| Migrate 9 | |
August 15, 2016
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| In this society, people could work anywhere thanks to the Internet environment and efficient translation machines. But people preferred to live in cities. Cities had shops, restaurants, libraries, hospitals, etc. However, the number of people living in the countryside was increasing as well: People who liked nature, who liked silence, who liked gardening, etc. But even so, they lived close to the cities. Nobody willingly wanted to live in super-remote areas like this village. In this village about 100 people lived; it was about half of its size ten years ago. Their average age was about 60 years old; it was about 10 years older than it was ten years ago. During this ten years, the school closed after its last student graduated, and a food and daily goods shop closed recently. The village leader went to the government office of this district and asked a government worker for advice; they were farmers but they needed food they couldn't make enough, and needed other essential
The worker checked the web-shops on the Internet, but web-shops demanded delivery fees that were higher than the price the villagers could afford. The leader asked how many people were needed for the shop to deliver. The worker said that the lowest number was 200 people, and they could send a shopping car once a week. The leader sighed. So the leader and the worker gathered the villagers. They gathered in the old school building. The leader asked about how to increase their population. One of them said that they only had houses and land that the former owners gave up, so the only thing they could do was to fix them and lend them out for free. The others agreed. The worker made a homepage for this application and uploaded on the website of this government. There were no applicants until one day. One day the worker came to the leader's house and said, "There were about 100 applicants." The leader laughed, "No kidding. You said a couple of days ago there was not a single applicant, right?" The worker explained: They were all foreigners. They were all the villagers in a small village in a country. In their country there has been a war for several years and they were tired. The leader of the village happened to find our website, and thanks to the translation machine, they came to know this was a chance to immigrate. The leader said, "B…but, I think, wouldn't they return after the war ended. I feel sympathy for their situation, but we are not the UN or a human rights NPO." The worker said that they promised that half of them would remain if the war ended. The leader wondered whether that type of promise could work and needed to ask the other villagers. He asked some villagers and one of them said, "Why don't we talk to the villagers in person?" One week later all the villagers gathered in the former school building. The worker prepared the Skype set. On the big monitor there were the villagers from the foreign country. The leader of the village expressed appreciation to the villagers on this side. He explained how their situation was difficult and how they wanted to migrate to this village. While he was speaking, the sound of bombing sounded in the distance. The villagers on this side were overwhelmed. After his presentation finished, the leader of this side said, "Thank you very much for your precise explanation. We are very sorry about your country's situation and we hope your county has peace as soon as possible. And … this is hard to ask after I heard your severe situation but I have to ask as a leader of this …" Then the other village leader opened his mouth, "I know your position and I totally understand what you want to know. We talked about this again and again. If your village accepts us, half of us won't return here. We even already decided which families would remain by a drawing. We are in an urgent situation. Fortunately, our countries are in the same time zone. I know some of us can talk with each other like this without returning here. I promise this." The villagers on this side said nothing. The leader opened his mouth, "I see. Thank you for your remarks. I'll mail you about our decision one week later. Thank you very … " Suddenly one of villagers next to him asked, "What do you plant?" The leader on the other side didn't understand. However, one of the villagers next to him replied, "We are planting various vegetables. We feed cows and chickens. If we didn't have this war, we could sell them in the city and we could make a living …" He became silent. The villager next to him said, "Do you know XXX?" The villagers on this side said no. "XXX is a very sweet fruit. If you eat it once, you can't forget its taste." Soon another villager brought a fruit and showed it on the screen. The villager tool it and said, "Yes, this is it!" The villager bit it and his face lit up. The others around him were looking at him in an envious face. On this side there was a sigh. One villager said, "It's a pity! We can't even smell it through this video." There was a big laugh from both sides. From this point, it became a relaxed mood and they started to ask various questions each other's side. The more they knew about the other county's villagers, the more they came to know that they were farmers. They had much in common. The leader on the other side suddenly started to dance singing their traditional song. The villagers followed him. It was humorous but somehow powerful. When they finished, a big applause occurred. And this side villagers started to perform their dance … They didn't know how this project was going to proceed, but they were able to feel that something new had already started. (To be continued …) |
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*essential 必要不可欠の
*afford 金銭的余裕のある
*in person 直接会って
*overwhelm 圧倒する
*drawing くじ
*light up 明るくなる
*in common 共通の