Hello! This is Sion, one of the co-founders of the ViVID.
I am writing this first blog post on the Dutch Airline heading Accra, Ghana. I am very excited to travel around Ghana to experience the culture and meet people. To introduce myself, I am a junior student in Tokyo, Japan studying International Relations. The starting point of my interest draws me back to 2002 when my family traveled to Ghana to visit my mother’s friends when I was 4 years old. Although I was little back then, vibrant and energetic people in Ghana left me a strong memory in me.
Photo 1: My first experience in Ghana Through girl scout activities, I got to know through girl scout activities that children in Africa are not being able to go to school because of poverty, and though it is unfair for one to not have an opportunity of where you’re born. Since then, I had a strong desire to utilize my educational opportunity to serve people in need around the world. I pursued my interest in higher education where I learned about the causes of global inequality and international development scheme.
However, I was often critical of international development policies and could not fully devote myself to it. Looking back now, I think it was because of there a gap between what I am learning and what I’ve experienced back when I first visited Ghana. Ghanaians I knew were very joyful and seemed so much happier than the Japanese and could not understand what it really means by ‘poverty’ or being ‘poor.’ The two streams came across in a course I took in the sophomore year where I learned that the capitalistic economy is the underlying factor of development and what construct today’s world. The current concepts, that have been taken for granted, as North-South divide or developed vs. developing countries was produced and spread by the Western countries through globalization. Other countries began to follow to achieve the same ideal, a modernized and economically developed nation-state. As widely recognized, development has mostly benefited developed countries, and it not only widened inequality among people but severely damaged the environment.
Photo 2: On my campus in Tokyo, Japan Going through all these thoughts, I am now very keen to learn about an alternative form of development and ultimately, the other ‘ideal’ structure. I don’t think there is an answer but I believe inclusive and sustainable community development, which is the core principle of ViVID’s principle is a key.