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■NY・日本クラブ／スピーチ >> MOVIE
Good evening ladies and gentlemen. My name is Norika Fujiwara.
I am an actress.
Thank you so much for giving me this wonderful opportunity today.
I visited Afghanistan in July 2002 and took pictures of what I saw, heard and felt there. I have shared these experiences through a photo collection book and photo exhibitions in Japan.
The inspiration for my visit to Afghanistan came from my encounters with two major incidents.
One was the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in January, 1995.
My family’s home was in the area that was hit hardest.
I returned from overseas on that day, and was forced to walk a long way home as all the transportation was stopped.
I faced the complete destruction of my hometown and was shaken at the sight of the damage.
But in that difficult situation, people started to help each other spontaneously, and I found myself a part of it.
Then in the aftermath of the quake, hands of support reached out to us from all over Japan and the world.
What I learned from the destruction of that day was the real goodwill of people and the importance of helping one another.
The other was September 11.
I visited Ground Zero in January 2002 and felt the immediacy of the tragedy.
Thinking of my American host family and friends living in New York, I couldn’t help realizing how precious life is.
And standing there, I strongly felt that such a tragedy must not happen again.
I tried to print that scene in my memory, telling myself that it must not be forgotten.
At that time, the war and bombing were underway in Afghanistan.
"What's going on there? What can I do?" I thought.
I immediately decided that I had to go and see the country with my own eyes and report on the situation there.
Determined to realize this, I persuaded my production company to allow me to go, and a TV station to assist me.
Thanks to the support of many people, I was able to visit Afghanistan that summer.
The day I returned from Afghanistan, tears rolled down my eyes as I had a traditional Japanese meal of rice, miso soup and natto at home for the first time in 10 days.
The ordinary life that I took for granted is so much more than a blessing when we look at the world.
The children of Afghanistan with whom I met, talked, played and held hands with,
live in an environment where social foundations were destroyed by long years of civil war.
Only two out of ten girls are able to read.
But the children all loved to go to school and study, which is something that used to be prohibited under the Taliban.
Every day, they take the two-hour walk each way to school, carefully avoiding landmines along the way.
The children were all full of hope and dreams.
They said, "I wanna be a teacher and teach reading and writing." or
“I'm gonna be a doctor and cure sick people." and
“I wanna make this country a better place, because I love my country."
From these Afghan children who are full of life and energy in the lands of Afghanistan, it was I who received vital spirit.
I knew that this country was going to be fine as long as they exist.
The thought made me happy, and I could not help crying.
When the children saw tears in my eyes, they said,
"Khandaku, khandaku."
They were telling me to "smile."
At that point, I knew what I could do.
That is, to share my experience with as many people as possible.
In addition to my TV report on Afghanistan, I have held photo exhibitions in various cities across Japan since December 2002.
The proceeds from the exhibition, as well as donations by the public, have been endowed to the "Save the Children Japan Norika Fujiwara Afghan Fund", which is being used to support the education of Afghan children.
The "Anda Girls Elementary School" in Bamiyan is nearly completed with the support of this Fund.
The fund is also supporting projects in other areas, such as land mines education to decrease casualties, peace education to promote understanding between different people and training teachers.
All this was possible thanks to the goodwill of people to offer help to others.
Now, I am delighted to hold this photo exhibition here in New York, which is the city that gave me the inspiration and courage to visit Afghanistan.
I hope you can feel the strength of life that the children of Afghanistan have shown me.
Their innocent eyes made me believe that they are the hope for the future.
It would be wonderful if this event becomes the beginning of something for you.
I will continue to do what I can, little by little, to make a difference.
I will keep sharing my experience in Afghanistan.
And I will continue to support education projects for children.
In the meantime, I look forward to visiting a peaceful Afghanistan someday, and meeting the smiles of the children again.
Khandaku.
Lastly, I would like to thank again all the people involved in the preparation of this event and the photo exhibition opening tomorrow, especially, the Governments of Afghanistan and Japan, and the Advisory Board on Human Security.
I finish my speech with another beautiful word that I learned in Afghanistan.
“Besyar Tashakur.” Which means 〜Thank you very much〜.
Thank you.
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