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Pursuing Grandmother of the Starlings' Dream: Canada, English, and the Starling Home

(著) 柴川明子

作品詳細

When I was 12 years old, I learned about Helen Keller’s tutor Anne Sullivan’s Perkins School for the Blind from a girls’ magazine about a teacher training course. When I was 16, I made friends with a young blind woman, and I heard Helen Keller’s last lecture in Japan at age 20, when I also met a blind school toddler and his mother. All of this has moved me a lot and has been very inspiring to me. And I had a dream that one day I would like to create a place where everyone can meet and interact. I was 20 years old in 1955.
After that, through various steps, forty years later, in 1995, that dream came true, and we started a program called the Mukudori (Starling) Home/ Fureai no Kai. In 2005, we celebrated our 10th anniversary. With many people’s cooperation over ten years, I was happy to conduct activities through trial and error, but it made me quite tired, and I wondered what to do afterward. I wanted to take a break, and the following year I had a year’s vacation.
At first, I thought I should suspend the Mukudori Home / Fureai no Kai for a year, but it was not possible to do because the participants didn’t accept that idea. At that time, Vice Chairman Noriko Maeda, (Vice Representative at that time), took on responsibility for a year based on the idea that “even if the activity is light, it is better to keep doing it.” What a blessing it was that she took responsibility.
Just the same year, my eldest daughter, an English teacher at a junior college, was allowed to study abroad for a year and decided to look at the University of Toronto Graduate School, so I decided to go to Toronto as well. That year, my grandson (my daughter’s son) studied abroad at a high school near Toronto. My husband and I spent the first 20 days in Toronto together, and then he went back to Sapporo for work. I got tests and medications for pre-existing conditions, and I made the plan to stay in Toronto, and every two and a half months, I returned and stayed in Sapporo for half a month. I returned four times during the year.

In this way, with many people’s support, I have felt refreshed this past year, and I am continuing my Mukudori activities for now. We are about to celebrate our 20th anniversary in a year. This one-year vacation was not meticulously planned initially, but I enjoyed my daily life in my 70s, valuing the connection with the people I met in Canada.
When the vacation was over, and I looked back on it, I recall many mysterious encounters, and I was surprised that I made many warm connections. It’s been seven years since I returned to Japan, but now I want to summarize this valuable experience. I have a feeling of gratitude for those who took care of us, and I want to reaffirm the dream I pursued.
“Letters from Canada” is a collection of 48 letters that I wrote on the Mukudori Home “Akiko Shibakawa’s Room” on the Mukudori Home website to the Fureai Association members who continued their activities in Japan during my vacation.
“Parent and Child 3rd Generation English Struggle” is the actual situation of my English learning struggle in Canada.
It’s a diary that describes my thoughts on learning English and a vivid record of the recorded conversations with my eldest daughter and grandchildren.
I wrote “Bridge with Canada -- About Mami Koide” about my encounter with Mami Koide, who connected me to Canada and created the opportunity to launch the Mukudori Home/Fureai no Kai.
“In Search of Friendship” is a summary of my life’s journey leading up to the start of the Mukudori Home and Fureai Association activities.
I looked back on the shameful steps that I can’t be proud of.

【Author profile】
Akiko Shibakawa