August: The Participants’ Voices
In August, ARI shared self-introduction videos, filmed in Japanese, from 22 rural community leaders on the official social media of the “Living Kindly with Neighbors” Western Japan Study Tour donation campaign. Leaders from Asia and Africa spoke in their own words about their work back home.
September: Supporter Voices
Since September began, we’ve been sharing, in reels and stories on Instagram and Facebook, the voices of the supporters who stand behind ARI. If the participants’ voices show what these rural community leaders are facing, the supporters’ voices show something else — what we ourselves come to see, by supporting them. Here are the seven voices we’ve featured so far.
Rie Yokota (Support Funding Partner, Host Family; Chairperson, Aoyama Gakuin Elementary School Parents’ Association), who hosted our participant Nu from Myanmar this year, shared: “Learning about ARI — an institution devoted to the earth, to the future, and to our neighbors — changed my outlook on life.”
Chieko Arakawa (ARI Commuting Volunteer; Committee Member, Laudato Si’ Desk, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan) titled her message “A Place to Become Neighbors”: “ARI is a place where encountering diversity — and discovering yourself in the process — can nurture a heart that seeks tolerance and harmony.”
Mei Goto (Support Funding Partner; Representative, Doshisha ARI Project “duari”) spoke of her trust in the participants’ future: “I truly believe in the possibility that they will return home and create change in their communities.”
Rev. Ikuko Williams (Anglican Priest; Representative, ICU Reconciliation Forum) spent two nights and three days at ARI this summer with university students from ICU, who were moved by “the warmth and dedication to learning” of the ARI participants from 14 countries.
Takafumi Miyake (Support Funding Partner, ARI Commuting Volunteer) shared: “I truly believe that these experiences will leave a lasting impression on Participants’ hearts, travel back with them to their home countries, and contribute to a brighter future.”
Han Sakawa (Support Funding Partner, 2023 Volunteer, Farming Community Study Tour Host Organization (Urespa Moshiri Natural Farm, Iwate)) wrote: “Having the chance to face the people and history we meet on the Study Tour, and the questions they raise, becomes the driving force for feeling our neighbor’s story as our own, and giving that back to the community.”
Kanji Yamada (ARI Supporter, Nakameguro Church) looked back on the deep bond between his church and ARI going back to its founding: “Every year, our ‘Asia Sunday’ tradition invites participants from overseas to the church — through Sunday services and homestays, this exchange has become a valuable opportunity for church members to learn peace education and the practice of service.”
Placed side by side, these seven voices so far point to the same thing: to support is both an act of helping someone far away, and an opportunity for the supporter to newly encounter the world. Ms. Arakawa’s “a place to become neighbors” and Ms. Sakawa’s “feeling our neighbor’s story as our own” — different words, pointing, it seems, to the same place.
About Our Support Funding Partners
“Support Funding Partner” is a way for schools, organizations, and individuals to launch their own sub-campaigns and spread the word about the donation campaign within their own networks. Five people are currently taking part, four of whom are among the voices introduced above:
- Rie Yokota (Chairperson, Aoyama Gakuin Elementary School Parents’ Association): sub-campaign (JA)
- Mei Goto (Representative, Doshisha ARI Project “duari”): sub-campaign (JA)
- Takafumi Miyake (Commuting Volunteer): sub-campaign (JA) / activity report (EN)
- Han Sakawa (2023 Volunteer): sub-campaign (JA)
- Tetsuro Nagata (Teacher, Ai-nou Gakuen Agricultural High School; Study Tour Host, Iga): sub-campaign (JA)
Mr. Nagata, who teaches at Ai-nou Gakuen Agricultural High School, shared this: “Through their exchange with ARI, [our students] get to hear living words — the kind you can’t get from the internet or media — from young people around the world confronting the most fundamental challenges of human life, like hunger and poverty. It has become an opportunity to encounter a world they didn’t know before.”
Support and shares through each of these sub-campaigns make a real difference, too.
▼ These voices, plus the reels and stories, are also on our Syncable activity report: https://syncable.biz/en/campaign/10070/report/14344#campaign-tabs
What world does supporting these rural community leaders show you? We’ll keep sharing supporter voices through September 30th, and we’ll continue welcoming your support and messages of encouragement too. [Campaign page: https://syncable.biz/en/campaign/10070]
