Unity through Understanding, Drive through Dialogue

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

When I first learnt that I had been chosen, along with one other Cambodian woman, to attend the 5th Annual Asian Youth Forum (AYF) and 50th Asian Development Bank Annual Meeting (ADBAM50), I was delighted. The event took place from 2nd to 7th May in Yokohama, Japan. Together, the two of us represented World Vision International Cambodia as ambassadors of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Cultural Diversity

This trip was my first time travelling abroad and participating in such a formal conference. I have always wanted to travel, but had never imagined that I would be able to so soon, and through such an amazing opportunity. During this conference, I learnt so much about Japanese culture and team work, among other things. As I had never travelled on my own, and the trip was quite long – stopping off in Singapore before flying to Japan, I felt both nervous and excited. Taking off and landing was a bit frightening, but my excitement for the upcoming conference distracted me. Early in the morning of 1st May we arrived at Haneda airport, and headed to our hostel. The room that we stayed in was small but comfortable.

During my stay in Japan, I noticed that people rarely talk with each other on public transportation. As I sat on the train, the atmosphere was extremely silent even though it was full of people. Some listened to music, some slept, some played games on their phone, yet no one spoke. Once the train stopped, people walked away quickly.

Imagine standing in the middle of a crowded train station, yet you hear only footsteps and heavy breaths of a strong wind. Even eating food on public transportation or while walking is considered rude in Japanese culture. I also noted that, compared to Cambodia, Japan has fewer cars and motorbikes on the road. The roads are wide and public transportation is fast. Drivers prioritise pedestrians. For instance, when cars or motorbikes stop at a red light which changes to green, but people are still walking across the road, vehicles will wait until everyone has crossed.

The week of 29th April is called Golden Week, as it is full of several celebrations and holidays, including Children’s Day. As a result, two parks I visited in Yokohama were decorated with copious amounts of colourful flowers. Each park had prepared a food exhibition and mini concert from morning until night. This seems to personify Japan; the Japanese enjoy eating, playing, and relaxing. They go for walks together with their family and pets. The people are kind, generous and friendly. When I was walking in the park with my Chinese friend I accidentally dropped my card; only seconds passed before someone ran up to me and returned it. Even when the people could not speak English well, they were always ready with a smile to help with directions.

Inspiration and Personal Growth

The cultural adventure of visiting Japan was just one of the many amazing experiences of the trip. The AYF was an incredible opportunity, and I learnt a lot from the event. Each of us was assigned to a group for the duration of the conference; there were around 20 groups with 5 to 6 members in each group, with one designated team leader chosen by AYF, and with at least 2 people from the same country. On the first day of meeting, we introduced ourselves and discussed many questions together before getting to the main topic.

The group worked together, coming up with a vision and the key actions which need to be accomplished.

Dialogue mainly centred on obstacles to communication and how we can work with each other. The leaders also instructed us to create a road map of our teams and draw on a piece of paper how the team could achieve success even when the members come from different countries. We then presented this to all AYF participants.

After a 5-minute break, AYF organisers taught us the basic elements of a project (Impact, Output, and Outcome) as well as the key actions that projects involve. They wanted each group to decide on one topic that we wanted to solve. However, we faced some challenges during the discussion. As all of us came from different countries and areas of study, language and knowledge were major challenges. There were quite a few disagreements, and we often knew what we wanted to say yet found it hard to articulate our thoughts and opinions in English. Eventually, we managed to settle down by helping each other.

On 2nd May, five groups combined to work in one large group on a real-world project focusing on a specific area in South Asia with one facilitator and mentor to guide us. AYF had helped us by providing distinct problems and missions that we need to complete. In my group’s case, we focused on the obstacles to water sanitation that Cambodians face. The group worked together, coming up with a vision and the key actions which need to be accomplished. Each night, we were also assigned homework on the project. Our team leader helped to collect and consolidate our ideas.

After a great deal of effort, we were ready to present our vision, to “Build hand-in-hand healthy, rich, and resilient communities in Cambodia through sustainable youth-engaged water and sanitation development projects.” Our group chose two representatives to present the project on the last day (7th May). Working as a team gained us more confidence and we become closer to each other. Even though communication was challenging, we always supported each other.

I learnt from my team leader and the way he led and facilitated the group. He did not give ideas to us directly but instead gave tips, making us think independently. He gave us the opportunity to work things out for ourselves rather than forcing his own ideas on us.

 We were also able to attend workshops on specific issues. I attended one on women’s leadership. The five panellists were women who work in high governmental positions or have high ranking positions in NGOs. AYF had also invited two women who work to empower their community despite having faced many challenges. I found this fascinating, as one of the main challenges for them – the culture of their home countries – is very similar to the way the Cambodia used to be: women fighting for the right to receive education, empower their community, and work. These women have constantly had to fight against societal perception that women must stay home and bear children. Not only do they experience a lack of support from their husband and families, but also a severe lack of funding. Even so, they are still working to empower women in their communities to stand up and attain equal rights to education and other opportunities.

The forum also covered several over-arching topics that were extremely applicable. One of these was to look at five basic steps to a solution: create, strengthen, empower, partner with others, and reach out. Another question they asked, which I found fascinating, was “What stops you from learning?” and the mindset that leads to the problems that people face. We divided the reasons for this into four main categories: financial problems, fear of failure, assuming we can grow without working hard, and not wanting to learn. After facing difficulties in our life, we are prone to negative thinking. We feel like we want to give up after not reaching our goals or when we see our peers fail; we feel bad for ourselves and lose confidence. AYF transformed this way of thinking, focusing on improving and changing our mindset. We have to believe in ourselves rather than totally rely on others, get to know our qualities, our intelligence, our talent, and our personality because everyone is unique. And through this, we can achieve a lot more.

Overall, I gained so much from the AYF, and cannot wait to put all that I learnt into practice. 

The story is written by Chhorika Chhom, a member of World Vision's youth club.