| Like the end of every summer, I was sad to leave home (Thailand) again. However, the feeling inside for this time was quite different---I packed my luggage with greater anxiety than usual. Apart from all the wonderful things I got to do at home, the highlight that I had been anticipating was yet to come. This time my first destination was not the United States, but instead it was Tokyo---one of the busiest and modern capital cities in the world. The reason for my anxiety was not mainly how exotic the city itself would be but rather the activity that I would be participating. I was going to join the biggest event of Harvard University in Asia known as HPAIR—I was going to experience something very challenging.
The Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) is a student-run organization of the Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences, offering a sustained academic program and forum of exchange to facilitate discussion of the most important issues relevant to the Asia-Pacific region. HPAIR's flagship project is its international student conference, held in Asia each summer. It is centered around six stimulating workshop topics, which bring together undergraduate students, graduate students, and a distinguished group of speakers from across the globe, which in the past included the Nobel Laureates and Presidents of many countries. Workshops involve speeches and discussion, interactive projects and activities, and are framed by serious research.
I got to know about it through my Japanese friend. I decided to give it a try, since the theme of the conference---Futuring Asia: Contemporary Challenges Emerging Realities, was highly appealing to me. I applied and presented them with all my past experience and the skills I gained at Westminster. The selection process was highly selective---about 600 undergraduate students from all over the world were chosen while there were more than 3500 applicants. I was very excited to meet new friends and learn from those notable speakers but at the same time, I was very nervous since I would be the only one from Westminster College---and probably the only one from the area nearby as well.
The theme of the workshop I participated in was “Reinventing Diaspora: Exploring Globalization through Human Migration”. We discussed history and various issues of migration, the policies concerning migration in different countries, the role of human network and labor movements in globalization, the conflicts regarding migrants and nationalists. Four days of the conference may not seem long but to me, it felt like forever. There was so much information to absorb, so many people to meet and talk, a lot of exotic things to observe and try. I was exhausted by new knowledge and information by the time everything was over.
Many remarkable speakers were present and gave us an honor of being their audience. Among them were the secretary-General of ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations), Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports of Japan and professors from leading universities such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, Columbia, Berkeley and Tokyo University. To my great surprise, Princess Masako of Japan, who was a former student of Harvard University, also came to one of the events we had. It was a great honor to receive her royal highness in person.
This project, the biggest event of Harvard University in Asia, was originated by only three thinkers who were undergrad students just like us---who have dreams and visions to make a difference, but they might have taken a step forward than others, that is, they had put words and thoughts into actions. This effort that began from small truly inspires me. It convinced me that we can make dreams into realities if only we try hard and truly believe in them. Without the support of the SGA, I would not be able to discover Japan and its culture, to learn in depth about migration issues or to meet many great people with different but interesting backgrounds, who have later become my friends. This conference has once again pointed out to me the importance of exchange of dialogues and the faith in one’s dream. Without the first, no negotiations or peace will be attained, while the lack of the second may never render the first.
PS. Next year the conference will be in Bombay, India, which will be very exciting. It really is a great learning and it will be nice to have other Westminster students to share this experience together! If anyone would like to know more information, check www.hpair.org or contact me, I will be glad to help.
Note: Some information in this article regarding HPAIR conference was taken from www.hpair.org |
