Junten Junior High School / Senior High School

On Wednesday, July 20th, CFF’s Mr.Ishii came to Junten to offer SGH fieldwork research guidance. This is the third fieldwork guidance session.

The students watched a documentary to learn in depth about the issues that the Philippines is facing. The 30 minute documentary was about the rubbish collection facilities in the country. The film showed the intricacy of the problems the local people are facing.

The students learned that there are people who make a living by collecting and selling rubbish, and there are people who are facing a high rate of infant mortality and the loss of family members due to land corruption caused by heavy rains at the rubbish collection sites. There was an effort to close down the rubbish dump sites to prevent such calamities; however this effort caused the local people to lose financial opportunities.

After, the students proceeded to make action plans for their upcoming fieldwork. Mr.Ishii facilitated the meeting along with a 3rd Year student who went to the Philippines last year, Ms.Ayaka Suzuki. Both the 1st and 2nd Year SGH students had active discussions about their fieldwork and research plans.

The students who are going to the Philippine this year said:

“I thought I knew more about the situation in the Philippines, but there were a lot of things I didn’t know.”

“I am hoping to help solve some issues, but sometimes change may cause different problems. I have to think carefully.”

Ms. Suzuki commented, “During my visit last year, I saw the bright side of the people, but today I was able to see that the same people are also suffering.”

Finally, Mr.Ishii asked the students “Why do you want to go to the Philippines?” and “What do you think will be the most important thing during your visit?”  

Each student took time to think about the questions, and they shared their thoughts:

“It is important to learn and recognize different values.”

“When I work overseas in the future, I think it will be good to know about the hardships in the Philippines.”

“I need to try to look at a situation from a different point of view.”

Mr.Ishii told the students:

“We live in a social system. For example, in the production of one banana, many people are involved. There is sadness and suffering in the process. We should not forget that there are external factors and we all should remember that we are connected to each other.”

“Meeting people is very important. People in the Philippines are not there to provide us with a learning opportunity. What will you learn from your interactions? There is no answer but please think about this carefully.”

During the fieldwork, the students will have opportunities to meet and spend time with local children. As a way to shorten the distance between the local children and the Junten students, the students thought it would be a good idea to play a game. They are thinking about playing a quiz game about Japanese culture and their research topics, like Moringa or gargling, but they will continue to work out the details.