What I Do in Hiroshima

By Jenny Xin Luan ‘18, Hiroshima (2018-2020)

Time is running faster and faster as I become more familiar with work and life in Hiroshima. The longer I have been staying here, the more appreciative I become to my work at UNITAR, ANT, and GLH, the people and the city of Hiroshima.

As the first full-time job in my life, this position at UNITAR is full of learning opportunities. The span of my tasks is wide - administrative work, writing and reporting, facilitating, logistic arrangement, communication, video-making and graphic design, translation etc. It is like training all parts of my brain. Besides, I get to work with people in different sectors, from diverse backgrounds, of different ages, and with various levels of working experiences. The first workshop I got to work on was the UNITAR Women’s Leadership Programme for Afghanistan last November. Twenty young female Afghan professionals visited Tokyo and Hiroshima for 10 days. I was part of the UNITAR team welcoming them to Japan. Besides the usual tasks - publicizing on social media, putting together and printing out documents etc., communicating with the participants was a big part of my role.  In the short ten days, I became friends with the ladies from Afghanistan working in public and private sectors, NGOs, academia, and media.

Cleansing hands and mouth before entering the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo

We chatted about challenges women face every day in Afghanistan and their passion to make the country a better place, but we also took funny selfies together and complimented each other’s outfits every morning. It was inspiring for me to see how engaged they were during the workshops and during a fruitful opportunity for me even though I was supposedly on the “trainers” side. They brought me a new perspective to see Hiroshima and come closer to understand what the now peace city actually means to the world. On the last day of the programme, we visited Miyajima island together, where the world heritage site, Itsukushima Shrine, is located. The ladies changed into traditional Japanese clothing and petted the sacred deer in front of the Torii gate. It was hard to say goodbye for them to Japan and for me as well to my new friends from Afghanistan.

This year, I’m involved in the same program again, and luckily this time, I get to join the selection process of the participants as well. The program last year opened a new door of the world to me and let me learn more about Afghanistan in a personal way instead of watching merely via television signals or the internet. At UNITAR, there are many other programmes bringing people in from all over the world working on different issues. I am excited to keep growing here and absorbing all the fresh, global perspectives. Little by little, I am building my skills and work portfolio. I am certain that all of these experiences will prepare me well for my future studies and career.

The Hibaku Weeping Willow in spring - 74 years since the Atomic bombing in Hiroshima, the willow still stands on the same river bank blooming for the new season

Last, very shortly about ANT and Green Legacy Hiroshima. At the beginning of my fellowship, I was not working with GLH - until about a month ago. As GLH is co-founded by former UNITAR Hiroshima Office director, Nassrine Azimi, and director of ANT-Hiroshima, Tomoko Watanabe, GLH was hosted at ANT’s office for the first five years of its existence and moved to UNITAR’s office about two years ago. Now, my 5-day working week entails one day at ANT and four days at UNITAR including one day for GLH work. As a part of the three-man GLH operation team, I am responsible for website maintenance and communication with our global partners and potential partners. Here is a picture I took for the closest Hibaku Jumoku to the A-bomb hypocenter, the weeping willow, in spring as it is full of life and the brightest shade of green on the river bank.

At ANT, one day per week is definitely not enough. I am just finishing up the Chinese translation of ANT’s introductory pamphlet and am currently contemplating about writing articles about Peace and nuclear weapons in Chinese to reach the Chinese audience. A major reason of my low-efficiency of translation at ANT is the number of events happening and guests visiting. One of my favorite event ANT was involved in was a three-day short program called “the Hiroshima for international students (留学生に伝えるヒロシマ）organized by Hiroshima City International Student Support Center. I got an opportunity to talk to college students from abroad including students from mainland China about Hiroshima and peace, which can be a sensitive topic sometimes. I got many ideas for a peace media in Chinese from some conversations with the participants. Besides, ANT hosts student groups visiting Hiroshima all the times giving them tree tours and offering a space for the students to interact with A-bomb survivors. Here is a picture that a Swedish high school group visited Hiroshima and A-bomb survivor, Ms. Okada, gave her A-bomb testimony (Okada-san sitting in the center) on April 26th.

As part of the ANT-Hiroshima staff team, we led a Swedish high school group on a peace tour and listened to the testimony of an A-bomb survivor, Ms. Okada.

The three components of the Hiroshima fellowship, UNITAR, ANT, and GLH, are the perfect combination for me to explore the world of non-profit and humanitarian work. A branch office of an international organization, a grassroot and local NGO, and a small but resourceful global campaign allow me to catch glimpse of how organizations operate and people interact as global citizens. The distinctive working styles of people and working environments at the three different places (not technically physical spaces) train my capacity to adapt and be comfortable and confident in various situations. (Last, here is a picture of my amazing colleagues at UNITAR at the farewell party for Kenta, the Prefectural Government appointee to UNITAR who offered me extensive help when I first moved here.)

Saying goodbye to one of my colleagues at UNITAR