Kindness and Courage
(Original in Japanese)

Soh Yu
(Age 11, Korea)

Recently, a newspaper article * caught the attention of my family. Published under the headline “’Non’ to Deportation of Immigrant Children,” the article said that a movement to foster children of illegal immigrants was spreading rapidly throughout France. There are many illegal immigrants from Algeria and North Africa in France, and the French government is making vigorous efforts to deport them.

Support organizations comprising parents and teachers are springing up one after another at schools attended by children who could be targeted for deportation. These groups are trying to help the children targeted for deportation by registering foster parents, collecting signatures and holding rallies.

In the newspaper, there was a photograph with the caption “Elementary students in the Latin Quarter of Paris on May 31st appealing for support for their classmate, an Algerian immigrant facing deportation.”

On reading this article, my father said, “France is a country that is very aware of human rights,” and my mother said, “Isn’t it great that they do so much for other people.” Even if you want to help a friend, you need courage to actually do something, so I thought the French children were amazing.

Lots of people from lots of different countries live in Tokyo. In fact, people from lots of different countries live in Shinjuku where I live. They have lots of different jobs. Some are English teachers; some are cooks; others may work as cleaners or baby sitters.

Near my house, there are various foreign restaurants such as Indian, Vietnamese, Thai and African. Whenever I pass the Indian restaurant, there is an old Indian man busily baking delicious looking nan. At the Thai restaurant, I couldn’t help laughing when I heard there was a dish called “Tom Yam Kun.” The name sounded so strange! Then in the station building, I sometimes see South American men and women doing their best to keep things clean. On the main street, Korean and Chinese students chat happily as they walk. They all come from far away and are simply doing their best. Their countries, languages and customs may be different, but they are all residents of our town. Thanks to them, we can eat food from different countries and learn about their customs and cultures.

However, for some of them, their lives and jobs are so difficult they can’t even look after their own children properly. Unable to make themselves understood in a foreign country, many of the children feel lonely. I think I should help these children as the French do. One thing I can do now is to teach these children Japanese language and culture kindly.

When my mother first came to Japan she had a hard time because she didn’t understand Japanese, but she says lots of people helped her. I want to have a kind heart like the people who helped my mother. And just like the French children in the newspaper article, I want to become a considerate and courageous person.

I intend to keep things like this close to my heart forever.

* Asahi Shimbun, dated June 8th, 2006