October 26, 2007 :
Discussion on Peace and Disability
Training Report - Leadership Development Course 2007
Mr. Yamaguchi, one of the planning committee members, had been accompanying the participants to this regional training. This morning he facilitated a discussion on peace and disability.
As a reference material for today's discussion, Mr. Yamaguchi had distributed a document called
“WORLD PEACE - THROUGH THE EXPERIENCES OF A PERSON WITH DISABILITY.”
Thjs was written by a blind person from Sri Lanka and contained some clues for discussing world peace
from the perspectives of persons with disabilities.
The participants reflected on what they learned from Hiroshima's experience and firstly they shared
their impression of Hibakusha. Many participants stated that their countries had experienced wars or
conflicts and that a conflict is one of the causes of disabilities. Some participants were surprised
to hear from a Costa Rican participant that his country had been peaceful for many years and they even
do not have military by the constitution.
In this opportunity, the participants could consider what they could do for peace in their community.
This afternoon the participants came back to Tokyo by Shinkansen (bullet train).
