高校時代にエスタミネーに通っていて、２年前に中米コスタリカの国連平和大学院に在学中に私が会いに行ったMayaちゃんが長崎に帰省中です。相変わらず思慮深くパワフルでした！二人の会話はフツーに９５％英語。相変わらずの流暢さでした。

Maya, my student when she was a high school student, is back in Nagasaki now. I went to see her in Costa Rica two years ago when she was studying at University for Peace mandated by UN. I was quite impressed with all the students I met there. Maya is still very energetic and thinking about lots of world issues. We spoke mostly in English and yes, she was amazing!

次なる目標は国連平和大学院にスタッフとして戻りアジア関係を中心にいろんなプログラムを作成するそうです。コスタリカに戻る前に、フィリピンやカンボジア、インドネシアなどを回り一旦日本にもどり彼の地へ向かうということです。

Her next stage of life is going back to her old university in Costa Rica as a faculty member to help create programs for Asian related issues. She will go to the Philippines, Cambodia, and Indonesia and comes back to Japan once before going there.

自分が社会に何ができるかということを常に考えて自分の能力をフルに使って現状を改革し、次なる改革の道筋を作って行くという仕事素晴らしいですね。

She has always been thinking about what she can contribute to the society. It is a fantastic job for her  to utilise all what she has to improve the current social situations and construct the paths for the next stages.

彼女が友人たちと作成した本をプレゼントしてもらいましたが、難民の子供がどこへ行っても受け入れられない実態を子供の目から書かれていて、諸国が快く難民受け入れをしていない事実が突き刺さります。かつては長崎にもベトナム難民などを受け入れる施設がありました。難民問題は遠くでおこっていることですが、私たちが草の根でできることが必ずあるはずです。

She gave me a book she made with her friends. The book is about a boy who was separated from his family due to the war. Wherever he goes, he was not welcomed. It is heartbreaking to think about the future of this boy. There used to be a refugee camp in Nagasaki. Refugee issues seem something happening far away from us, but there must be something we can do to help those people.

次に彼女に会えるのが楽しみです