Special feature:
International Exchange Festival "Pe-A-Ce-Lo-Ve" 30 Years of History－FINAL－
Volunteer Activities Enriching My Life
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by Maeko NOBUMOTO,
Pe-A-Ce-Lo-Ve Executive Committee Advisor
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Pe-A-Ce-Lo-Ve
On November 4, 1984, the 1st Pe-A-Ce-Lo-Ve was held in the lawn area of Hiroshima City Central Park under the slogan of Peace and Love, with twelve organizations participating.
At the time, Prime Minister Nakasone had developed a plan called "International Students of Asia to Japan", to increase the number of international students to Japan.
As a result, the number of international students coming to Hiroshima City also increased, and there were more non-Japanese people in the city.
Pe-A-Ce-Lo-Ve was initiated for Japanese people who were not sure how to communicate with non-Japanese people, as a place to enable natural interaction between the two groups.
This festival, whose name comes from the Spanish pronunciation of "Peace and Love", was held for the 30th time on October 27, 2013, and ended its role as a forum for exchange activities.
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Closing ceremony (message and paper cranes conferred)
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At Pe-A-Ce-Lo-Ve, the participating organizations are the main players, who decide on the content of the festival.
The job of myself and others in the operating committee is to work to ensure that the wishes of the participating organizations are fulfilled.
Therefore, while the format is the same, the content changes every year.
In some years the number of participating organizations was as many as 56; the organizations participating change a little from year to year.
Even if the same organizations participate, the content of the events may change.
Of the thirty times Pe-A-Ce-Lo-Ve was held, it was never completely the same festival.
So I think this is why we could continue every year for 30 years with a fresh perspective.
The promises that we kept for 30 years were: the principle that people using tents put up their tents themselves (even so we helped each other prepare and clean up);
no promotion of ideologies at the festival;
commercial organizations cannot attend;
even when the deadline has passed we will accept as many participants as possible;
and everything is approached with a flexible mindset.
In the early days many international students participated, but after Hiroshima University moved to Higashi-Hiroshima City their numbers declined.
In their place, there was increased participation by non-Japanese people living in Hiroshima and grass-roots organizations involved in bilateral exchange activities.
The state of Pe-A-Ce-Lo-Ve graphically reflected the changes in the city of Hiroshima.
Doubts
Does Pe-A-Ce-Lo-Ve fulfill its role as a place of exchange between non-Japanese people living in Hiroshima and Hiroshima citizens?
Sometimes I wondered whether we needed to change what we were doing.
At a time like that, I heard a person from an organization supporting Asian nations say
"It is the profits from this festival that allow us to continue our activities", and this made me happy.
It made me think that what we are doing is useful for international exchange.
I once heard a person from an organization that introduces Japanese culture say,
"One of the foreigners that I met here told me that he wanted to introduce Japanese culture to his own country, and as a result I went to America and Germany".
This is a place to meet new people.
I heard that another participant, when he went to Malaysia, bumped into an international student there who had been studying in Hiroshima, who said
"Pe-A-Ce-Lo-Ve was fun. I want to start up an old boys/old girls club".
This moved me because it made me think that the festival has created good memories for the international students in Hiroshima.
These anecdotes that I heard now and then dispelled my doubts.
Volunteering and Me
Although I have been involved in volunteer activities, starting with the Pe-A-Ce-Lo-Ve Executive Committee, for many years, I never had a clear intention to volunteer.
I was never burning with desire to do something to help people.
I am just weak-willed and cannot say no when asked to do something, and I am also foolish, because when I accept a task I never stop to think about whether or not I can actually do it.
My motto is that I will do my best for any job that I accept, so I have worked hard to make sure that the job is successfully completed.
I have done this again and again over the past thirty years, in what has become a long volunteering experience for me.
When I was young I once came home dripping wet after spending time out in the rain for international students, and when my husband saw me he looked annoyed, saying,
"I don't know how you do that".
After that he never said anything about what I do.
I think he just gave up and decided to let me do what I want.
Volunteer activities have made my life richer.
I have met many different people, and learned things: things that they do not teach at school, important things that you could never buy with money.
I have so much gratitude for Pe-A-Ce-Lo-Ve, for giving me these opportunities.
When I see people all over the world who make use of their skills in volunteer activities, I sometimes think that I could have been of more use to people if I had studied a little more.
But we should not have any regrets about things we have not done in life.
I intend to continue in the same way, accepting anything that comes, and doing the very best that I can.
If I can be useful to someone by doing so, then nothing will make me happier.
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Profile [Maeko NOBUMOTO]
Born 1948. 65 years of age. Has three sons, now living with husband.
Assisted operations of Pe-A-Ce-Lo-Ve from 1985－2013.
General manager, Nobumoto Dental Clinic.
Director, Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation.
Former deputy director-general of the Hiroshima Canada Association.
Yes! Campaign representative.
President, Hijiyama Girls' Junior and Senior High School.
Member of JOIN Hiroshima.
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