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Report from Kenya by Yumiko Mori, President of Pangaea
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Jambo! This is a report from Kenya.
It is actually in winter now in Nairobi, that is located in the southern
hemisphere. You many think it would be hot in Kenya but actually,
the weather here is like that of summer resort all around the year.
We tried to start our activities here with UNESCO four years ago,
when the general election was held, but the plan was discontinued due to
the crisis that followed. So I came back to Nairobi for the first time
since 2008. The differences that I found since then is that
there are less trash scattered on the street and other places.
Also, people seem to follow the traffic rules better than before.
We visited UNESCO headquarter in Paris before we come to Nairobi.
They found our presentation impressive when we showed them the record
and the video of our activities in recent years including our Vietnam project,
and said that they wanted to arrange so we would be able to present to more
people in their HQ. They also gave us information about Africa, Asia and ICT.
UNESCO has its East African regional center in Nairobi, Kenya.
We also had meeting with them to discuss our future implementation plan.
Africa is far way from Japan and the travel cost is expensive.
So we are trying to work it out so the local Pangaea activity will be funded
and run locally.
On Saturday 25th, we held Webcam activity by connecting Nairobi and Seoul.
The connection speed is beyond comparison with before. It is much faster now.
At first, children in Nairobi were confused with the Asian language that
they hear for the first time. But their voices gradually became louder as
they were playing with giant picton. As two locations were connected
with web cameras, Kenya won with Koetsuna after a tie. I could see
how excited children in Seoul UNESCO Mizy center were with 2-second delay.
It is still much less safe here than in Japan even now,
but there are good people and bad people in any country.
Fearful impression of Africa seems to be stronger among people,
as the press distributes negative news.
Still, two Kenyan national paper visited our activity for coverage.
Intercultural communication creates opportunity to become aware and
be proud of one's own culture. So as to communicate, you need to have
something to present, otherwise it will not be interesting.
You need to take it for granted that children would need some time
to prepare for this: they need to think, share ideas and look at things
from their counterpart's point of view.
It is tremendously onerous process
if you think of it in a business context, but it should continue to be
the heart and soul of Pangaea as we go forward, as our objective is to create
the platform where children can bond across the wall of culture, language
and distance. The visit to Kenya has become the opportunity to re-think
what we should do now, ten years after the beginning in September 2001.
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The First Pangaea Webcam Activity in Africa
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Please see the report of Webcam Activity connecting Kenya and Korea
on June 25 from below link:
http://www.pangaean.org/blog/english/archives/2011/06/june_25th_webca.html
Ms. Joohee Park, Facilitator Leader in Seoul, Korea gave us her comment.
http://www.pangaean.org/blog/english/archives/2011/06/comment_from_ms.html
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Other Activities in June 2011
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2011 Mie activity has started.
http://www.pangaean.org/blog/english/archives/2011/06/2011_activity_h.html
June 20th was the last day of the term at Kyoto International School, Japan.
http://www.pangaean.org/blog/english/archives/2011/06/kyoto_internati.html
Children at Kyodai (Kyoto Univ.) Village, Japan has started their preparation
of Pangaea Playing Cards to introduce their daily lives.
http://www.pangaean.org/blog/english/archives/2011/06/june_pangaea_ac.html
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Homepage Design Change
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The top page of Pangaea website has been renewed.
http://www.pangaean.org/
Please see daily updates of Pangaea on facebook and twitter,
by clicking the link buttons from the above top page.
June 25th Webcam Video by MIZY Center, Korea
Mr. Hidetoshi Yoshioka was awarded with the Volunteer of the Year 2010.
