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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
February 18, 2006
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| December 29, 2005 |
Humanity and the Meaning of Wealth – Charles McJilton |
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| Charles McJilton addressing Peace Boat participants in one of his lectures. |
Having overcome a number of severe obstacles throughout his youth, Charles McJilton first arrived in Japan with the U.S. Navy in 1984. Impressed and intrigued with this foreign land, he returned in 1991 to do research on U.S.-Japanese military relationships at Tokyo’s Sophia University. Such an event would change his life forever. But, contrary to what one may imagine, it wasn’t so much the academic knowledge obtained at the highly appraised institution that marked him, but rather where he chose to live while studying. |
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| Cardboard and blue tarp homes along Tokyo’s Sumida River. Photo: courtesy of Second Harvest Japan. |
Charles resided in the San’ya district of Tokyo, well known for its low-income housing and high ratio of day laborers; a place looked down upon by mainstream society. He was shocked to find such conditions in a country where internal poverty seems to be non-existent. The need to understand this situation became a personal obligation. And eventually, in 1997, after missionary training in Australia, he followed his heart by doing what could only seem irrational to most; he became a voluntary homeless person along the Sumida River in Tokyo. Charles was determined to understand the issue of poverty by literally seeing through the eyes of those most alienated by society. His original plan to live and learn with the homeless for three months ended up lasting 15 months. |
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| Charles, along with his daughter Mary, demonstrates how to build a cardboard beam for a house, as taught by the homeless dwellers of the Sumida River. |
As can be imagined, Charles’ first-hand experience led to astonishing findings. Combined with academic research, he has become an expert in the field of poverty, which can be understood as the lack of access, or the inability to obtain adequate resources. His findings also showed that Japan was in dire need of social help, as 19.5 million people fall under the poverty line – the 5th highest percentage among economically developed nations. Most of these include single mother households, the elderly, orphanages and homeless, with the greatest problem being the lack of guarantee with regards to food security for these groups. Meanwhile, 6000 tons of food waste is generated each day in Tokyo itself, the highest per-capita rate in the world. |
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| A pamphlet from Second Harvest Japan uses a quote by Martin Luther King as its motto. |
Dissatisfied with traditional methods of charity, Charles’ conclusions called for the creation of a self-help center, a place which would facilitate the acquisition of resources to those who are unable to obtain the appropriate quantities but are keen to receive them. Based on the concept of food banking, he developed an organization which eventually became Second Harvest Japan. This Non-Profit Organization (NPO) focuses on collecting food products which is no longer sold commercially, but is still perfectly safe for consumption, and redistributing them among the previously mentioned affected groups. Included under these guidelines are products which have outlived a third of their shelf-life or are created for a specific event or season. Companies willing to provide their dispensable products to food banks also save on waste disposal fees, hence this system provides a benefit for all parties involved. |
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| Charles, Mary, and many of the participants who volunteered to prepare with the logistics of his lectures. |
Charles’ lectures onboard the Peace Boat have been an immense success. While focusing on global poverty issues during the current global voyage, Peace Boat participants have commenced their journey by looking inward towards a troublesome issue within their own society. And upon our return to Japan, many have already pledged to become volunteers in Charles’ NPO Second Harvest Japan.
For more information regarding Second Harvest Japan, please visit their websites: www.itadakimasu.org or www.secondharvestjapan.org. |
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