I want to express my gratitude to all of you who have been praying for the workshop where I was given a chance to share about my work with the hikikomori. I was invited for ten minutes, expecting 10 out of 200 participants, which was a fairly equal number for 20 workshops that spread across all at one time. I ended up having altogether 7 hours of solid discussions over two days, and a total of 15 people including myself.
Along the meeting, I began to understand that the meeting was organized by Tohoku (northeast) teachers union, composed mainly by elementary and middle school teachers, who were also parents as well. Many were retired, in their 60's to 70's, yet they took the trouble to travel far, just for the issues that are dear to their hearts.
Trust me, I am not exaggerating in this. I was totally stunned by the work they have done, their ambitions, their abilities to look back and see what they had lack in bringing up kids under their cares in schools. As I landed in Japan, in the ongoing work of hikikomori, I always have so many unanswered questions about education, the reports and strategies on futoko (school refusal) and hikikomori released by the government often lead me into more confusion than solution. Yet, this meeting opened my eyes.
The teachers in the union are making sense as I realized that their viewpoints sprung from the very bottom of grassroots. I was so surprised! How could it be that I had never heard these voices before with all the researches that I've done? With all the elites that I have been with? It was totally a new world for me.
It seems that their voices are silenced by the policy makers, or probably because they have a different stance from the Board of Education. They are making sense! Their observation and explanation about futoko and hikikomori make more sense that the claim of the Board of Education and the Monbu or the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. They are not just trying to cover up facts, they ARE looking into the roots of the problems! And they are struggling to put the messages across! I find this very disturbing. The education system and the policies makers need to listen to both voices from the Board and Union! For what I have witnessed in this weekend, the Union is not only fighting for themselves, they are fighting for the children! They are trying to look at facts that the Board had neglected!
Please pray with me, their voices need to be heard!!! They need to be raised to a higher level. Please pray for me, If Jesus had brought me to the meeting, and if the Lord is expanding my horizons, I need to learn more and God needs to enable me to spread these messages across. I don't know how, but I believe that this is a right thing to do. I don't want their voices to be carried to their graves, it will be a disgrace, it will be a lost for this nation that I love. Please, Pray with me, will you?
