A jubilant letter from the Bilay House in Thailand
AHAN Nippon Kan Coordinator, Thailand
Reported by Hom Potha
Dear Homma Sensei,
How are you? Hope you are doing great.
We are doing great over here. All the kids say hello.
They are hoping to see you soon.
Best Regards,
Bilay
Editors note: All of the above pictures have been posted with permission from Bilay House.
Children at the Bilay House in Thailand are doing well and enjoying their summer. While 2 of the children have gotten a job upon graduating from middle school in Spring, they have been working while going to high school on weekends at the insistence of Homma Kancho.
While the children at the Bilay House, who came to Thailand from Myanmar as refugees, are free and are not under any surveillance, their freedom is limited to a certain areas, and they don’t have access to TV or radio. Because of their upbringing in such a closed environment, there has been a certain amount of concern when the children must adapt to new lifestyles as they move to cities to work after graduating from school, especially when they must abide by various laws of Thailand for their status as refugees.
AHAN Nippon Kan is working to establish AHAN House in an urban area(s). The main purpose of AHAN House is to support the Bilay House graduates by providing a safe housing environment on a temporary basis in less familiar urban areas while helping them to be self-reliant, with the principle of “having a job to be self-reliant while going to high school under the sponsorship of a Thai citizen”.
Editorial Department
The Bilay House was founded in 2011. Homma Kancho donated much of the monetary resources to build the facility as well as his time and hands-on hard labor during the construction of the building(s). The Bilay House is run by Pastor Bilay and a few staff. There are currently 36 children living together at the facility.
Please check out these video clips to learn more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBA…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFo…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPv…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoI…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJx…
From Pokhara, Nepal’s the 2nd resort city
Aikido training has begun at Nepal Army’s Pokhara garrison troop station.
Instructors are from Aikido Leadership force of Nepal Army Ranger in Kathmandu, and 4 squads of soldiers are currently undergoing Aikido training with a plan to mandate Aikido training for all soldiers at the Pokhara garrison troop station.
Also, the children of the WWY Project are trying out a new genre with the battalion in Kathmandu.
I’m also a coordinator!
AHAN Nippon Kan Coordinator in Turkey
Machi Megumi
During his visit in İstanbul, Turkey in June, I spent a few days with Homma Kancho to catch up. I have been working with Homma Kancho since 2006 as an AHAN coordinator in Turkey.
As Turkey has been faced with unfortunate events, like terrorist attacks and inflows of Syrian refugees, tourism in Turkey as well as various businesses have been severely affected. The lack of vibrancy that this historic city is experiencing lately is not only lonesome, but so much unlike ever-the-same hospitality the local people display to welcome tourists from all over the world. Please come and visit Turkey to enjoy what this historic city and the country offer!
After graduating from Osaka University of Foreign Studies (presently Osaka University) with a major in Turkish culture and language, I studied at Istanbul University Department of Language and Literature. During my study at the university, I met with my future husband, Vecihi, who was working at an antique bookstore. With help from our son, Kaoru chan, we run a bookstore with a wide variety of books & literatures on Turkey.
My husband has over 27 years of experience in the book industry with wealth of knowledge, expertise and experience as “the master of a bookstore”. Please feel free to send us any inquiry about Turkish related books, antique and classic books & literatures and/or academic books & literatures.
編集部
Editorial Department
AHAN Nippon Kan in Turkey was founded in 2007. Ms. Machi had studied Aikido under Kenji Kumagai Shihan, the Aikido pioneer in Turkey, and is a former captain of Aikido Club at Osaka University of Foreign Studies. She is currently taking a break from Aikido as a full-time mom.