Junten Junior High School / Senior High School

On Thursday July 6^th, five students who will go to the field trip to the Philippines this year had a Skype interview with Ms. Maki Yamada from “Girls, be ambitious”, a company that sells Fairtrade items. Mr.Ishii from CFF joined the meeting to support the students.

There are students who are interested in studying about labor issues in the Philippines and they have chosen the topics “The working environment of the people in the Philippines” or “Fairtrade” for their research projects.

The product that Girls, be ambitious sells is “Moringa”, a popular healing food (Super Food) from the Philippines.　There are students who are interested in so they had a lot of questions for Ms.Yamada who works in Fukuoka.  

Ms.Yamada on Skype

Students had researched about Girls, be ambitious prior to the meeting, so as soon as one student saw Mr.Yamada on the screen, she excitedly screamed, “wow you are the person from the official site!”

Communicating and interacting with people who have different experience and background is a great learning opportunity for students. Such experience will help student broaden their world and give ideas for their research projects. The knowledge gained through the interview will be useful when they finally go out in the world.

Ms.Yamada told the students the reasons why she started Girls, be ambitious, their missions or what they are currently working on.

The goal of the company::

-Achieving fair treatment of workers and minimize the harms caused by pesticides. (Benefits for Producer) 

-Helping healthy lives by providing high quality of coconuts or moringa. (Benefits for Consumers)

-Achieving environmentally friendly production. (Benefits for Environment)

-As you can see, Girls, be ambitious pays attention to anything that may be influenced by the production of moringa.

Some of the key questions students asked for Ms.Yamada:

Who is in charge of hiring and managing the local workers?

What is the demographic of the buyers of moringa?

What do you think we should to do create more active Fairtrade market in Japan?

Ms.Yamada took time and addressed each questions one by one.

Students taking notes

Based on her real experience, Ms.Yamada gave helpful tips and advice about studying in and researching about the Philippines. This interview opportunity stimulated students’ curiosity and gave motivation for their research projects.

Thank you Girls, be ambitious and Ms.Yamada.