`The Global Career Course is popular among students as an opportunity to hear peoples` stories directly from them. 150 students gathered to attend the first lecture of the semester.
The lecturer this time was Mayuko Ushida, who is working at the NGO Peace Winds Japan which is committed to the prevention and resolution of conflicts and to providing support in areas hit by natural disasters. Students heard her speak about own career path and the international contributions she has made.
“Since this is a “Global Career Course”, I want to tell you what led me to this career.”
Said Ms.Ushida, and she started the lecture with a story about a time in elementary school when she decided what she wanted to do.
There was a play in elementary school which focused on peace education. Ms.Ushida acted as the role of a mother who died in the atomic bomb. Through this experience, she grew to understand “war is not a good thing, but it is over.”
Later, she realized that war is still happening in the world today as she read more about the world in newspapers as she prepared for her college entrance examination.
“I wanted to contribute to world peace. –I began to have thoughts about building a world without war.”
Then, when she was in college thinking about her future plans, she learned the expression “Conflict Prevention” as the title of a book in the library. Ms.Ushida remembered when she was in elementary school thinking that “War should never happen”.
After that, Ms.Ushida did her best working toward that goal — she worked as an intern in human rights groups and learned about “Conflict Prevention” at graduate school in the United States. This path was all based on her own thoughts she had when she was in elementary school
After graduating from graduate school, she began working in international cooperation at the NGO Peace Winds Japan, which is working providing emergency humanitarian assistance, reconstruction and development in 11 regions in the world with the motto of “necessary assistance to those who need it”. She is currently working on those emergency assistance activities and reconstruction and development in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The students were pulled into her stories by her good tempo and energy as well as the bits of information she included like, “I want to understand the American Rock band Bon Jovi’s lyrics in English,” and “I studied very hard to learn the Indonesian language” as well as hearing about her work in disaster areas, which were all delivered in a natural and friendly tone.
An Afghani man who runs the local business training center said to me, “to prevent the conflict education is important. This moment now, me talking in front of you, the next generation, is very important to peace education”.
“Please experience as many things as you can now. It is important to take action, see things with your own eyes and experience things by yourself. Please do not forget the original intentions you have. The reason why I was able to continue doing my best was because of this frame of mind.”
The straightforward message reached the hearts of the students.
“I wonder how can I work for Conflict Prevention.” After the lecture, she politely answered to questions from students such as “H ow can I work to prevent conflict?”.
Focusing on and believing in one’s own “origin” helped the students understand how they could further careers in the international field.
Ms. Ushida, who kept her original intentions in her heart and jumped out to the world, delivered a very motivational speech to the students and they felt the spark that living a life focusing on what one can do right now so not to regret things can bring.
