The school children of Okayama and ESD
Friday, November 7 marked the closing of the 9th Global RCE Conference in Okayama, Japan. Amidst partners who share the same dream for a better world, amidst practitioners who are doing their committed share where they are, amidst the generous care showered by the RCE-Okayama and their local government, many participants must surely have felt that there is no way but to move on, beyond the conference, to share the same drive for change to maximize peace and happiness for all individuals and people all throughout the world.
Small steps, no matter how tiny, can create change that can benefit a group of people, a whole community, and who knows, in time, the whole world?
Our partners from RCE-Peru and RCE-Guatemala (Teresa, Eduardo, Sandra who were assisted by their animated translator from Mexico, Carolina) have introduced academic courses and curricula to mainstream the local knowledge of the Mayans and Incas. They are offering diploma courses for these indigenous peoples so that they will continue their wonderful heritage and share this as co-equal partners with the rest of the world. Our RCE-Dhaka partners also shared their ancestors' scripts that educated their people about how to manage disasters through comprehensive and integrated network of agriculture and water management systems. Even our own RCE-Bohol shared their wonderful work to protect the mangroves in their areas.
All these global RCE initiatives can be accessed by all through the website of the United Nations University-Institute of Advanced Studies. Hopefully, these shared experiences will inspire you to do your share to protect people and the environment where you are, however you can, with whatever you have.
RCE-Okayama's Education for Sustainable Development initiatives have involved residents (of all ages, from children to elderly) and communities (from the city to the rural areas).
The schoolchildren of various schools in Okayama came to join the global delegates and shared their ESD initiatives as well. The Grade 6 students of Daisan Fujita Elementary School narrated their story about their lesson entitled "What is happiness?" Their search led them to varied definitions different for them and for other children all throughout the world. They had a speaker about the children in Cambodia and they realized that for the Cambodian children, happiness meant being able to go to school, to eat, to have clean water, blessings that Japanese children like them often took for granted.
They had another speaker, an Olympic athlete actively involved with the organization "Heart of Gold" which assisted Cambodian children in need.
The Daisan Fujita Grade 6 students decided to communicate with the Cambodian children, and after learning about their needs, set out to embark on a donation campaign for, again, items that are often taken for granted by many children in Japan- like soap and towels. The Japanese 6th graders realized that when they helped the Cambodian children, they themselves felt happy. Their class question about happiness led them to continuing communication and an assistance program with the Cambodian children. From their class, they involved the students of the whole school as well as students of other schools in their area. This was their simple yet profound ESD sharing. The children themselves shared their hearts of gold with more needy children and happiness certainly spread from them to the Cambodian children and back to them and this happiness network spread to others with whom this simple happiness project was shared to.
Other schoolchildren from Kogushi Elementary School came to share their initiative about protecting their precious sea in their hometown Kogushi, those from Masada Elementary School shared about their efforts related to conserving the past and connecting their past with the future, and finally, those from Koyama Junior High School shared their thoughts and practices related to their health and environment.
Other schoolchildren positioned themselves in various corners of the First Floor of the Okayama Convention Center to showcase their own ESD initiatives. Other students went around to initiate dialogue with the global partners as part of their initiative towards global exchange and understanding.
With children and youth involved with ESD along with their adult and elderly partners, hope grows stronger that the dream to have a better happy world for all is truly one worth pursuing and one worth collaborating about.
With global partners from all ages and from various areas doing their share, the hopeful message of creating a global home and community needs to be urgently shared and spread as well.
Pursuing global peace and happiness is a doable goal and one so precious for all to pursue together soonest.
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