The Language Teacher
November 2000
Kosovo Appreciation
Mark Zeid
JALT National Director of Public Relations,
Hiroshima College of Foreign Languages
Members of the Hiroshima Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching reached into their pockets and closets to help the U.S. Army Command in Kosovo with a humanitarian project last year and won special recognition for it. Members of the chapter collected clothes and school supplies and then shipped them to the army in Kosovo. The chapter collected more than 250 kilograms of clothing and raised more than 180,000 yen needed for postal costs.
The project began in September 1999, when Mark Zeid, then the
president of Hiroshima JALT Chapter, corresponded with a combat
reporter he knew serving with U.S. Forces in Kosovo. When Zeid
found out about a project where military personnel were donating
school supplies for children, he sent a couple of boxes. "Operation
Joint Guardian" was a project where U.S. Forces reopened
schools in war-torn areas and provided assistance by fixing up
the schools and donating school supplies. Most of the donations
came from military personnel and their families. However, friends
were welcome to join in the effort.
The most important thing was that the military provided the logistical
support of getting the relief supplies to the refugees via its
supply lines and military mail service. This meant the donated
items wouldn't be stuck in some warehouse, a common problem with
many relief efforts.
When he first started, Zeid didn't think he would do more than
send a couple of boxes. However, when he received an email message
saying thanks, he found out that he could do more. It turned out
the refugees needed clothing as much as school supplies, especially
with winter approaching.
Zeid then went to the other JALT members in Hiroshima asking for
donations. "The response was better than I expected,"
said Zeid. "My apartment filled with boxes from all the donations
I received. For six months, I gathered the donations and reboxed
them. It seemed like all the members were cleaning out their closets.
At each chapter meeting, members would bring in donated items
and I would take them back to my apartment. The surprising thing
was that most of the items were either new, still in the package,
or in excellent shape."
"In total, we sent more than 35 boxes to Kosovo," said
Zeid. "It got to the point where I was on a first-name basis
with everyone at the local post office."
Other teachers also became involved. Many donated items and money.
Others assisted in collecting clothes. Some helped with transporting
the donations from chapter meetings to Zeid's apartment. In all,
more than half of the chapter became involved in one way or another.
At the Hiroshima Book Fair, the collection area was the largest
and most popular display there. It took two cars to get everything
back to Zeid's residence, and another month before he was able
to go through everything and send it off.
Several of the teachers used the project as a way to get their
students involved in world affairs and English classes. "I
got six boxes from one school alone," commented Zeid. "Another
school sent several donations and letters asking me about how
the project was going. Their teacher told me the students really
got excited when she read them my replies. It was great to see
students becoming so involved."
"More importantly," said Zeid, "the project gave
us a chance to do something to help others. It helped us to renew
our convictions and commitment to education as well as reminding
us of the fact that we as teachers can make a difference. It gave
us the opportunity to teach our students how to help others and
gave us renewed faith in them when we saw how enthusiastically
our students responded. We may not have done much, but at least
it was something and a step in the right direction. We see and
hear about how selfish and self-centered today's kids are. It
was great to see this isn't always the case."
As a result of their efforts, the chapter received a special certificate
of appreciation from the U.S. Army Command. The certificate read:
"For outstanding support of the Task Force Falcon and Operation
Joint Guardian mission in Kosovo. Your compassionate, humanitarian
gifts, school supplies and clothing for the school children of
Kosovo are highly commendedYour organization's generous assistance
and dedicated effort are deeply appreciated by Task Force Falcon
and the people of Kosovo.
One surprising development was the reaction of the members --
several of them are asking about and looking forward to their
next opportunity to help others.
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