Do You Know? The Great Journey of Rural Community Leaders. Vol.1

March 21, 2025
Makiko Abe

Do you know about the long journeys ARI participants to Japan?
Most of them live not in big cities, but in remote villages whose names do not appear on any internet maps. In ARI’s early days, it was not uncommon for participants to enter their plane in bare feet! Now pretty much everyone is wearing their shoes, or at least flipflops!
But even so, the paths they must travel are far beyond our imagination.

We would like to follow their great adventures in 4 installments!
The first in this series is 2000 ARI graduate, Acivo, from Nagaland, India. Many of you may know her, as she also served as staff at ARI until recently.
The mountain village where she was born and raised is today at least an 8-hour drive from the nearest airport, but 25 years ago, that trip was much more harrowing!

[Acivo, 2000 graduate from Nagaland, India]

Khutsokhuno Village, home of Zacivolü R. Dozo (Acivo), is located up the mountain from Phek Town, in the south of Nagaland State, India. This community is composed of Naga people, and although it is India, their Mongoloid features are similar to those of the Japanese. They make their living by traditional slash-and-burn agriculture, live in houses made of bamboo and wood, and do their cooking on a stove over an open fire.

You may wonder how Acivo, who lives in such a remote area, came to know about ARI. As it happens, the boss of an NGO she was working at was an ARI graduate, and recommended her for the training program. Thinking it would be difficult to ask for financial support from her relatives, she said she needed time to pray about it. Her boss’s simple reply, “Trust in the Lord,” made her decide to apply. She did so, and was accepted!

The preparation for her travel to Japan was not easy. Although her overseas travel expenses would be covered, she still had to manage her domestic preparation expenses. She took the risk of borrowing 20,000 rupees, which is today about 35,000 yen, but at that time was much more. She was later able to repay the loan by saving the allowance money she received from ARI. To obtain her visa, she needed to travel 1,500 kms to Kolkata. It was her first time ever to go there. But knowing that was not her final stop, that she would be going much further, all the way to Japan, leaving her country for the first time in her life, it was beyond her imagination. The only way she could describe this experience was “Khutsokhuno, Phek, BOOM!”

Today, it takes at least 8 hours to drive from the Acvio’s village to the airport on unpaved mountain roads, but back then, driving wasn’t even an option. No one had a car. Her journey started with a 4 hour walk to the nearest town, Phek. Then another 10 hours in a public bus to get to the airport at Dimapur. At the time, there were only two flights a week to Kolkata, and even those few flights were often cancelled. In Kolkata she met up with two other participants on their way to ARI and together they helped each other through a transfer in Bangkok before finally arriving at Narita Airport. The three of them were confused the whole time, never sure if they were at the right gate or getting on the right plane, but they made it.

What moved Acivo to embark on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure? It was ARI’s mission. She felt ARI was exactly the place for her to prepare her to lead people at the grassroots. And ARI did not disappoint her.

Acivo still remembers the organization that paid for her training. It was the Rotary Club of Utsunomiya and this is how she describes the significance of supporting ARI. “It would be difficult to provide ongoing support if they invested the same amount in a single project. But the Rotary Club invested in me. And I’ve been alive and working for people for the last 25 years.” “…The whole world needs change, and it needs everyone’s participation. But we cannot all be leaders and live in rural areas. Each one of us is equipped with our own work and abilities, and investing 100 yen or 1,000 yen in one participant can change the lives of 1,000 people behind him or her. It’s not just 100 people, it’s 1,000 people!”

She herself has worked as a staff member of an NGO and at ARI to raise money for the education of her nephews and nieces, and has devoted herself to the education of children and their families in her village. “Some of the children I taught are already old enough to get married, and they will be the future leaders of their villages and churches. So, I have never once regretted my activities.” Her work in the village has been successful, enabling many young families earn an income and send their children to school in neighboring towns, by growing vegetables.

She will be 55 years old this year and her energy never runs out. Hesitantly, she mentioned a project that she hasn’t yet told anyone about. It is “the Obento project.” Obento means “lunch box” in Japanese. After years of filling the stomachs of community members in the ARI kitchen, she has a deep interest in nutrition and health and is concerned about the recent surge of cancer and diabetes in Nagaland. As the world food trend is rapidly changing, Nagaland isn’t an exception. Fast food products from outside of the region are in high fashion amongst the younger generations both in rural and urban settings. So, she came up with the idea of making healthy lunches based on Japanese cuisine, with the aim of sustaining households through supporting the health of families and neighbors in urban areas. She says she needs to do something that attracts young people, and for about 250-300 yen, she makes lunch boxes for 3 neighbors every day. The rice comes from her village, and the vegetables and fruits, such as cabbage, eggplant, tomatoes, and strawberries are grown on her balcony and in small planters on the roof. She also has 2 rabbits and recently started to raise 3 hens for eggs. “With just a few ingredients, I can make a tasty, healthy obento.”

Even with all she has accomplished, she still takes new initiatives. This is a true rural leader. Her unpretentious approach is sure to inspire many people to think, “If this is what she can do, maybe I can do it, too.”