All members of the JICA overseas volunteers were forced to suspend work in foreign countries and come home due to the coronavirus pandemic. A time frame for volunteers to return overseas is unknown as infections are yet to be brought under control in many countries.
Nevertheless, while waiting to be dispatched again, members are performing various activities such as interacting online with people in foreign countries and assisting Japanese farmers who are experiencing a labor shortage.
The program, dubbed the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers, began in 1965 as a government project aiming to expand developing countries' economies and improve people's lives. The term of service is two years, in principle.
So far, 54,000 people have been dispatched to 98 countries to provide support in various fields, such as agriculture, education and information technology.
-- Creating infection prevention teaching materials
Mai Eguchi, a 29-year-old JOCV member from Nagoya, had taught at an Ethiopian kindergarten prior to returning to Japan. Eguchi had been dispatched only four months.
While waiting to be dispatched again, Eguchi learned there were no materials about coronavirus infection prevention measures that were easy for Ethiopian children to understand.
Eguchi and other JOCV members created posters providing information on basic infection control measures, such as washing hands, wearing masks and ventilation. The posters included illustrations and instructions in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, on how to make cloth masks.
JICA arranged to have the posters put up at local schools and kindergartens.
"When I was in Ethiopia, local teachers helped me when I had stomachaches and fevers," said Eguchi, who currently works as an elementary school teacher in Nagoya. "I was also encouraged by the children's smiles. I want to keep in touch with the local people and think about things I can do for them while still in Japan."
-- Keeping active
All of the approximately 2,000 JOCV members active in 76 countries temporarily returned to Japan between February and April last year, according to JICA. As of April 1, 840 volunteers want to be dispatched either to resume prior work or on new assignments.
Meanwhile, members are currently engaged in various activities.
Saori Yoda, 29, a schoolteacher in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, taught physical education and the Japanese language at an integrated elementary, junior high and high school in Mongolia.
She now communicates with the local community online. Yoda plays Japanese songs for the Mongolian children to dance to and teaches them how to cook Japanese dishes.
In January, while Yoda was teaching at an elementary school in Matsudo, three siblings from Mongolia moved to Japan and began attending a local school.
Yoda volunteered to teach the children Japanese and, as a result, they picked up the language quickly.
"We're very happy to learn from a teacher who speaks Mongolian," one of the children said.
Yoda hopes to return to Mongolia. "I want to do support activities overseas again," she said.
-- Down on the farm
Several JOCV members helped farmers in Tsumagoi, Gunma Prefecture, plant and harvest cabbage from May to November last year. The 12 volunteers had temporarily returned from Brazil, Zambia and other countries.
Cabbage farmers in the village had been suffering a serious labor shortage as about 300 technical intern trainees from Indonesia, Myanmar and other countries were unable to come to Japan and help with the field work.
Upon learning of the farmers' plight, Shizenjuku Terakoya, a nonprofit organization in the prefecture that trains JOCV volunteers before overseas dispatch, asked JICA if members on standby could lend a helping hand.
"The members worked with great enthusiasm even though it was hard labor lasting from before dawn to night," said Ryoichi Yajima, 56, director of the NPO and a former JOCV member who was active in Panama for two years.
"It's too bad that their overseas activities have been suspended, but I'm sure this experience [of working in the cabbage fields] will be useful for their future activities."
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