Fukushima Youth Ambassadors Project: Summer 2017
At 6.30am on July 27, a group of children from Minami-Soma in Fukushima Prefecture gathered in a local hall.
Eleven middle and high school students from Minami-Soma participated in the Fukushima Youth Ambassadors Project Summer 2017, a joint project started in 2011 by international NGO Peace Boat and PBV. The project aims to provide children affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster with care and an international study experience, as many of the children of Fukushima have not been able to play outside due to dangerous levels of radiation.
*For more information about PBV’s activities in Fukushima, please refer to this link.
In collaboration with local organisation Wings of Minami-Soma, the children joined the 12-day Peace & Green Boat 2017. Leaving from Sendai Aiport the group made their way to Kobe, where their voyage began.
For many of the children in the group this was their first time in a plane or to go overseas. Upon arriving at the Port of Kobe, the group were finally able to see the ship.
After the onboard safety drill, the group participated in the ship’s departure ceremony, where Tatsuyuki Yamazaki (participating for the second time) gave a speech on behalf of the group.
From the Port of Kobe around 500 passengers from all walks of life came onboard.
The first port-of-call was Yeosu in South Korea, where the group from Fukushima were joined by young people from all over South Korea.
The full report on this voyage is available here (in Japanese).
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Project Support
We are now looking for donations to keep the Fukushima Youth Ambassadors Project running into the future. If you would like to make a contribution, please click here (in Japanese only). Thank you!