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My first diary
Hi friends!!
It's my first diary in myspace.
My English skill is poor now. But I want to level up skill of English.
So I'm going to write diary once a week at first.
Anyway I took part in our school English sppech contest.
My script is there. So if you have a time, please read it!!
An Action to Change the World
What kind of image do you have of the Philippines? I think most Japanese think the country is a developing country and there are only poor people living there. It was my image before I went to the Philippines. But last summer, when I visited that country, my image was changed. And I realized that there are some problems in the Philippines. Today I'd like to talk about the problems and the ways we can change the world. I have two main points. The first is a problem in the Philippines, the second point is Fair-trade. Let's go to the first point.
Before I went to the Philippines, I had this image that the Philippines is a developing country and there are only poor people living there. But in fact, there are many rich people and they have the biggest shopping mall in Asia, where you can find some bland-name stores such as Gucci and Chanel. And the urban area called Makati is a very big city like Tokyo and it was just like city in Japan. So I was very surprised when I saw these. However, at the same time, we saw many street children and people who pick up the usable things in the mountain of garbage. That is something that we can't see in Japan.
Then I wondered why there is such a gap in living standard among people in that country? In the Philippines, 25% of the people have almost all the money and the rest (75%) have little money. Poor people spend 1$ or less a day. So the Philippines is called the small mirror of the world. This problem is not only in the Philippines but also in Japan and all over the world. And it is responsible for poverty, conflicts and various other problems. We have to resolve this issue.
So next, I would like to talk about the way we can resolve this problem. Let's move to my second point. It's about fair-trade. This is a private action started in the 1950's by the people in Europe and the United States. The way to resolve the poverty problem is fair-trade. It provides a work opportunity in the poor rural areas and inner city areas in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Plus it helps poor people improve their condition in their own right. What I am trying to say here is, we can support poor people's life by shopping.
When we go shopping, we can give some jobs to poor people and help to reduce poverty by choosing fair-trade goods. Fair-trade supports people who are socially or economically vulnerable such as those living in the rural areas and mountain-ringed regions, women, native tribe people, or the disabled. In addition, fair-trade produces products, taking advantage of traditional methods.
Fair-trade goods are often clothes from children to adults, accessories, food, and living wear. And all fair-trade goods are hand-made. In Sasiki town, Okinawa, there is a fair-trade shop "kaze-no-sato" and we can buy fair-trade goods there. My friends and I sold fair-trade goods on commission and made some descriptive boards for fair-trade last year and two years ago for our School festival. Then we were able to explain fair-trade and the poverty issue to many people. Our act received some attention from TV and Newspapers and we succeeded in school festival. And we are planning a fair-trade project for the Philippines. We are going to go to the Philippines again and we will sell products made by local people.
In conclusion, now there are poverty issues in the Philippines and all over the world. But college students like me and every one can do something about it by supporting fair-trade. Japanese consumers like cheaper goods and bland-name products. But I would recommend fair-trade products instead of cheap goods and brand-name products. When you get fair-trade goods, you will feel warmth of the people who made them. Each and every person's purchasing is small. But it will be a big power if we can spread the idea to many people. We can change the world by shopping. Why don't we buy fair-trade goods and join this movement to change the world?
http://www.ocjc.ac.jp/osirase/06/20070122_speech.htm
3:47 AM
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