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Special Report |
LAST UPDATE September 3, 2008
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| August 11, 2008 |
Peace Boat Volunteers |
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| As a tradition, Peace Boat volunteer staff spend the day together in one port. |
Peace Boat volunteers play a very important role on each voyage. As well as helping with the running of the onboard programmes, their backgrounds, ideals, smiles, education and opinions blend to create a very unique and dynamic energy.
On the 62nd Global Voyage, the Communication Coordinators, language instructors of the Global English and Espanol Training (GET) programme, web reporter, radio DJ, dancer and cinematographer formed the core volunteer-staff team.
However the main body of volunteers are the participants themselves. Some of them had already volunteered many hours in Peace Boat centres in Japan to earn credit towards their voyage costs. Others volunteer their time while on the voyage. In fact, the majority of the full-time Peace Boat staff were themselves once volunteers.
A few of the various volunteer roles are introduced below. |
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| Without the PA team, many events would not be possible |
Keiko Tamura was a volunteer staff in Japan for one year and three months before coming onboard. Working up to three days a week, sometimes only in the evenings, she was able to earn an 85 % credit towards the total cost of the voyage.
Having studied Social Welfare at university, she worked at a home in Tokyo for children aged between three and 18 who are unable to live with their parents. She was in charge of six children, and plans to return to the home after the voyage.
On Peace Boat, she has been volunteering her time towards the PA team of 45 passengers – responsible for the lighting and sound for all events held on board, from conferences to concerts, films to festivals. She chose this team after hearing how fun the position is from participants on previous voyages. Ms Tamara has also been holding violin and cello lessons for participants, having played the instruments since elementary school. |
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The newspaper is printed daily in both Japanese and English, thanks to the volunteer newspaper and Communication Coordinator (interpreter) teams |
Kinuka Adachi is a proofreader for the daily Newspaper team. She joined because of her interest in writing - she has also contributed several articles to the newspaper throughout the voyage. Although the proofreading schedule means that Ms Adachi works from 1pm-8pm every day, so it can be difficult to attend many onboard events, she she said that she has no regrets, as she really enjoys working with her group and has made new friends through her team.
The daily newspaper is a vital part of onboard life, listing the schedule for the upcoming day. The programmes listed include not only the formal lectures and educational programmes, but also dance lessons, yoga, acting classes, band practice, comedy and karaoke. Furthermore, it also holds announcements, interviews, thoughts and important voyage information. |
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| Tetsuhiro Kato is known for his crazy ability to work all night, for days on end |
Cinematographer Tetsuhiro Kato, fondly known as ‘Oliver’, has not only been tasked with capturing the spirit of the 62nd voyage on film, but also with teaching his art to his Video Team of 25 volunteers
Oliver’s show reel includes ‘Wings of Defeat,’ a documentary on World War II Kamikaze pilots, and ‘Thunder Fish,’ a fictional story about terror reigning on an island of prostitutes.
Oliver said his most memorable moment on the voyage had been in Jordan. “I rarely recognize the problems of the world, unless I see them with my own eyes. So I was very lucky to have met the refugees living in the camp and to have seen the beauty of the country. My work from now on will always reflect the experiences that I have encountered on this voyage”. |
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| A typical day on Peace Boat will host about 60-80 events |
Volunteer on the Timetable team, Rui Naito, is a nurse by profession. Upon returning to Japan she plans to study for a nursing license with a specialty in diabetes before going to work for a charity in Kolkata.
Her team’s daily tasks involve collecting timetable requests from passengers during an allocated time slot, undertaking the difficult sorting and arranging process, and then entering this data so that it can be printed as the daily schedule.
Ms Naito said she had to save for three years to be join the Peace Boat voyage, having been first encouraged by her mother to participate. |
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| Satoru Miyota has been transmitting live to ‘Music Bird’ in Japan. |
Radio DJ, musician, actor and opera singer Satoru Miyota’s talents are matched by his youthful charm.
After studying opera at university in Japan, the 23 year old worked for a year as a live Radio DJ with “Music Bird” before embarking on the 62nd Global Voyage. Onboard, he has also been teaching violin and cello, as well as orchestrating a band.
As a personal project, at each port he has been filming children singing. The clips have been uploaded to a TV website - HYPERLINK "http://www.eyevio.com/"www.eyevio.com. Satoru described this project as ‘songs of love’ because when he hears children sing, he feels that love is being created.
(Pic F)
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| Yusaku Tanaka dancing in Turkey to the backdrop of the voyage’s most beautiful sunset |
Having taught dancing for nine years, Yusaku Tanaka joined the voyage to choreograph the Article 9 dance project, which started last year. First performing in May 2008 at the Global Article 9 Conference in front of 10,000 people, his team have now performed their ‘dance of peace’ in Viet Nam, Jordan, France, the Netherlands, Iceland, Greenland and the USA. The group have become ardent advocates of the Article 9 campaign, partaking in special study sessions and projects to raise public awareness and action.
According to the 28 year old dance teacher, the real test of his achievements will be if his group of dancers continue to promote peace as individuals once they return to Japan. |
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