Sunday, December 17, 2006

Tokyo Days

We started the program with an orientation program in Tokyo. Welcomed by 2 typhoon on the first day, we walked anyway under heavy rain to the Cabinet Office of Japan to have an orientation session, where we learned again about the exchange programs held by the Japanese government. In the afternoon we joined a panel discussion where the panelists refreshed our mind with the concepts of NPOs and Social Contribution Activities.

The Japanese Panelists.



Local Programs

We spent our local programs from 8 to 12 October in Nagano and Gifu Prefecture. Basically we visited local NPOs, observed their operations, gained some ideas on possible social contribution activities, and discussed with them on how they operated them.

IYEO Nagano welcomed SCA group in the Train Station :)


Discussions on environment at Azalea Itsuna

the presentations after we shared the ideas with local youth


Cheerful smiles from our new friends at Picadilly Bowl, Nagano City. This is the place where we learned about the olympic spirits that develop the independence of the people with mental challenges. There are lots that we can do with them, as they have the equal right to be accepted in the society, to develop their skills.. wonderful skills and abilities that you might have never imagined before.

My wonderful team, Mikio (the master!), Koichi and Daichi. They made me managed to shot my ball well, and for the first, up to 8 times in my life, I could get the strike! :) Arigatou gozaimasu, Mikio-san...

A lecture about nature, in the nature at Iyasho no Mori, the "Healing Forest" along the beautiful Japanese Alps. It was when we learned about the wisdoms of the nature...and that cherishing the nature simply can be a good idea for a social activity.


Hida-Shirakawa, under the rain. The place is a beautiful village where the traditional houses, the Gassho, have been remaining for more than four centuries. Where we learned from dedicated people who dedicated theselves in collective actions to preserve the precious culture.


Hiyori Cafe, a cafe that accomodates international tastes in its educative yet cozy atmosphere. You can enjoy delicious meal as you read the books that you grab from the book shelves along the walls. There we learned about a concern on city tourism by creating a suitable meeting place, and by publishing international "Kura" standard magazine to promete the interesting events and venues in the city. Yet in this picture we have just discussed a very serious issue: the hollocaust..


And there, at Hida-Takayama, we learned that age is not a hinderance from doing social activities. We were in an NPO organized by the senior citizens who do not only serve the other seniors, but also volunteer themself to help the society, for instance to baby sit the babies or hep the young mothers. They did good things, and have fun with their peers... what a wonderful way to cherish the gifts from life...

Youth Leaders Forum

In Youth Leaders Forum we had the brainstorming sessions, discussions, and exercises to prepare a good project management started by filling in project management check list, analyzing the SWOT of our Alumni Associations, observing the capacity and the possible actions that we might do, then we created a project management map dummy.

The Last Day

My speech in the last day of Renaissance (October 15, 2006), just before all participants received the certificate. I said that I was there for a purpose. I live in a country that suffers from the disasters, and I always have chances to join such programs to build the networks and learn more about how to contribute more to my society. (Thanks Dan, Mr. Sweden, for helping me a lot in the finalisation of the speech!)

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Beautiful People of the World...

So there I was, spending FUNtastic days with wonderful people of the world in Renaissance 2006 Youth Leaders Invitation program held by the Cabinet Office of Japan.

We, the participants were the participating youth who joined Ship for South East Asian Youth Program (SSEAYP) and Ship for World Youth (SWY).

The 40 participants joining this Renaissance program were divided in two different course groups, NPO Management and Social Contribution Activities. Hm-hm, sounds really serious... but the fact was, we did serious thing.. but in the same time we shared so much laughters, good times, and of course, beautiful friendship... :)

I will describe more about this inspiring program soon.. but meanwhile, take a look at these pictures... the pictures of beautiful people of the world who posses the similar passions of understanding others and doing something good for the world where they belong... :)

I begin with group photos, then let's go to the descriptions of serious stuffs and project plans, then go up close and personal, and hum, of course, a discussion on Soba (buckwheat noodle) will be part of this blog too.. :p

SCA group has arrived in Nagano...

Welcome party in Nagano, Kokusai 21 Hotel.
No sign of Soba yet, but they had a really yummy green tea roll cake!


Cambodia, Mauritius, Lao, Vietnam, Indonesia, Canada, Myanmar, Costa Rica

Malaysia, Bahrain, Indonesia, Mauritius, (double) Canada :), Japam, Costa Ricam Srilanka (so tiny between Marife and Hieu), Vietnam, Mexico, Australia, Venezuela... what a small world in Friends Cafe, NYC Tokyo!