International Festa 2020 was held over two days on November 14 and 15 last year. It was the 21^st time that the Festa has been held.
　This time, in order to prevent the spread of the COVID-19, the scale of the event was drastically reduced. Five online-only events were held on the 14^th and two events were held at the International Conference Center Hiroshima on the 15^th.
　Additionally, from November 1 to 31, the International Exchange and Cooperation Division of this Foundation posted a video on its website introducing the activities of seven organizations, including citizens' groups, that are engaged in international exchange and cooperation activities in Hiroshima city and its suburbs.
　Unfortunately, the event did not turn out to be a lively "festival" event with many groups participating as in previous years, but we were able to hold this event with meaningful content on the theme of international exchange and cooperation, while taking the utmost care to prevent infection in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. 　This year, for the first time for this Festa, five organizations, including public and civic groups, participated in the project online using the web conference tool Zoom.
　Each of the participating organizations had their own ideas to keep the participants interested, such as using still and moving images to present materials in an easy-to-understand manner, and putting on skits to keep the audience engaged. 　In the lecture "Connecting with the World Now: What Dr. Tetsu Nakamura Left Behind", Mr. Masaru Murakami, Chairman of the international NGO Peshawar-kai and General Director of MPS (Peace Japan Medical Services), spoke about the activities and thoughts on building peace of Dr. Tetsu Nakamura, the local representative of Peshawar-kai, who passed away in December 2019 after working for many years on medical, irrigation and agricultural support activities in Afghanistan, a war-torn country in the Middle East.
　At the "Introduction of Hiroshima Sister and Friendship Cities by Hiroshima Messengers" event, 12 Hiroshima 2020 Messengers, two from each of the six cities, gave presentations on their sister and friendship cities. There were also quizzes on the theme of each city and mini language experiences. Not only the participants but also the Hiroshima messengers themselves enjoyed the event.
　Participants commented, "I was able to learn about the charms of each city in an easy-to-understand way and made new discoveries. It was an invaluable experience."