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Special Report |
LAST UPDATE November 22, 2005
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| October 30, 2005 |
UPA Project, Cuba |
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| Peace Boat volunteers secure some of the bags of stationery, sports equipment, and Japanese goods, to be distributed as a friendship exchange, to people in Cuba |
Peace Boat arrived in Havana, Cuba on October 28 with a gift from Japan to the people of Cuba. Through the activities of one of Peace Boat’s Project Teams ‘United People’s Alliance’ (UPA), which works to provide useful items to local partner communities in different parts of the world, nearly 100 boxes and large bags of goods were donated to various groups within Cuba. |
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| Peace Boat volunteers load goods from Peace Boat, to be transported within Cuba |
After Peace Boat docked in Havana, volunteers worked hard to unload the boxes and bags. Sixty boxes of stationery and school supplies were then delivered to Peace Boat’s counterpart organization in Havana, Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) to be distributed accordingly. |
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| Packing baseball bats to be delivered to sports groups within Cuba |
Various Japanese cultural items such as yukata (traditional Japanese summer dress) and origami paper were delivered to the Cuban Nikkei Society, while sports equipment, including eleven baseball bats and numerous baseball mitts were delivered to a local sports group. As a key principle, UPA ensures that all items being delivered are both requested and needed by the recipient communities. |
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| Peace Boat passenger Daisuke Fujikatsu presents the goods from Japan to a representative from ICAP in Cuba |
Many of Peace Boat’s participants volunteered their time to organize, pack and distribute the gifts, both onboard the ship and back in Japan. Daisuke Fujikatsu, a volunteer from Tokyo, was involved in the project for three months before the 51st Voyage departed, meeting weekly with other volunteers to organize the collection of the goods from around Japan.
Peace Boat appealed for donations via the Internet, mail and through word of mouth in Japan before departure, he said. Obtaining the goods was a challenge, involving hard work from a lot of people. “There are many people who put a lot of effort into the project, but didn’t get to see the smiles on the faces of the people we donated to, and how much they appreciated it,” he said.
Daisuke acknowledged a special thanks to those volunteers, as well as people in Japan who donated goods to the UPA project. |
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