Jan 2009 Newsletter: Yumi's Monthly Note
A Happy New Year to All!Well, today is Christmas. I am writing this newsletter at Incheon International Airport in South Korea. Toshi and I were staying in Malaysia from December 22 to 25 in order to prepare for the Pangaea Project to be launched at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), located in the state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. We discussed many details, and then set the start day for the initial activity: The Pangaea Activity debuts in Malaysia on February 7, 2009.
I visited the UNIMAS campus which was funded and built by Japan's official
development assistance. When I took a campus tour, I was amazed by the size
of the campus. Huge ponds and many buildings..., everything on the campus is
incomparably large! I enjoyed the tour under the sunshine. Actually, I had
been worried about the weather because of the rainy season in Malaysia. When
I had checked the weather report before heading off to Malaysia, I had been
frightened with the terrible forecast: continuous rain with thunderstorms
and high humidity (up to 95%). Anyway we flew to Malaysia via South Korea
and Kuala Lumpur, and arrived in Malaysia at 10 AM. The UNIMAS staffers
picked us up at the airport, and then we were taken to the place where our
meeting was held. They told that it had been raining all week. Thanks to
Toshi who has a "Magic Wand" and can change the weather, unexpectedly we
were blessed with a sunny day.
During the meeting, we presented the specifics of the Pangaea Project. In return, we were explained the e-Bario Project being implemented by UNIMAS in order for people living in remote areas of Borneo Island to bring computers and the internet. I was fascinated by the project. I know our new journey which we'd embarked on in Malaysia is quite challenging. Nevertheless, I have been excited with the opportunity to work with our multi-disciplinary team, consisting of professors of information technology, sociology, and education. The team is superb and we've got a strong backbone.
Although Malaysia is bordered by Thailand, where I visited last month, they seem to have considerably different characters. I assume that Malaysian people are generally more talkative and light-hearted than Thai people because our Malaysian staffers are unstoppable talkers and "laughing machines." "We don't prefer formal approaches and attitudes, but there is no doubt that we are very hard workers," said one of the staffers. So I replied, "It sounds like you are talking about very practical 'strategies' of NPOs." And then, everyone busted out laughing (again). I saw many good qualities of the staffers. What struck me were their work attitudes. During our discussion, they were taking notes very seriously. Plus, their team-oriented approach kept the ideas, regarding "who does what" and "how to complete each task," flowing. Therefore, we had very productive and smooth sessions.
In Malaysia, UNIMAS is to be our activity site on which we train our staff members, as well as to play an essential role in reaching out to remote communities, such as Bario. I learned that Bario is one of the extremely remote villages in Malaysia. The following is how to access Bario. Take a 2-day boat trip, and then walk through the jungle for 8 hours. Or, take a drive and walk two-and-a-half days. To set up the telecommunication system in Bario, students at UNIMAS had to walk across the chest-high river in the jungle, besides carrying equipment and other necessities on their heads. When they stepped out of the water, they found a lot of leeches covering their bodies. EEK! The scary story gave me a sense of urgency: we need to develop and deploy our e-Traning system as quickly as possible. Good news is that Bario already has an electricity generation system and solar power generation system. What's more, internet access via satellite is available. Who did all the work? Yup, our Malaysian staff! Bario is home to many spectacular and unusual wild animals and plants, which we can only see on TV. So I think our participant who is a bug lover might be interested in and thrilled about interaction with children in Bario.
I believe the year 2009 will mark another milestone for Pangaea. Please help us to continue to grow.
Mr. Takashi Togami, called Spike, is the Pangaea Writer for this month. He had completed the Pangaea Facilitator Leader Training in November and made his debut as a facilitator leader (FL) on December 13, 2008. He is a responsible and dependable FL in Mie. His enthusiasm is contagious. Both participants and staff members love working with him.
Wish you the best for 2009!
Yumi
During the meeting, we presented the specifics of the Pangaea Project. In return, we were explained the e-Bario Project being implemented by UNIMAS in order for people living in remote areas of Borneo Island to bring computers and the internet. I was fascinated by the project. I know our new journey which we'd embarked on in Malaysia is quite challenging. Nevertheless, I have been excited with the opportunity to work with our multi-disciplinary team, consisting of professors of information technology, sociology, and education. The team is superb and we've got a strong backbone.
Although Malaysia is bordered by Thailand, where I visited last month, they seem to have considerably different characters. I assume that Malaysian people are generally more talkative and light-hearted than Thai people because our Malaysian staffers are unstoppable talkers and "laughing machines." "We don't prefer formal approaches and attitudes, but there is no doubt that we are very hard workers," said one of the staffers. So I replied, "It sounds like you are talking about very practical 'strategies' of NPOs." And then, everyone busted out laughing (again). I saw many good qualities of the staffers. What struck me were their work attitudes. During our discussion, they were taking notes very seriously. Plus, their team-oriented approach kept the ideas, regarding "who does what" and "how to complete each task," flowing. Therefore, we had very productive and smooth sessions.
In Malaysia, UNIMAS is to be our activity site on which we train our staff members, as well as to play an essential role in reaching out to remote communities, such as Bario. I learned that Bario is one of the extremely remote villages in Malaysia. The following is how to access Bario. Take a 2-day boat trip, and then walk through the jungle for 8 hours. Or, take a drive and walk two-and-a-half days. To set up the telecommunication system in Bario, students at UNIMAS had to walk across the chest-high river in the jungle, besides carrying equipment and other necessities on their heads. When they stepped out of the water, they found a lot of leeches covering their bodies. EEK! The scary story gave me a sense of urgency: we need to develop and deploy our e-Traning system as quickly as possible. Good news is that Bario already has an electricity generation system and solar power generation system. What's more, internet access via satellite is available. Who did all the work? Yup, our Malaysian staff! Bario is home to many spectacular and unusual wild animals and plants, which we can only see on TV. So I think our participant who is a bug lover might be interested in and thrilled about interaction with children in Bario.
I believe the year 2009 will mark another milestone for Pangaea. Please help us to continue to grow.
Mr. Takashi Togami, called Spike, is the Pangaea Writer for this month. He had completed the Pangaea Facilitator Leader Training in November and made his debut as a facilitator leader (FL) on December 13, 2008. He is a responsible and dependable FL in Mie. His enthusiasm is contagious. Both participants and staff members love working with him.
Wish you the best for 2009!
Yumi
Posted by: kumakinoko | 3. Newsletter
