21Above: March 2019, Educational partnership agreement signed with African Development Bank. President Teru-michi (left) and AfDB Senior Vice President Boamah.Bottom: September 2023, Students participating in the “Learning from Africa” program at AfDB headquarters.Photo provided by AfDB©Roland Tayoroa first-year student about her motivation for joining the program. I was very surprised when she said, “I entered Sophia University because my goal was to work for an international organization. However, I realized that my role was not to pursue a career in such institutions, but rather to create jobs and contribute to local communities through starting businesses. That’s why I decided to visit Cameroon.”In the past, “doing business in Africa” meant aiming to join a major trading company. Now, students think of it as their own per-sonal matter. It is possible to start a business in Africa while still in school and to achieve success a few years later. Nomoto: Africa is interesting in the sense that some kind of “so-cial prototype” is still evident. Essentially, the actions of individual members of the society decide the state of society. In other words, each individual’s action has an impact on society and changes so-ciety. In Africa, this is very easy to see. As I mentioned earlier in reference to entrepreneurs, Africa is a place where you can see and feel how your actions change reality. People in Africa “own” the social problem as their own problem. This sense of ownership is crucial in order for society to be robust. This is much more difficult to recognize in Japan as many of these actions are institutionalized as public systems. However, people’s sense of ownership on social issues existed at the time of the Meiji period and also during the postwar reconstruction and growth era. I sense that the current young people in Japan have a feeling of stagnation, believing that whatever they do, nothing will change. They would benefit from experiences in Africa where they can learn or feel that their actions can have an impact on society. Terumichi: That is exactly the aim of Sophia University’s short-term social engagement “Learn from Africa” program we are of-fering in Africa. Instead of focusing on “studying Africa” or “study-ing in Africa,” the program’s primary goal is to stimulate Japanese students through a firsthand experience in Africa. While each stu-dent’s experience is different, the program provides a valuable op-portunity to gain a new perspective on Japan as well. Students can draw inspiration from interacting with young people in Africa. YOSHIAKI TERUMICHI
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