Blog#2 :Volunteer

Hello, this is Shoko. Today, I would like to talk about a social issue, because my last topic is kind of shallow.

I am taking an international development course at Waseda University. In this course, students learn various problems which developing countries face, how serious those problems are, what organisations tackle with the problems, and so on.

Trough this class, I read a book which is the title of "世界をちょっとでもよくしたい". This book introduces 3 stories about students in Waseda university volunteer group. I would like to focus on the 1st story which is about street children in Borneo. 

A cover of the book ↓

By the way, where is Borneo?? The answer is here. ↓

Borneo is an island and it is famous as a resort area where many tourists come in every season. It sounds like a fine place to live. However Borneo has a huge street children problem. Because Borneo is not a rich country, it cannot help those children economically. Also, the government actually has not so much interest in this issue. The main reason is that most street children are illegal. Although the government tried to get them back to their countries, they come back again and again. This is because their home　countries, specifically Sarawak and Sabah, are much more poorer than Borneo. In those countries they can get only a tiny food everyday. 

Waseda volunteer group which is named "Borneo Project(BP)" decided to help street children. They had an image that skinny children standing on a street alone with sad face and there is no hope and no happiness. They prepared some games. One student practice magics. They thought that is a way to make children laugh and happy.

Their image was totally wrong. Street children were smiling and look fine and happy. 

What is volunteer? Is it giving games and showing magics to make children laugh? Obviously, it is not. If the member of BP just disappointed to Borneo's situation and changed a place to do work, I think it cannot be called volunteer work. We must not do volunteer to satisfy ourselves. We have to think what people need first. However it is not enough. We also must not spoil poor people. Just giving food or money is really easy, but it does not help anything. How can we help they as a student? What can we do for them?

Through a long time discussion, they determined to help not only street children but also people in Borneo. They found a huge garbage issue near an immigration settlement. Tons of garbage were thrown on a beach where the settlement is close to. The main cause is people's way of thinking about garbage. In order to fix the situation, they planed a play related this problem. It was an easy way to tell what they thought for everyone especially small children. Their play was succeeded. Everyone enjoyed their play and understood how garbage is bad for environment and their health. After saw the play, people in the settlement started to clean up the beach.

What can we do for poor people? I know there are many answers. I think what BP member did is one answer. Of course, we cannot pay a lot of money to build their home or to take care of them for whole a life. We also cannot change any laws or government to protect them. It sounds like we cannot do any thing. However, in other words, we can do any thing if it does not cost any money or relate to law or government. Doesn't it sound like we are more freer than adults? I think we really are.  So, why don't we think about volunteer a little bit seriously??