Lana Wilkinson was born and raised in Mie, Japan, and moved to Kentucky, USA when she was 15 years old. Here, she received the opportunity to interact with the multicultural community. The experience encouraged her to further pursue cross-cultural interactions in the new chapter of her life, university. Deciding to attend Sophia University in Japan, she has been exposed to a diverse group of people at the Faculty of Liberal Arts. Interacting with people with different backgrounds and values has taught her to become more interested in the state of world affairs. One example was the refugee situation on a global scale. Filled with curiosity, she has become a member of the refugee support circle in Sophia, SRSG. As a member of this group, she deepens her knowledge regarding refugee matters and hopes to further contribute to the group by assisting the refugees who are struggling in Japan. Through working on this project, she has diligently educated herself on matters in Syria. With her formative knowledge regarding refugee situations in Syria, her interviews with Yasser enabled her to discover more insight into refugees. Lana hopes the readers visiting the website receive the same epiphany that she did from those interviews, and the opportunity to deepen their understanding of refugee issues, especially in Japan.
Ayano was born and raised in Japan with international interests. After representation in foreign media allowed her to realize the significance of being critical of and widening one’s perspective, she enrolled in the Faculty of Liberal Arts (FLA), Sophia University, to study across various fields in one of the most diverse learning environments that can be found in Tokyo. In her last semester at FLA, where she liked studying so much that she extended her studies, she joined Refugee Voices Japan as she seconded the concept of being the voice together of a particular group that may not always be represented fairly in media, which reminded her of her starting point. Through the research and interviews with Yasser, she was able to change her conception of Syria from “a country where you only know from the news” (which was the title given to one of the seminars he gave at a university) to “a country where millions of civilians are forced to seek refuge due to the ruthless oppression and decade-lasting war” by joining a voice of one of those millions. She earnestly hopes the visitors to this project are able to do the same.
Ayano Soma
5th Year, Anthropology-Sociology Major, Faculty of Liberal Arts
‘Growing Up Under Assad’s Regime‘
Megumi Mallari
3rd Year, Political Science Major, Faculty of Liberal Arts
‘Forced to A New Life,‘ ‘Honne on Home‘
Meg was born and raised in Davao, Philippines where she was fortunate to have been exposed to various community support and engagement initiatives that taught her the promising impact of grassroots movements. After moving to Japan, she entered university with the goal of taking part in something that contributes to the alleviation of social issues in a Japanese context. With this in mind, she has spent her time in university so far taking an active role in the Sophia Refugee Support Group (SRSG) where she is inspired and surrounded by fellow students who are empowered to contribute to refugee issues. Now serving as the President of SRSG, she recognized the need to learn about the stories of refugees in order to aptly provide them support and enthusiastically joined the Refugee Voices Japan Project. She is honored to have been given the opportunity to relay a part of Yasser’s refugee journey to a wider audience and hopes that reading the narratives on this website will encourage the public to recognize the existence, complexity, severity, and urgency of refugee issues in Japan. Moving forward, Meg is eager to deepen her theoretical and practical knowledge of human rights and security and learn new ways to contribute to humanitarian affairs in the Philippines, Japan, and on a global scale.
Christina is Russian-Japanese, born and raised in Japan. Due to being raised by her foreign mother, who is a single parent receiving public assistance, Christina became very interested in the sociopolitical and economic issues revolving around the protection of people from lower-income households. With that in mind, she has been actively assisting those who find it difficult to afford daily necessities through the Sophia Refugee Support Group (SRSG), currently serving as the vice president. She took the initiative in deepening her understanding of the refugee issue in Japan by taking part in Refugee Voices Japan, as a means of bringing theoretical and practical knowledge hand-in-hand. From listening and reading the stories of the different narrators, Christina hopes that readers are enlightened of not only the various experiences of survival but also the complexity and weight of the situation. She nonetheless is greatly honored to be given the responsibility of conveying Yasser’s hardships and successes to the wider audience and hopes to enhance and provide her theoretical and practical support in human rights not only in her home countries but also globally.
Christina Fukuoka
3rd Year, Political Science Major, Faculty of Liberal Arts
‘The First Role for Many Actors: Waiter‘
