Cruise Report

26th Aug 2017

Guest educator Kenro Oshidari’s final talk was focused on relief work in upcoming conflict zones such as Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Croatia. “If there is peace, we can eliminate poverty. The UN can achieve its goal of eliminating hunger. The problem is how to make peace.” His words leave a strong impression on the audience. 

He compared the 2014 earthquake off Sumatra with the earthquake of eastern Japan in 2011. “Japan has advanced disaster prevention measures. In comparison, developing countries have little funding to spend on preparation.” He explained what kind of assistance the WFP provides under these circumstances. Based on his own experiences, he explains about aid and food assistance, the importance of working with multi-lingual and multi-national staff, giving details that are hard to come by in the mainstream media. Through his talk, we could see the importance of aid to save lives and the importance of food supply for sustainable community growth. It was an eye-opening experience to hear about the passion Kenro has for providing relief to conflict and disaster zones, and the importance of knowing the reality of life on the ground.