Rebuilding 10000 lives in Japan - youth leadership

What are the youth who participeted in the Youth Leadership Program up to now?

The Nepalese and Japanese youth that participated in the Youth Leadership Program in 2015 are now back in their communities and actively involved in leading social activities. The Nepalese youth gather together once every two weeks at IsraAID Nepal to discuss how they can have an impact on their communites. Just this winter, the Nepali students created a project to distribute blankets, gloves, woolen caps and other winter items to children living in a remote mountainous area in Sindhupalchowk district, an area hard hit by the earthquake. Also a team including youth students Sharma and Tamang perfomerd a simple art therapy session and shared their knowledge about disaster preparedness with young Nepali children in hope that they will share their knowledge with their families and communities. In Tohoku, the youth are activlely involved in gathering donations for social projects and sharing what they have learned. Haruka, a Tohoku student has written an article on what PFA is how it can be utilised in disaster areas, even by high school students!  http://tobira.socialstudy.biz/activation/pfa

IsraAID, the youth from Nepal and Japan are now discussing about implementing another social project in Nepal. They are discussing what they can do together to improve the conditions in Nepal, a developing country. We would appreciate your donations so that their next joint project can be realised! 

IsraAID is planning to expand this program to connect Tohoku youth with other disaster afflicted areas of the world. 

Links:

• http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/03/03/national/nepalese-teens-learn-tohoku-sprang-back-disaster/#.Vtjig5N97kJ

What is the Youth Leadership Project ?

The Youth Leadership Project brings together young people from disaster areas and train them in leadership and disaster-response skills. The young people will be also offered the opportunities to lead the social projects in the community and local schools, utilizing the skills they learned, to become leaders in the local societies of Tohoku and Nepal.

What is New in The Project since the Last Report?

Well, a lot.

To recall, in the past few months we have initiated a contact between high school students in Tohoku and in Nepal. As the first step, the students in Tohoku raised donations for high school students in Nepal affected by the recent earthquakes there.

As the second step, we have initiated a “Pen-Pal” project between the students in which they shared their every-day lives, hopes for the future and also their disaster experience. Realizing the full potential in these bonds between young people in different disaster areas, the program had entered its third stage.

In the third stage, we are happy to announce that later this month, 5 high school students from Nepal will come to Japan for a 1 week intensive training with 5 high school students from Tohoku.

The 10 students will be trained by our professional team in leadership and disaster-response skills. Together, they will tour Tohoku and meet with young people who became leaders in their communities after the disaster had hit the area in 2011. The students will then create their own social project, receive feedback, and will implement it through 2016.

We will update you about the developments and progress of this unique program in the next report.

Thank you all for your generous support!