On 17 January 2025, 12 Japanese elementary and junior high school students living in Dhaka, Bangladesh participated in a slum visit led by Mr. Shoji, Vice-President of Forum2050. In his opening remarks: ‘A slum does not mean a dangerous area. It is just people with low incomes living together in low-cost housing, similar to the tenement culture that existed in Japan in the past’. Three local staff members who support the organization’s activities volunteered to accompany the tour, providing interpretation and guiding assistance.
The participants visited a small slum near Shoji’s workplace, where there is no particular security problems. The children walked around with great interest, seeing a garage where rickshaw drivers live, a local restaurant, tenement houses, communal kitchens and toilets, and interacted with the residents through the interpretation by Shoji and the volunteer staff. In particular, during the exchange session with the rickshaw drivers, they asked each other about their dreams and actively engaged in dialogue about their income and other specific aspects of their lives.
After the tour, participants commented that ‘I was able to actually get to know the slum that I had only known from knowledge by going inside for the first time’, ‘The view from the outside before the tour was completely different from the view from the outside after the tour. Now I can see the area very clearly’, “I want to make use of today’s experience in the future”.
The children now understand more than before that there are people in the world who live in different circumstances and environments, and that they are surprisingly unfamiliar with people outside their own neighborhoods and different communities.
Forum2050 will continue to make children aware of the diversity of the world and assist them in thinking about things in a global context.
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Forum2050 operates under the concept of ‘Children of the World: Each Child’s Vision for the Future Shapes Humanity’s Destiny,’ collaborating with businesses, schools, educational institutions, and others. Together with children, we create opportunities for them to contemplate peace and development in the future human society, fostering partnerships.
