Internship Report Kazimir-san

I did an internship at Groundwork Fukuoka from 5th to 30th of October, 2009. Groundwork Fukuoka is a non-profit organisation with origins in England that has the goal to integrate and revive neighbourhoods and cities in the Fukuoka prefecture and to promote a equitable lifestyle for people in urban and rural areas. It was founded 1994 and has since then developed into an organisation with widespread activities throughout the whole prefecture.
I worked on regular days from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the main office in Fukuoka and with a varying schedule during events on weekends in Fukuoka, Kurume and Jouyou. I completed tasks such as doing research on time banking, especially in the UK and the USA, and preparing a subsequent memo. Other tasks included preparation and participation in product presentation at a slow food event in Kurume, the participation at the member conference, and the recollection of a short dictionary from Japanese to English. I also took part in activities such as helping the Jouyou branch staff with gardening, and writing blogs about Groundwork’s activities.
I created a contact list and a short report on time banking, a recollection of Japanese - English specialised vocabulary and wrote several blogs. I also helped in the preparation of the evaluation of community activities in Yame City in the South of Fukuoka.
My goals doing the internship were to find out about the Japanese NPO system and the way Japanese people are involved in community activities. Also I wanted to improve my Japanese language abilities and to learn more about Japanese organisational and working culture and in how it differs from European approaches, and finally, I wanted to get new inspirations for community activities and voluntary work to take home to Germany.
The internship at Groundwork Fukuoka was a very interesting and challenging experience. Especially my Japanese reading and writing skills have improved profoundly during my time at Groundwork. I also learned a lot about time banking, which is not very developed in Germany and about various ways to improve rural areas and life of people living there. I also learned a lot about Japanese culture and especially the Kyuuschu region.
I liked my time at Groundwork very much and the way of how the staff members took their time to explain my tasks to me even if the communication was very difficult at times, because my level Japanese is not very fluent yet. When I encountered difficulties or further problems, my colleagues and superiors were always ready to help me out and to show me ways of how to deal with the difficulties of the Japanese language and writing system. I will never forget the nice time I had here and the fun it was to work with my colleagues.