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Photo: Miho Kashiwagi What attracted me most was we could communicate with people who are from different cultures during the work camp. International Work Camp Miho Kashiwagi from Japan I never dreamed I would have such a wonderful experience in summer 1995. One day I found an interesting advertisement in a magazine. It was about international work camps, one of which I took part in. Immediately I ordered the brochure and got information about these international work camps. I learned that the camps were held all over the world at different times of the year anybody can participate in any camp as long as they are eager to do a voluntary work. What attracted me most was we could communicate with people who are from different cultures during the work camp. Work campers are supposed to stay and work together cooperatively the whole the time. Obeying my curiosity, I applied to a work camp. Because I was not sure if I had enough money, and because my parents were anxious about my safety, I decided not to join a work camp held abroad. I decided to join the nearest one held in Minamata, Japan. Photo: Miho Kashiwagi The group was small at first, but finally we had 17 members: ten Japanese, four Germans, one British, one French, and one American. One day in August 1995, a girl—it was me—with a huge sports bag, was thrilled about arriving in Minamata. That day, there were just some Japanese work campers, but later other members came up one after another. At last, we increased to a total of 17 members: ten Japanese, four Germans, one British, one French, and one American. All of us were college-aged students and majoring in several subjects such as comparative culture, communication, social welfare, engineering, business, physical geography, biology, medicine, law, English, and Japanese. We were together three weeks and devoted ourselves to aforestation and having a lot of fun together. Our main work was to help with a plan of aforestation for a piece of reclaimed land. At first, we went into the mountains and dug out baby trees. Then next, we replanted them in a field. Although this process might sound easy, we had a hard time indeed. Because it was extremely hot, every drop was very precious for us. When we happened to get cold water, we could not have been happier. Besides, in the mountains, tons of hungry mosquitoes were waiting for us. Of course, there was no way to avoid being their victims. As a result, we suffered from mosquitoes bites. We were always itchy. Photo: Miho Kashiwagi Planting new trees was hard work. It was extremely hot and tons of hungry mosquitoes were waiting for us. At the beginning, we were not sure how to plant trees, so we could not go on working without asking a specialist. However, later on we improved a lot . Actually I felt as if I were an expert in that field after a week. In the end, we had taken and replanted about 250 baby trees. They were supposed to grow up in the field and be planted in the reclaimed land in the near future. By the way, I heard that only half of them are still alive. I understand that it is normal. Life is severe, isn't it? We, Minamata work campers, divided into three groups. Each group was in charge of cooking and cleaning by rotation—one group prepared food, while two groups worked outside during the morning. Afternoons, we were basically free. How to spend time was up to us. Some played with local kids, some listened to music, some wrote letters, some washed their clothes, and some had conversations. Labor groups were likely to take a nap. On weekends, we delighted in field trips and excursions. We stayed in a tiny, old public house which had no shower room. That's why we quickly became good friends. Every night we had to visit local people to take a bath. We went there in a small group of a few Japanese and foreign members. It was really fun and a good experience not only for foreign members, but also for the local people. Photo: Miho Kashiwagi We enjoyed talking and communicating together. Each of Japanese members had to be a simultaneous interpreter, and I did my best in our cultural exchanges. After taking a bath, we enjoyed talking and communicating together. As Japanese, each of Japanese members had to be a simultaneous interpreter because others could not communicate orally. I did my best with trial and error in our cultural exchanges. Since we had grown up in different cultural environments, sometimes there were some conflicts among us. For instance, one German expressed her feelings directly, she did not refrain from complaining. Consequently, such an attitude offended other members. Cultural and personal differences caused us puzzlement and antipathy, but we worked on compromises and understanding. Yet it is not normal for everybody to have the same ideas. We should not judge them just because their ideas are different. I really feel that all members were truly nice and warmhearted. I was very fortunate to run into them in Minamata and share a lot of exciting and unforgettable memories with them. So why don't you join an international work camp? I bet you will have irreplaceable experiences! More volunteer experiences: International Wheelchair Tennis Championship | Volunteer Work with Children Return to: Our Volunteer Experiences | Issue 4 | Home Page TOPICS Online Magazine - ©1997-2007- Sandy and Thomas Peters - topics.mag@gmail.com