2 Dec. 2008 Japan
Seminar held to raise awareness about world hunger at Sumiyoshi high school in Kanagawa prefecture
Students listening intently to the talk about hunger
November 6-7, HFW sent a lecturer to teach an international understanding seminar at Sumiyoshi high school in Kanagawa prefecture. Each day, about 10 interested students volunteered to attend this special 90 minute session.
The lecturer shared basic information about world hunger and introduced HFW's activities. Many students were startled to learn about the 900 million people starving worldwide and the amount of food wasted in Japan. After that, they were divided into three groups and try to link global issues such as hunger in developing countries, poverty, waste created by industrialized countries, and global warming with arrows on a single sheet of paper. This work illustrated the interconnected nature of these problems. By mapping these connections, the vicious circle of world poverty became clear. At the end of the seminar, many participants came to feel that their comfortable lives may be one part of the problem of world poverty. We hope that the seminar succeeded in encouraging students to see their own connection to world problems.
Students creating a map of connections among world problems
Hearing that high school students volunteer as YEH members, I believe that there are all sorts of ways for me to contribute.
Sophomore student of a senior high school
