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Port of Call |
LAST UPDATE January 10, 2006
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| January 3, 2006 |
Da Nang – Visit to a Street Children’s Home in Hue, Viet Nam |
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| Vietnamese partner organizations prepared an unforgettable welcome ceremony as the Peace Boat docked in its first port of call, Da Nang |
On the second day of 2006, Peace Boat received a lively welcome to the port city of Da Nang. Among the several study and exchange programs planned for participants, a small group traveled north towards historical Hue, former capital of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802 to 1945). Located along the 17th parallel – the official border between North and South Viet Nam during the conflict known in Viet Nam as the American War – the people of this region suffered great losses during those violent times. Dependent on a mostly agricultural economy, large portions of the population in this area live in constant poverty, and children in particular suffer the consequent effects, with educational opportunities being minimal. |
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| Two boys relaxing in a dormitory of the Street Children’s Home in Hue |
In the early 1990s, Koyama Michio, a Japanese teacher living in Viet Nam, started providing assistance to the youth of this economically deprived section of the country. At the time, the population of homeless children began to increase, and the streets of semi-urban Hue grew in number with runaways escaping troubled homes as well as the destitute countryside. In 1994, Mr. Koyama struck a deal with the communist government to allow the creation of the Non Governmental Organization (NGO) known as Street Children’s Home in Viet Nam, or Kodomo no Ie, in Japanese. |
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| Children practicing their sewing, one of the technical skills they receive at the center |
The NGO, funded in its entirety by private donations from Japan, functions as both an orphanage and learning center where the youth attend courses as well as develop technical skills. Over the past 11 years, five similar NGOs have opened with the same goal, and the homeless population of under-18s has largely disappeared in Hue. In effect, the Street Children’s Home has become a boarding school mostly for children from rural families who find themselves in a precarious financial state. |
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| Dance performance presented to Peace Boat participants in the Ho Chi Minh Hall |
Peace Boat participants received the opportunity to share two days of their voyage with the youth who live at the Street Children’s Home. The first day was full of performances, lectures, and plenty of social time, which was facilitated by the fact that Japanese language is a required subject for the children. Quick friendships were struck and both sides were able to use oral communication as a means of exchanging ideas and experiences. |
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| Peace Boat staff member Morishita Maiko, left, smiles as guests and hosts enjoy their lunch |
Lunch was without a doubt the highlight of the second day. The children and Peace Boat participants headed for the local street market and shopped for groceries. Many of the Japanese participants, on their first experience outside Japan, were moved by the simple yet joyful attitudes and lifestyles of their hosts. One participant mentioned that she felt as though her experience in Viet Nam was somehow like how she imagined Japan to have been like before the economic boom of the post-war period. |
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| Vendors at the Hue market |
In addition to interacting with the children, the participants also had the opportunity to learn about deeper current issues within Vietnamese society, as several of the staff members who run the center are perfectly fluent in Japanese. And many of the Peace Boat participants felt inspired by hearing from a young Japanese woman in her mid 20s, Ms. Matsushita, who has been volunteering as a Japanese language teacher in the NGO for almost a year. To many on the ship, she represents a real life example of someone of similar age and background making a difference in the world.
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| Peace Boat participant presenting gifts of thanks to one of the directors of the center |
During the closing ceremony, the Japanese participants presented the center with stationery supplies and sports equipment, identified as needed by the Street Children’s Home and collected prior to departure in Japan. Before embarking on the bus ride back to Da Nang, many of the Peace Boat participants visibly possessed a new sparkle in their eye. Their first port of call had opened up a window to a world where economic poverty was no doubt a brutal reality, but in spite of this, the smiles and determination of the young children in Viet Nam were so much more of a powerful force. |
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