順天中学校・高等学校

2015/01/10

Saturday, January 10^th, three SGH student delegates did presentation on the Pre-Fieldwork in the Philippine to update the rest of the GLAP1 students.

They started with showing photo and explained the itinerary. The delegates shared what they saw and felt in the Philippines, such as street children, Battan Death March, La Salette visit, home-staying at CFF Chairperson’s house, slum community visits, children at garbage collection site, CFF’s “Children’s Home”, local people and local areas, churches, Smoky Mountain, JICA office visit.

Then they talked about three pictures (1.Battan Death Monument, 2. Unhatched eggs, 3. Lingayen garbage collection site.)   that were picked by GLAP 1 students. Since the GLAP1 students picked the photos, they were really in to knowing the stories behind the photos.

Battan Death March Monument

Unhatched Egg

Lingayen garbage collection site

In the Q&A session, students asked a lot of honest questions: where does all the garbage come from?, Are there any ways to reduce the garbage?, Japan has helped the country but what is the Philippine government doing?, What kind of images do Filipinos have about Japanese people?, How did the Filipinos who accompanies you reacted when they saw street children?, Is there anything you regret about the trip?  Three delegates sincerely responded to each question.

Based on what they learned from the delegates, GLAP1 students will write up their ideas about what they can do in the Philippines.  The students will read each other’s idea and will share their thoughts with their classmates.  Students will find other students who have the same or similar ideas and form a group to give a presentation. Students who can’t find similar ideas do not have to form or join a group, she/he can give a presentation on their own. The presentation contest will be held on March 20^th.

Quotes from the delegates’ presentations:

Student 1：There is a big gap between the poor and the rich in the Philippines. Rich families hire several maids and they live in a mansion where you can easily get lost because it is so big. In contrast, there are poor people whose livelihood is depending on the garbage collection/selling job and they live in a house that is about to collapse. I thought I saw the reality of capitalism, that I didn’t realize in Japan.

Student 2：At the slum community, I asked one of the residents, “what is happiness to you?. She answered, “if I am with my family, I am happy.”  I was ashamed about my greed.  People in the Philippines are always smiling, although their lives are very tough.  They think about people around them first.  I thought I should care about my family more.

Student 3：While I was in the Philippines, I was thinking that the country is developing country so how can I help them? Every time I asked, “what can I do for you?”, Filipinos would answer, “nothing!” or “help is not needed” and I felt sad.  Filipino people think that Japan is a sad country as there is a great number of suicides.  I thought it is important to know the real situation of the country, their values, religions and history. At the same time, it is important to know about Japan.  When helping, it is important to perceive from the local people’s view, not imposing our values or ideas.