Sri Lankan youth to sail high on the Nippon Maru
Interview by Nilma Dole
Sri Lanka will send a team of 12
energetic youth from diverse communities to set sail on the popular
Nippon Maru after a lapse of 7 years. The delegation will see Thushara
Dahanayaka, Lakmini Wickramasinghe, Thilini Mithundi, Sasika Rasanga,
Nilush Madhushanthil, Lahiru Madhushan, Rouzul Lahi, Bhagya Senaratne,
Nipuna Ravinath, Liyanapathirage Kithsiri, N.Navarajakumaran and
S.Mahendra setting sail on this enlightening journey. Here we spoke to
the National Leader of Ship for World Youth 2010, Thushara Dahanayaka
about it.
1. What is this Nippon Maru Peace Ship about?
 The Ship for World Youth (SWY) is a unique international youth
cultural exchange program organised by the Government of Japan. The most
prestigious program of its kind, SWY brings together over 250 youth from
around the world to learn about international cooperation and
understanding.
Over a two-month period, youth are involved in a wide range of
activities aimed at fostering cultural sensitivity, understanding and
friendship.
Most of the program is conducted onboard the cruise liner Nippon Maru,
with some activities scheduled in Japan, and others in a number of
seaports that are visited in the course of the voyage. Commencing in
1989, the program is run on an annual basis. Each year a different mix
of nations are invited to participate and a different ports of call are
incorporated into the itinerary.
2. How are the 12 Sri Lankan youth participants selected to go on
this program?
The selection process was handled by the Embassy of Japan and the
National Youth Services Council of Sri Lanka (NYSC). NYSC published
advertisements in Sinhala, Tamil and English newspapers.
Some three hundred youth applied for this and the NYSC conducted
several rounds of interviews and selected ten youth out of 300.
After that, the youth had a final interview with a board consisting
of Japanese embassy officials, NYSC officials and an official from the
Ship for World Youth Alumni Association of Sri Lanka which is an
organization of ex-participants of this program. From the 10 youth, 6
were finally selected. Yet another 10 youth were selected by the Embassy
after several rounds of interviews and they also faced the final
interview of which five of them were finally selected.
The National Leader was selected by the Embassy through an interview
bringing the the total number of 12 youth.
3. When and how will you all travel in the Nippon Maru? Will you meet
other international participants on this ship?
We are leaving to Japan today on the aeroplane and there will be some
programs where we will participate in Japan for around 10 days. After
these, we will travel to Yokohama city and embark on the ship together
with other 15 international participants. After we embark on the ship,
we have different programs such as course discussions, national
presentations of every country, seminars, cultural exchange programs,
group activities, club activities, exhibitions and two visiting
countries namely India and the U.A.E.
4. Why didn’t Sri Lanka participate earlier and why now after a lapse
of 7 years?
Since the beginning of this program, Sri Lanka did participate in it
many times before.However, since 2002 Sri Lanka did not participate due
to various reasons. This time, the Government of Japan selected
countries and Sri Lanka was nominated.
5. What is the purpose of having such a delegation on the Nippon Maru?
The main objective is to create awareness among youth about this
program because we believe that the exposure gained through this the Sri
Lankan youth will really help them contribute to our society. In
addition to this, they can develop their personality and attitudes in a
positive manner.
Also, we can convince the officials from Japan that this program has
given recognition to Sri Lanka so the youth can be motivated to have
more opportunities in the future. In this way, we can also bring
together youth from all communities on one platform and strengthen the
unity amongst the youth in Sri Lanka. |
