Asian Youth Development Program in Okinawa

This day is Haruka’s brithday. Haruka is someone who cute and lovely. She was very surprised when everyone sang a birthday song for her and Antonio gave a paper flower bouquet. Her face became red she smiled all the time in this morning.

Then in the lecture time, Ms. Harumi Tange taught us about education for sustainable development focused on why education is important and how education related with environment. Moreover she taught about energy such as how to generate it, how to renewable it, how to use it. She also taught about learning from nature and how to improve our world. After that, we did a workshop involved in school linking. This workshop had 6 topics are education, sanitation, waste, access to water, food and others. I chose others and my group focused on pollution problem.

Purpose of this workshop is for finding the possible link between participants after ending this program.

Then we had a lunch and prepared for final presentation that I worked in song team.We tried many times to do the best song for AYDPO 2012. After sing for a long time, finally we got the best one in the last try. At 8.00 pm, Sasha appointed all of participants to listen our song. After everyone had already listened, They gave a big applaud for us that made us very impress. This feel will stay in my mind forever. ;’D

Group: 6
Country: Thailand
Name: Thanakrich Rungreangrathtanakul

We started the morning with a discussion to find ideas for the drama we are going to perform. Everyone was full of creative thoughts so we had to try very very hard to come to the conclusion. Fortunately, a really great idea finally came and finished the discussion in an atmosphere cannot be happier.

People got a bit tired after the discussion but not for long, the exercises taught by Antonio woke us up! Ready for the morning lecture.

Then, we had the wonderful lecture “The History and Culture of Okinawa” by Prof.Purves. We learned a lot of invaluable knowledge from him. I must say that I really admired his presenting methods, full of tough questions but still kept us joyful at all time.

We spent the rest evening to prepare for the final presentation as usual

and finally…please…please…please…we went to bed at 10:00 pm ;))

Group:1
Country: Vietnam
Name: Ngoc Tu Uyen Nguyen

Hi everyone. Today is Monday 20^th, August and I have had a wonderful day. I got up at 6.15 and have breakfast at 6.45. Then, we went for a visit to JICA by bus. Then we started workshop. The workshop was so interesting. Each person was given a Role card, which provided us the information about sex, age, area, language…  and we played a small game. We were divided into group according to the role cards, and after each time divided, the lecturer gave us some useful information. We also had many participants of JICA and  they made us laugh so much… Through the workshop, from a global perspective and reflecting the current situation, we realize the world problems and think about what we can do to solve them.

In the afternoon, I had a chance to join Karate class, and this is the first time I have ever tried Karate. We only learned the basic techniques, but it was so interesting.

There is only 5 days left and I have to leave the big family – AYDPO 2012. Thanks for AYDPO, tutors, facilitators, coordinators, sponsors and every participants. Thanks so much and I love this program. Hope to see all of you again…

Group 4
Country: Vietnam
Name: Quang Noc Dinh

Last night, I slept at 10 o’clock,so today I was very alert for activities. I was very glad so much because today have no lecture, In the morning, I got up at 6 o’clock and prepare to had breakfast and then, I thought about Final presentation because last night I had homework about present idea and opinion for everyone in Art committee.Today I visited to Jica, this place is organization for help people,like a UN,WHO,and I learned about problem, subsist, population in the world, I like this activity because it was easy to understand. For presentation, we had 2 question such as 1. what did we learned from this presentation and 2. what do you promise to do.I think,Education was very importance because now a day,we had to study,had to learned for existence and if i had chance,I will give and share knowledge,education for everyone and next we closing ceremony and had lunch together,this is my first time for desert.I felt very glad,nice,and happy so much.

And next activity,I choose Easa dancing and we watched 2 show,we dance and practice together for presentation and the last we got the best of the show,it is very surprise because we did not remember but just enjoy and smile,and laugh together on stage.Today is the best day for me.

Group 5
Country: Thailand
Name: Napassorn Kleangklang

This day we had workshop, presentation from Miyako Comprehensive Trade High School, and first preparation for the final presentation!!! I can’t wait for the final presentation.

In the morning after breakfast we start the workshop. Today the workshop theme is World Cafe. What I learn from this workshop is trough this workshop, we can find our goal or we know what should we do for the final presentation. It helps a lot.

Konnichiwa!

We went to Mt. Gusuku and I was excited because it’s one of the most famous sights in Ie Island. When we reached the top, the view was so beautiful. We went to a factory of peanuts and we also received a lot of giveaways because the owner was very amused of seeing another Filipino in Iejima.

It was time to depart from the island and the limited time that we enjoyed each other during homestay made me feel sad knowing that we are leaving them. They have been so caring to us and they did everything to let us enjoy the whole homestay activity. I’ll always remember this homestay experience and the memories that I had will always be treasured.

Hugs and love to my host family. Salute to Ie Island for the gentle people. 🙂

Group 3
Country: Philippines
Name: Cedrick Louis Sienes Antiquina

This youthful program certainly does not only recognize the history of the Ie Island as history but also the teacher of the future fortunate generations. On this very day, 54 participants, along with 12 tutors, and also their foster parent(s) visited various historical and tourist attraction sites on this lovely island. The group visits were at the sacred spring, the cave of 1000, the mountain top, the Second World War battle sites, suicide sites and also the two beaches.

The sacred spring was the spring where people had to fetch water from before going to school. Citizens of the past had to walk a long way just to collect fresh water for their everyday activities. Now, since they have proper pipelines, they no longer use the spring and just respect it as their former water source.

The cave of the 1000 is a natural cave which was big enough to fit 1000 people. This huge cave also protected and hid 1000 people during the second world war. In this cave, there is a stone which the people believed was belonged to a goddess of child birth. When a woman carries it, from her point of view, its weight determines the gender of her child; if the stone is heavy, she’ll get a boy; if the stone is light, she’ll get a girl.

The mountain top had a legendary ‘footprint-shaped’ mark. And the view was amazingly lovely! One can see the 360 degrees ends of the lovely Ie Islands. The areas where the battle sites and the suicide sites were situated was a little depressing for me. Despite the beauty of the island, it turns out quite obvious that this island, too, have an scary past. Everyone hopes such horror will not occur in the mere future.

We went to two beaches. One had sandy paths and lovely, crystal clear waters. The other, on the other hand, had rocks pathways and clean, glassy FRESH WATER. The girls cleaned up the shelter near by the beach, while the boys went down to the rocky beach area to pick up rubbish. The stay of that island, though was short, but will carve a lovely memory in our hearts which will always be cherished by every participant and foster family member.

Group 2
Country: Brunei
Name: Lilian Marie Heng

Today is impressive day. Because last group discussion day. First our group have group discussion about preparation for midterm presentation. So we have brain storming. After then, We think about earth problem. So our group title is nature(forest, safe water), dream(freedom), air(clean air). So I think separate 2012. 2022. 2032 better than only make 2032. 2012 is very dirty about nature, air etc. But, 2022 is half clean. dirty pollution is change clean pollution, dirty river is clean river. Because we will hard work about for make a clean earth. finally, 2032 year our earth is  will be really clean. Because we will make green belt about all country in the world. It is very important something about make a clean earth. Green belt is make a big forest in the world. Also Trong think we will use time machine better than don’t use nothing. I think it is very good idea. So we have to presentation. So many participants laugh and many people clap they’s hand. I’m so happy! After group discussion we have midterm presentation. Our group presentation is very great! So I’m happy. But on the on hand really sad. Because today is last day about group activity. But Dushi 4ever!

Group 4
Country: Korea
Name: Ui Jeong Nam

August 15th, a fruitful day. Being the last day the 6 groups worked together on a presentation, all of us really wanted to do our best and showcase the best kind of teamwork and presentation our group had. Some groups even woke up very early in the morning just so that they could prepare.

I think the midterm presentations went incredibly well, as all the groups had a unique presentation style and every group had a different vision and message to convey. For my group, in particular, we had the vision of sustainable water supply for everyone and we worked on that vision to form our presentation. Many groups, like our group, divided the workload into the vision board and the scriptwriting and this was a practice of good time management, which will be useful for our final presentation. The midterm presentation also showcased how each of us have our own unique ideas and how each idea can integrate together to form an excellent presentation. Some groups had humour, some groups had a touching message and some groups had a detailed description of their vision. I’m sure if we combine these ideas for our final presentation, we will be able to come up with a good final presentation.

After the midterm presentation, we had BBQ! It was a good way to relax from all the stress after the presentation and also a good way to make new friends and talk to people with similar interests. Today may have been a gloomy day since it was the last time we worked in our groups, but I am looking forward to working with everyone else to come up with a mega-awesome presentation on the 24th! It’s time for homestay!

Group 5
Country: Singapore
Name: Dhiraj G Chainani

Hey guys. Konnichiwa. For this day, we were having a very good and outstanding lecture from Mr. Kojima  about ‘Water and Sustainable Development’. We learned a lot from this lecture such as the the people which are having their property cannot take care of the environment because they do not have the proper waste disposal such as the proper toilet management. We also learned about the climate change. Hehe ( group 3) and also about the water crisis which is we can have water but we cannot use the water as the unfortunate one don’t have proper toilet, it will contaminate the underground water.

After that, we were having a group discussion which was each group have their own country to present to the others. By this group discussion, we learned how to think critically and made a very good conclusion and the all overview of this water related issues. Our group got India, as we have and Indian in our group so she helped a lot in this discussion but we all gave ideas on what happened in India nowadays. We presented our findings in different ways but my group had a lot of difference because we made a tv show which is the BaBy C News. Hahahha. It was quite funny to have a nice small skits and we were like having a real tragedy.

In the evening,we had a KPTT which we can expressed our feelings to our group members. Some of the members were crying all over because they realized their mistakes but like me, I’m cool, hahaha. I’m cried too 😛

At night, we just had our brief explanation for the vision 2032 mid-term presentation and we had a good time with papa latino. I also had to share a word from Mahatma Gandhi which is we don’t get the nature by our grandparents but we borrow the nature from our grandchildren which means we have to take care the nature for our future generation.

Group:3
Country: Malaysia
Name: Mohamed Emir Hamzah Bin Noor Din

So, two days ago we learned about water sheds…  Anyways, today we learned about different countries with water related problems.  Our group(Freaky Threeks!) was in charge of India.  Because one of our members(Drish) is from India, she told us about the problems in her country.  In the presentation, we acted out a news program called ‘Baby C News’.  We explained how in rural areas people suffer from diseases caused by polluted drinking water.  I was one of the sick children.  Haha.  At night we had a group discussion about our honest feelings to each of the group members.  It was very emotional…  Also, we started preparing for the midterm presentation.  I hope our group does well!!

Group:3
Country:Japan
Name:Sasha Cunningham

Today is quite similar as everyday because we had to wake up at 6.00 then had breakfast at 7.30 after that we had a group discussion at 9.00. Our topic was about ‘Catfish pond’ so we had to create our own cities. After that we connected our cities and saw that what are the problems we could find.

After group discussion we went to the beach. We went canoeing and snorkeling. It was such a wonderful day for me because it was my first time to snorkeled. I felt really enjoyable with this activity because whenever I see the aquatic animals it will make me smile at the same time. More than that, I realized that it would be better if those animals aren’t extinct by human beings.

”This island is really attractive by its natures”.

Group: 5
Country: Laos
Name: Thepmala Sadettan