The Five SGH Schools Conference on Fieldwork and Research in Cambodia was conducted earlier this year on January 9th and 10th.
We welcomed guests from around Japan, from Miyagi to Hyogo. Some of the participants were senior high school teachers and other people involved in the education field.
Day 1: Nishiyamato Gakuen, Hiroshima, Jogakuin , Yokkaichi in Mie Prefecture, Okayama Gakugeikan and Showa which share a common interest, held a SGH Conference at Yoyogi, Tokyo.
After the orientation, some representative students from each school gave a presentation about their research and fieldwork in Cambodia.
These rewarding sessions not only inspired us but also made us think about the actual situation in Cambodia from a new and more informed point of view.
We invited two distinguished speakers: The first speaker, Mr. Yamada, a lecturer from Niigata International University, gave a comprehensive lecture about the status quo in politics and economy in Cambodia.
Also, Ms. Moriya, a spokesperson from the UNHCR talked about the present situation in developing countries and the refugee problem, which was so informative. After the interesting QA sessions, we came to think more deeply about these issues.
Day 2: A workshop was conducted to discuss some social problems in Cambodia and we helped each other to make group presentations.
We had a long session to discuss some challenges and issues such as insufficient education, dependence on foreign aid, and economic problems in Cambodia.
This was followed by some suggestions we developed among ourselves:
1) We can establish a kind of forum for interaction among children in Cambodia and Japan in order to foster them to become facilitators in the future.
2) We can offer dormitory accommodation for working students to study more easily.
3) We can set goals for sharing information in each country by making use of SNS communication.
These two days made us realize how important it is to have ties with other high schools to obtain further our global vision and develop a deeper understanding.
We are sure that having such an opportunity to share our experiences about Cambodia will keep stimulating us from now on.