Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 26 (1): Short Articles

Sharing my volunteering and study abroad
experiences with my classmates
Megumi Tokuda
Faculty of English Literature, Kyoto Women’s University<daaaaaaance.55@gmail.com>

Introduction
My name is Megumi Tokuda and I am a fourth-year student studying English Literature at Kyoto
Women’s University. When I was a second-year student, I studied abroad in Edmonton, Canada foreight months to improve my English skills through a program at my university. I had a fantastic
experience in Canada because the connections I made with many local communities made me amore outgoing, persistent, responsible and positive person. When I returned to Japan, I wasrequired to make a short presentation about my study abroad experience. Instead of doing atypical PowerPoint presentation, I decided to make a digital story about my time in Edmonton.
This short reflective article will share some of my overseas memories such as working withhomeless people and studying First Nations culture as well as the things I learned creating a digitalstorytelling project.

Studying and Volunteering in Canada
I was very surprised to learn that there are so many homeless people after I started living inCanada. At the same time, I felt I wanted to know their background stories through doing
volunteer work. Therefore, I asked one of my advisors at the University of Alberta, the school
where I studied abroad, about volunteering at a homeless shelter. She supported my application
for a volunteer position and told me that the interviews are like a “three-legged race.” I did notknow what my advisor meant but I felt that interviewing for a volunteer position would be aneffective way to develop my speaking skills. To prepare for the interviews, I had to look into thecharacteristics of a particular homeless shelter and explain why I wanted to volunteer there. Inaddition, I needed to learn some basic facts about Canadian homeless people. I had interviews
with five organisations. My advisor recommended me to try for an interview first with one of theleading legal-support organizations called Edmonton Community Legal Centre. Actually I didn’t get
beyond the interview stage with them, but the interviewer said since I was very passionate about
helping individuals who are homeless, she wanted to suggest some other organizations where I
might help out and make a difference in this very important cause. Thanks to her suggestion, twohomeless shelters in Edmonton, the Boyle Street Community Services and Hope Mission,interviewed me and allowed me to be a volunteer. As a result, I volunteered at these shelters for a
total of 145 hours over 5 months.

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 26 (1): Short Articles
These organizations support homeless people in different ways. At the Hope Mission, I mainly
cooked and served food to homeless people. Since I could communicate with different volunteers
every time I volunteered, I tried to cherish this “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

I made a good friend there who was studying to be a social worker, and she taught me a lot.
Since there were so many homeless people going there, the volunteers had limited time and space
so everyone needed to work efficiently. I also joined several events in which Home Mission was asponsor. For example, in the ‘Cold Hands, Warm Hearts’ campaign, we held a fundraising walk to
support hungry men, women and children. It was a very successful event that raised a grand total
of $42,848.55 Canadian dollars.

In the Boyle Street Community Services, my main duty was to assist the work of theorganization in different ways. When I first started, I was the only volunteer and theadministrators regarded me as a visitor so they did not ask me to do many tasks. Moreover, since
all the staff are professionals such as nurses and nursing students, they are busy people who areused to helping homeless people so they know what they need to do. Therefore, I often felt likethere was a lack of communication with the staff. I guess we were also feeling a language barrier
with each other. Despite such difficulties, I tried to make them welcome me warmly. I greeted
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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 26 (1): Short Articles
everyone with a smile and asked lots of questions and made notes when I did not understandsomething. I also kept thinking how to interact with homeless people. They gradually accepted meinto their community.

After a tough 4-month orientation period, the other staff placed their trust in me. I was put incharge of the coffee service, which is essential for homeless people, and I also helped train new
volunteers. Even though it took four months for them to rely on me, I realized that there is aheavy responsibility to help people in need. I still remember my advisor telling me during the 'Cold
Hands, Warm Heart' event, “You’re not just volunteering for yourself to meet people and learn
English, you are actually helping Edmonton and the community.” These words touched me deeply
and helped give me confidence about my new life in Canada.
The homeless people I met were really kind to me. This completely changed my perspectives
about homeless people. I used to believe stereotypes such as most homeless people are often
suffering from mental illnesses. While it may be true that the homeless tend to have a higher rateof mental illness than the non-homeless and have difficulty reintegrating into society again, I had
learnt to be afraid of approaching and talking to them. However, since there are so many
homeless in Canada, I began to question these stereotypes. I noticed that many of the homelesspeople who visited the Boyle Street Mission are Indigenous people. They taught me some Creewords and talked to me about their culture. One older Indigenous man remembered my name andthe discussions we had. It was a really moving moment for me because every time he saw me hewould say “Megumi!” Although this man was really old and suffered from epileptic seizures, hewas always cheerful.
Many people who come to the Boyle Street mission have difficult lives and abuse alcohol anddrugs. It was impossible for the staff to deal with these serious issues, but they provided people
with information about various social services, food, and a warm place to meet. The homelesspeople I met had colorful backgrounds so I often felt sorry about their situations. I would listen towhat they said but never meddle in anyone’s life. The First Nations people I volunteered with andmet at the shelter made me want to learn more about their history. Therefore, I took a Native
Studies course which focused on Aboriginal history in Canada. I enjoyed this class and learned thatIndigenous people have faced many challenges such as racism and poverty.
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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 26 (1): Short Articles
Sharing My Overseas Experiences in Japan
When I returned to Japan, I wanted to share my memories with my family and friends. I also
had to make a PowerPoint Presentation for a presentation class about my study abroadexperience. I bumped into a former teacher of mine in the campus convenience store, talked
about my trip to Canada, and mentioned that I was nervous about the upcoming presentation. Hesuggested that I make a short video about my time in Canada because “you already know how todo it.”

Before going to Edmonton, I had taken a creative writing course and the final project was agroup digital storytelling project. At the time, I had no idea what a digital story was and did nothave confidence in my ICT skills to make a short video. According to Nishioka (2016), digitalstorytelling is the “process of crafting, multimodal narratives using video editing software or Web
2.0-based applications” (p. 39). It involves putting different items such as photos, video clips,music, voice files, written text, and transition effects into one story. By the end of the creative
writing course, I could use iMovie to make a creative video about an original group of superheroes.
The more I thought about it, a digital story would be a great way to share my study abroad
experiences. My smartphone had lots of photos and short videos and I felt sure that my classmateswould rather watch a digital story than a PowerPoint presentation. I ended up making a 6-minutedigital story divided into three parts. In the first part, I showed positive images of Canada such assightseeing spots and my fulfilling life studying abroad. For example, I included photos of thefriends I made when I belonged to a local kendo club and dodgeball team. I also talked about what
students can expect to experience studying at the University of Alberta. After that, I had thepositive sounds of Indigenous music playing in the background as I talked about my volunteeringexperiences and why there are so many homeless people in Canada. I examined the problems theyface, especially those of the Aboriginal women who live on the streets. In the final part of thevideo, I concluded that we need to face problems shared by the world’s Indigenous peoples and do
more to help the homeless in Japan. My classmates really seemed to enjoy my digital story andsome of them said they changed their mind about Canada.
Conclusion
Through volunteering at these two homeless shelters I found that many of the homeless wereIndigenous people. After meeting many Indigenous people with a wide range of values, I have
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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 26 (1): Short Articles
come to explore their difficulties and dilemmas and let others know about this too. Digitalstorytelling could inspire students and provide them with important visual images. I believe thatthe video I created also helped them learn more about the problems Indigenous people face evennow. Thanks to my experiences in Canada, I broadened my horizons and started to see life fromdifferent angles. After I finish my undergraduate studies, I now plan on going to graduate school tostudy anthropology and I would like to focus on Indigenous Peoples in Canada.
Reference
Nishioka, H. (2016). Analysing language development in a collaborative digital storytelling project:
Sociocultural perspectives. System, 62, 39-52.

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