Reflection2 (share with other groups)
7th Jan
Am		G)Project Work
Pm		G)Project Work General Reflection3 (share with other groups)
8th Jan
Am		Project Contest*
Pm		General Reflection4 (share with other groups, reflection of Project Contest)

G)…Group Work

 

*Project Contest

This is the plan to combine student conference, field work, and combining activities.

1)    Each participant chooses one topic from all activities in the 7^th conference, and make groups.

Example of groups: Security, Peace, Poverty, Employment, Cultural exchange, Tourism, etc

2)    Create a social project which focuses on the topic the group chooses.

The plan can be:

aimed to improve society, held by Japan-Rwanda Youth Cooperation

aimed to effect Japanese society, Rwandan society, and both.

held with cooperation of students from Japan and Rwanda.

continued basically plan for 6^th month at best.

3)    Each group presents their own project and evaluates each other.

We will make some criteria and each project will be evaluated and ranked accordingly.