The 6th UNI-LCJ Youth Camp – Yes We Can! –
Under the special circumstance where everyone was forced to speak English, shy, nervous and quiet participants were gradually getting more confident, relaxed and a bit talkative…
Bro. Maung Min Nyo
The 6th UNI-LCJ Youth English Camp was held successfully on November 16 to 18, 2008 in a suburb of Tokyo with 25 young union activists from all over Japan. The main objective of this camp is to foster young union leaders with a good knowledge of UNI and to give a motivation to keep studying English so that they can assist overseas guests attending the UNI World Congress to be held in Nagasaki in 2010. Since 2006 UNI-LCJ has organized the training seminars twice a year and the total number of participants has reached almost 200.
Sis. Claire Parfitt
Same as in the past, we had diverse resource persons having variety of backgrounds and experience. Sis. Claire Parfitt, Research Assistant of UNI Property Services introduced little taste of Australia where she grew up as an icebreaker, followed by the presentation on UNI and its unique activities. Sis. Rosalie Reyes, Chair of the Youth Committee, Alliance of Filipino Workers shared with us her active involvement in youth activities of UNI-Philippines Liaison Council including the medical mission and the feeding program for malnourished children in Payatas. She says it is lucky for those kids to have one meal a day. The misery of their lives gave the participants a terrific shock. Bro. Maung Min Nyo, Director of Burma Office Japan, who has been striving for democracy of his home country, revealed the Japanese influence on the process in building Burma Military.
Sis. Rosalie Reyes
As an interactive training seminar, besides listening to informative presentations, participants were supposed to actively take part in both group and committee work, which were all designed to have them be proactive in communicating in English and strengthening team sprit. Making maximum use of IT is also UNI’s strategy to mobilize more young people, such as Second Life, Facebook, Skype etc. There was a sudden greeting from a Mongolian youth member through skype. On the very last day was for all the groups to show the results of intensive English practice, as exciting performances such as a quiz show, a guided tour in Nagasaki, festival with songs and dancing etc.
“Unbelievable!” “Together we can!” “I want to know more about UNI Global Union.” “I am happy to get to know friends in other sectors in UNI family!” “I want to do something for a successful Congress!” The 3-day seminar was concluded with a firm promise of meeting again in Nagasaki.