Spoiled postcards campaign – Support for the people of conflict-torn areas

2015年2月10日更新

International collaboration takes many forms, and here we talk about one of them.

Recovered postcards that have been spoiled by errors and unused government manufactured postcards are swapped at the post office for sheets of stamps, which are then exchanged for money, which is then provided to projects for the psychosocial care of African children hurt by war.

(Recovering postcards in front of
the Global Collaboration Center)

We took part in the spoiled postcard campaign run by the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention (JCCP). We sent invitations to the mailing list of the “Living Together in a Global Community” Study Group and via social media, invited participation in classes, and placed collection boxes near the entrance of the Global Collaboration Center and the library, from late December to the end of January.

There is a tendency to perceive conflict as something that happens in far away places. But without doubt there are many people who wonder if there is anything they can do for the innocents hurt by conflict. There is a limit to what students can do in the day-to-day, but we can do something. Our small actions, arising from thoughts of people in conflict-torn areas and the empathy we have for providing them with support, stack up, take shape, and are delivered to conflict-torn areas. We hope that the circle of support, in the form of recovering postcards – something that anyone can keep doing with minimal effort – will continue to spread.

（Fumie Ishikawa, 2nd year student, Faculty of Human Life and Environmental Sciences
Yu Yamashita, Midori Uchiyama, 2nd year students, Faculty of Letters and Education）