|
Ashta No Kai
A journey of a thousand miles begins
with the first step. For Ashta No Kai, Armene
Modi Founder, Chairperson, took the first step
in 1997 in Tokyo, Japan. 
Association 'For a better tomorrow' is an organisation
which supports literacy and development projects
for women in the rural areas around Pune.
Poona best.com spoke to Chairperson
Ms Armene Modi to find out what inspired her
to set it up and her association with Japan.
How did you land in Japan?
Armene: By a quirk of fate actually. It was
1987 and I was, at that point of time, living
in USA with my two daughters. My mother chanced
upon an advertisement for English teachers in
Japan and though I knew nothing about the country
and it's culture, decided to go and check out
my job prospects.
Were you happy with the decision to uproot
and settle down in a totally new country?
Armene: Oh, definitely. The warmth that I
received from the people of the town that I resided
in Shizuoka State was truly amazing. There
was mutual and complete acceptance from both sides.
Could you tell us about your job in your new
surroundings?
Armene: It was essentially to teach
English to High school children. But along the
way, I taught conversational English to adults
as well and enlightened them about India, which
helped to an extent, corrected the stereotyped
image they had of our country.
You taught at Obirin University, Tokyo. When
did you change jobs?
Armene: After a couple of years of teaching
in school, I moved to teach at Nihon University,
the largest in Japan. I subsequently moved
to Oribin, a private University where I
taught English.
Teaching to social work. Why and how did that
happen?
Armene: I need to thank Prof Dr Betty Reardon,
who got me to think along these lines. I had
enrolled at Columbia University, which
has a branch in Japan, for a degree in 'Teaching
English' to speakers of other languages' (TESOL).
Prof. Reardon was the Director of the peace education
programme at the University and it was she who
exposed me to peace issues. She taught us how
peace education could go a long way in promoting
non-violence, justice and restoring human dignity.
I tried to implement her teachings by picking
on thought provoking issues when teaching my students
rather than stick to standard sentences in Grammar.
How did the idea to set up Ashta No Kai germinate?
Armene: I read a book by American Journalist
Elizabeth Bumiller titled
'May you be the mother of a hundred sons'.
This was an extensively researched book on
Indian women written with a lot of empathy. I
was shocked to learn that an incredible 61% of
the adult female population were illiterate. It
was than that I decided that it was high time
I lent a helping hand and do my bit to bring down
that statistic. I quickly set about getting my
act together and contacted Industrialist Kanji
Yamazaki, who pledged his wholehearted support
to my project. This is how I took my first step
towards setting up Ashta No Kai and shaping
my dream. It was May, 1997.
Since then Ashta No Kai has come a long way with
five chapters comprising 450 members in Japan
and one chapter in India already established.
Members support women's literacy and development
projects in villages near Pune. 23 members came
down from Japan for the inaugural project implemented
in 12 villages in Shirur Taluka on April 11th,1998.
Funds for the projects are collected at the grassroots
level through people-to-people networking in Japan.
The grassroots initiative has gone a long way
to build bridges of understanding and friendship
between Japan and India.
Ashta No Kai functions on the philosophy inspired
by the words of our late Prime Minister, Jawaharlal
Nehru- "To awaken people it is the woman
who must be awakened. Once she is on the move,
the family moves, the village moves, the nation
moves."
For more information on the activities of Ashta
No Kai contact:
Address: Ashta No Kai -Nippon,
1-1-27, Shinden, Kambara-cho,
Ihara-gun, Shizuoka-Ken,
Japan 421 3211
Phone / Fax: 81-543-85-5108
Email: kanjiy@lilac.ocn.ne.jp
Ashta No Kai (India), P O Box 221, GPO
Main Post Office,
Pune - 411 001,
Phone/ Fax: 634 4592
Email: armene@vsnl.com
Text: Shabari Shetty
Photographs: Hari Krishna
|
