My experience in an NGO at Fuji Rock festival
My experience in an NGO at Fuji Rock festivalAt the end of July 2008, I participate as volunteer to the Fuji Rock festival in the NGO called "NICE"(Never-ending International workCamps Exchange). I would like to write about this exciting experience, maybe you will be interesting to participate to this kind of experience, or why not suscribe to a workcamp with this NGO. I advice you to do so!!
First, I would like to present the different aspects of our participation to Fuji Rock festival. NICE was told to participate in order to sensibilize young people to workcamps. Workcamps can be done in Japan (I did in Nagano prefecture with other Japanese people), or abroad. If you go abroad, you will certainly meet foreign people, discover a new culture, and open your mind! It is a very good experience. Another volunteer were in Mexico, in a project aiming to save Giant Turtles' eggs. She was very happy to be a part of this program and came back to Japan with a lot of memories. NICE is working in several fields very important: education, environment, culture, etc.
So now I would to introduce to you the preparation before coming to the Fuji Rock festival. As a NGO, we wanted to attract young people and make them finding interests in our projects. So we had to find ideas to do so. In order to make our stand, we built some adverts with the activities of the NPO in the different fields it is working on. We included on these adverts a lot of pictures, taken throughout the world and by people involved on the different projects. In order to make our stand a little fun, we built like a wheel of fortune in which we stuck a lot of flag representing several countries where NICE has been implementing projects. We asked people to shot one of them with a bow. According to the flag, we asked people to answer to some questions about the country.
For instance, a question about Mexico and turtles: 海亀が大人になれる確率は?
The aim of these question is to make people aware about some facts that they unfortunately often do not know. By this kind of questions, people may ask themselves about the condition abroad, and may be interested in NICE's projects. It is the biggest and the most difficult part of the work to make people aware of facts that they probably do not know. People often do not take care about what happen throughout the world, and are more and more only focusing about their own life and these of their community. Very sad stories are never known whereas it happens near us. Stories about a Amazon community dying because of the exploitation of trees, forced to forget their traditions and culture in order to meet the aims of most powerful forces than them. Or stories about animals which are disappearing because of economic activities of humans. NPO activities are so important! If you can be involved in some of their activities, you will probably strengthen your nature, and meet very interesting people for the good of others.
