Shapers attend global meets
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, April 12 2016: The 2016 Asia Pacific Shape Hiroshima and G 7 Youth Foreign Minister meeting from March 18 to March 23 March at Hiroshima city were successfully attended by four shapers from the Global Shapers Community: Imphal Hub.

The shapers who attended the events are Elizabeth Okram, Oinam Adeep, Dineshkumar Ningthoujam and Chunthuingam Dangmei.

The Governor of Hiroshima Prefecture while welcoming the participants from across 37 Nations invited the young people to participate and contribute towards the peace process in all possible ways.

Participants were given first-hand experience of the Atomic bombing at Hiroshima during a tour to the Peace memorial museum, Atomic bomb dome, Children peace memorial park, Peace memorial dome and testimony from one of the atomic bomb survivors, Kunishige Masahiro.

Distinguished guests like Hidehiko Yuzaki, Governor of Hiroshima Prefecture, Kazumi Matsui, Mayor of Hiroshima City and atomic bomb survivor Kunishige Masahiro were present at the reception programme on the first day.

The four shapers from Imphal interacted with the guests and shared the history relationship of Manipur and Japan during the WWII.

During the course of their interaction, the Mayor of Hiroshima City requested the team to assist in determining prominent leaders from Imphal who would be interested in joining the "Mayor for peace", an NGO established by Hiroshima and Nagasaki which has been constantly working towards abolishing weapons of mass destruction.

A series of panel discussion under the topics "Diversity", "Conscience" and "Creating shared value" was held.

In order to symbolize peace and solidarity between India and Pakistan, the shapers from the two countries organised a flash mob during lunch activity which took everyone by surprise.

Under the guidance of Akira Sakano, curator of Osaka Hub and the Chair, Board of Directors, Zero Waste Academy in Kamikatsu, a team comprising of shapers from Imphal (India), Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Oxford (UK) visited the zero waste town of Kamikatsu in Tokushima Prefecture.

The team from Imphal intends to implement the same model in few villages.

"I'm so inspired by this trip that I am going to keep my house clean and even start washing the used plastic bottles before disposing it so that it can be recycled.

I'm also thinking of starting a recycling business to help minimize waste in Imphal," said Adeep Oinam, while passionately talking about his recent experience.

"Perhaps the most admirable aspect of Japan is that it is actually quite peaceful and lovely.

At least that left me with a sense of hope and gratitude that they are able to put their terrible past behind them.

It's a country that never forgets their past but fights for peace," said Chunthuingam Dangmei.

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