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> > Interview with Managing Director, Tokyodo Books: Ms. Omura Etsuko
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| Interview with Managing Director, Tokyodo Books: Ms. Omura Etsuko |
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“I feel so touched in my heart every time I see Japanese people make a donation through the cashier counter. Although they are all foreigners using different language, they are concerned about education and children in Thailand. Deep inside, I am sure that they do hope that those children will become good and educated people for their own sake. Therefore, I wish for every child, who is supported by EDF scholarships, to pay their best attention to their studies and be filled with strength to live on against all odds. And no doubt, the donors are waiting for opportunities to meet them in the near future.”
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บทสัมภาษณ์ Managing Director, Tokyodo Books: Ms. Omura Etsuko |
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This year, EDF will be commemorating its 20th anniversary. For 20 years, we have been working tirelessly to achieve our mission which aims to solve the problem of poverty and to promote education development in Northeastern Thailand. Importantly, we believe that education plays a major role in breaking the cycle of poverty which has long been one of the most critical problems in Thai society. EDF is deeply grateful to all donors from both public and private sectors for their generosity and loving kindness. Their supports have enabled us to continuously execute all activities and ultimately achieve our mission.
Today, we have an opportunity to interview with Omura Etsuko, Managing Director of Tokyodo Books Company. The company has been an important link between donors, EDF, and underprivileged children for a long period of time. All of its 10 branches have been acting as donation points, which by now have become well-known among EDF’s donors. In this volume, we would like to invite our readers to learn more about Tokyodo Books.
We had a chance to meet Ms. Omura Etsuko at Tokyodo Books, the Emporium branch. She told us that many years ago she had been living in Thailand as a volunteer teacher, teaching Japanese at Surin Rajabhat University which is in the northeastern region. Life then was not so interesting because she had spent most of her time in the university. Still, she somehow had a chance to experience a taste of the local culture as well as getting to know the people. This made her aware of the acute poverty which has long been chronically inherent in the region. The lack of basic infrastructure would also mean a lack of career or educational opportunities. She has met some of those children who never have a chance to pursuer their study.
After that, she came back to work in Bangkok where everything seemed to be in contrast with what she had seen in the Northeast. According to her experience, what touched her most was a huge difference between the two areas, Bangkok and up-country, in terms of availability of information. People in Bangkok have a much better chance in accessing information than those living in rural areas. This then provides city people strengths in expanding their vision and gathering useful knowledge, all of which would prove to be a tool for achieving a better standard of life than those living in a less developed areas, like the northeaster region where she had lived for 3 years.
Regarding Darunee fund or EDF, she said:
“I have known Darunee fund since I started working for Tokyodo Books. The company has been supporting its ongoing projects by acting as a donation point. After the president, Mr. Sumio Kurasawa, has become aware of the problem of Thai education in up-country, he initiated the project by building the statue of “Ninomiya Kinjiro” who is the best-known educationist in Japan. Adapting from a Thai Buddhist custom of pasting gold leaf onto a Buddha image, our customers, who made a donation, will be given a gold leaf to paste onto Ninomiya statue. Besides, we also held a charity sumo competition for tsunami-affected children who are sponsored by EDF.
We also got a chance to meet with another store manager, Ms. Preeyaporn Longsripoom, who was born in Khon Kaen Province. She told us the story of her childhood that she was a lot luckier than many other children. Her family could support her education until mattayom 6 while others could not. Some of her friends had to stay at home and helped their parents to plant crops or rice; some needed to go into workforce as laborers in heavy industries in major cities. She also came to Bangkok to work in a factory after finishing Mattayom 6. Since she had started working for Tokyodo Book 10 years ago, she kept studying by herself by taking evening classes. She said that learning can be done all our life. If well-educated, you will have a better chance of getting a good job hence a better quality of life. She is very glad to have worked for the company which gives importance to education for Thai children. Tokyodo Books not only act as collection points serving Japanese people living in Thailand, but also help shelf displaying EDF newsletters at the cashier counters.
“I feel so touched in my heart every time I see Japanese people make a donation through the cashier counter. Although they are all foreigners using different language, they are concerned about education and children in Thailand. Deep inside, I am sure that they do hope that those children will become good and educated people for their own sake. Therefore, I wish for every child, who is supported by EDF scholarships, to pay their best attention to their studies and be filled with strength to live on against all odds. And no doubt, the donors are waiting for opportunities to meet them in the near future.” |
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| 2010-06-06 | Donor's Voices | เปิดอ่าน 5996 |
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