May 2008 Newsletter: Yumi's Monthly Note
Hello Everyone,It's been a month since we started our search for new activity fields in both Denmark and Sweden. I have been traveling in the Scandinavian countries again. I had some meetings and presentations there last week. In Copenhagen, I met with the former teacher, who has promoted many IT projects in education. He now works for the City of Copenhagen to contribute his skills, experiences, and knowledge. The first question he put to me was whether Pangaea is the type of organization, supported by or tied to religious or political organizations. "Absolutely not," I replied to him. "We have been recruiting children from diverse religious backgrounds, including Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Confucianism, and Hinduism," I added. He appeared to be relieved to hear my answers. So he said, "That's great!"
The Scandinavian countries are well known as the safest places in the world. Those countries have the best-designed social security systems. In Sweden, no one has to spend more than 30,000 yen per year on medical expenses. Recently, the number of immigrants has increased in the Scandinavian countries: many people have fled into those countries to escape from unstable political situation in their homelands, as well as to seek jobs to gain financial stability. In Sweden, I had a chance to talk with the chief officer of the Board of Education and school principal in one district where nearly 100% of community members are immigrants.
They touched on some emerging issues in the community:
The area is considered unsafe to live, and the unemployment rate is very high among young and middle adults. Both the chief officer and school principal have tried to find out the effective ways of communication among the community members and how to enable them to live together in harmony. During our presentation, I introduced them our virtual communities: "House" (an individual identity), "Village" (an activity field), "Country," and "Earth." I explained them that it takes only four clicks to visit House to Earth. They showed their interest in our simple, but fundamental ideas. I confirmed their willingness to launch our activities as we implement our projects in Europe. I believe the Scandinavians tend to be meticulous. Most Scandinavians whom I know usually visualize the proposed project before discussing further details about the project plan. In fact, it seemed the school principal has already mapped out our project plan and listed some future facilitators in his/her mind. My friend, Cecilia, lives about a 20-min-drive from the community; she is willing to help us in order to put our project plan into operation.
Due to my hectic schedule, I set up one of my meetings at Cecilia's house, where I was staying. I asked Simon to come and join the meeting from Amsterdam. So, Simon, Cecilia, and I could discuss our project plan in Sweden. By the way, I am now writing this newsletter in London. I am here to have the first session with staff members of the new community center. I am going to Amsterdam this weekend to meet with staff from community centers and the largest nonprofit organization in Amsterdam.
I have some great news to share. During my business trip, one of our staff members, Mr. Hanada (we call him "Hana-pooh."), made his debut as a lecturer of our facilitator training sessions. And we are opening our new activity site at Kyoto University; we are going to launch our activities there this week. Because we have major upcoming events, we have reconfirmed our commitment to respect children and provide them with a lot of fun during our activities. To achieve our goals, we need your continued support.
This month I will introduce Mr. Hayato Sagawa as a writer of Pangaea Ring. He is one of our technical volunteers in Kyoto and works for the company, Global Developers Japan. He developed an effective online interaction tool, Pangaea Community Site, for our volunteers. We have currently utilized the system at our activity sites. Thanks to Mr. Sagawa, we will be able to offer a social networking platform to Pangaeans from every corner of the globe!
Well, goodbye then!
Yumi
The area is considered unsafe to live, and the unemployment rate is very high among young and middle adults. Both the chief officer and school principal have tried to find out the effective ways of communication among the community members and how to enable them to live together in harmony. During our presentation, I introduced them our virtual communities: "House" (an individual identity), "Village" (an activity field), "Country," and "Earth." I explained them that it takes only four clicks to visit House to Earth. They showed their interest in our simple, but fundamental ideas. I confirmed their willingness to launch our activities as we implement our projects in Europe. I believe the Scandinavians tend to be meticulous. Most Scandinavians whom I know usually visualize the proposed project before discussing further details about the project plan. In fact, it seemed the school principal has already mapped out our project plan and listed some future facilitators in his/her mind. My friend, Cecilia, lives about a 20-min-drive from the community; she is willing to help us in order to put our project plan into operation.
Due to my hectic schedule, I set up one of my meetings at Cecilia's house, where I was staying. I asked Simon to come and join the meeting from Amsterdam. So, Simon, Cecilia, and I could discuss our project plan in Sweden. By the way, I am now writing this newsletter in London. I am here to have the first session with staff members of the new community center. I am going to Amsterdam this weekend to meet with staff from community centers and the largest nonprofit organization in Amsterdam.
I have some great news to share. During my business trip, one of our staff members, Mr. Hanada (we call him "Hana-pooh."), made his debut as a lecturer of our facilitator training sessions. And we are opening our new activity site at Kyoto University; we are going to launch our activities there this week. Because we have major upcoming events, we have reconfirmed our commitment to respect children and provide them with a lot of fun during our activities. To achieve our goals, we need your continued support.
This month I will introduce Mr. Hayato Sagawa as a writer of Pangaea Ring. He is one of our technical volunteers in Kyoto and works for the company, Global Developers Japan. He developed an effective online interaction tool, Pangaea Community Site, for our volunteers. We have currently utilized the system at our activity sites. Thanks to Mr. Sagawa, we will be able to offer a social networking platform to Pangaeans from every corner of the globe!
Well, goodbye then!
Yumi
Posted by: kumakinoko | 3. Newsletter
