Introduction of Club Activities
Habitat for Humanity
Kaori Sawada (Faculty of Economics, 4th Year)
Kokusaikyojyukenkyukai is a campus branch of a NGO called Habitat for Humanity. Every summer and spring holiday, members participate in the Global Village (GV) program where we build houses as a volunteer with the homeowners. The vision for Habitat for Humanity is “a world where people have a decent place to live”. GV program aims to support building houses for people who cannot manage to buy houses by themselves.
This summer, our campus branch members went to Philippine and India. I was a member of the India GV 2010 and I would like to introduce some activities we performed this summer.
The India GV members value working as a team. There are 28 members in total and 27 people who actually went to India. We held 16 meetings before going to India and got to know each other. It’s important to be able to express one’s feelings with others so we took a lot of time communicating before heading to India. Our team goal was to “catch the ball”, which means to accept others and to speak out when you disagree or have something that you want to share.
The team stayed at Bangalore India from August 29th to September 15th. The following are some comments by a member of the team. A member who participated in the GV program stated, “This is my first GV and I decided to go because the leader approached me if I was interested. There were many meetings and since some were serious, it was a little tiring. But from tomorrow, I will start building houses. We held so many meetings for this and they were worth it because it all connected to this moment. I am very excited and I will do my best during my stay in India!”
September 1st: “There was a welcoming ceremony yesterday and today we had work in the morning so I was a little tired. But I was happy that a boy remembered my name from the day before. Today, I interviewed my homeowner and I was surprised to hear that 15 people lived in one house. They wanted to reform their house so they asked Habitat for Humanity for some help. Our job is to bring heavy bricks and cement to the house. It was fun to work in a place surrounded by lots of animals! It was like a zoo. My goal is to stay motivated so I can enjoy working with everyone!”
September 7th: “Today, we had to carry sand. At lunchtime, we played Indian games with the children and people sang songs to us. Children have such beautiful eyes and they are really cute. They taught me how to speak Kannada. I want to do as well as I did today tomorrow!”
September 11th: “We’re leaving India soon and I am sad to say goodbye. Today, we dug a big hole. We also learned how to count in Kannada. After work, the people in the village put on a Sari to all the girl members. I don’t think I will ever have a chance to wear a Sari again. The homeowners were all happy to see us and I had a wonderful time. I was so happy!
September 13th: “At last, our work is over. Today, we made a basement for a house. We carried the sand together and I really enjoyed doing it. Saying goodbye was so sad. Although we could not understand each other’s language, the children stayed by my side. We were the first foreigners to them and I cannot forget their tearful faces. Children are truly the world’ s treasure. I thought my way of thinking would change after I visit India, but things here actually fit me well so I was a little surprised. The women wore beautiful Saris and Muslim ladies hid their faces, but whenever we greeted them “Namaskaara!” they would smile at us.
Indians love to dance and I enjoyed dancing with them. When I was not feeling well, the homeowners cared about me. I think one’s appearance and religion does not matter when it comes to love. India GV was really fun and the seniors took great care of the freshmen. I was able to have a great experience and made friends with people I would not have met living in Japan. I want to visit India once more and I want to support the freshmen next time. Thank you so much to everyone and my family.”
