Kiinsai Activities: Panel Exhibition, Sale of Fair Trade Products and Handicrafts

2012年11月11日更新

（Panel exhibition of study tours）

The “Living Together in a Global Community” Study Group participated in the 2012 Ochanomizu University Kiinsai (culture fair), held November 10-11, with a panel exhibition of the group’s study tours (Vietnam and the Philippines) and a sale of fair trade products and handicrafts from nonprofit groups with which members of the “Living Together in a Global Community” Study Group have been involved.

The panel exhibition attracted parents and guardians and visitors from other universities, providing an opportunity for students who had participated in the study tours to describe and explain their activities in greater detail.

（Sale of fair trade products and handicrafts）

The sale featured handicrafts made by earthquake and tsunami survivors in Yamamotocho, Miyagi Prefecture, where study group members have volunteered; products from the Terra People Association, which is helping to build schools in rural Myanmar; and items from the Shanti Volunteer Association and Shapla Neer Citizens’ Committee in Japan for Overseas Support, both of which accept student interns under the NPO Internship program administered by the faculty of the Global Collaboration Center. The event netted about 110,000 yen from the sale of more than 150 items, with the proceeds going to the groups that contributed the products. As a special highlight, a staff member from Shapla Neer delivered a slide presentation and talk on fair trade and we were able to convey some of the things that private citizens can do to contribute to international development.

Students who took part in the Kiinsai activities found the experience rewarding. Participants were “glad to be able to explain the nonprofit groups’ activities to so many visitors through the medium of their products,” “saw for the first time how many people are interested in these activities,” and “learned that there are things that we, too, can do to help.”

We will continue our efforts to publicize the activities of the “Living Together in a Global Community” Study Group and to conduct support activities that students can undertake through events of this nature.