By Thang Leng Leng
With the growing likelihood to live a life of longevity today, conversations among peers have increasingly gathered around the desire to spend time well and with a sense of purpose. These conversations often remind me of Ms. Miwa Natori, the founder of Ban Rom Sai, an orphanage established in 1999 in Chiangmai suburb for children whose parents died from AIDs or have contracted HIV from their mothers (https://www.banromsai.org/)
Miwa was in her mid-sixties when we met some ten years ago for a research project about Japanese women living in Southeast Asia. I could still vividly recall her narrative of how she decided to set up Ban Rom Sai (Lit. A house under the banyan tree). She belongs to the elite class closely connected with Europe, having graduated from a well-reputed institute in Germany in the 1970s with a degree in commercial design. She soon started her own design studio company in Tokyo but became discouraged with the money-chasing reality in businesses.
At the age of 45, she decided to leave Japan and settle in Europe. Her life was transformed during one chance visit to Chiangmai when she was invited by a German doctor friend who volunteered at a hospital catered to HIV patients. She was deeply moved by the women she met, who, at the end of their lives, could not stop worrying about their HIV-infected children that would become orphans once they passed away.
The encounter sparked her desire to build an orphanage for HIV-infected orphans. She found advanced medication for them and managed to keep them healthy. Two years later, the orphanage was established with the help of her Japanese and other international connections. The orphanage started with 12 orphans, and eventually expanded to 30 ranging from 7 to 19 years old.
She sent the children to schools in a nearby village, but they initially faced discrimination and were forced to quit school. Miwa was determined to change the situation and started with education outreach efforts to raise community understanding of the HIV disease. She built a library, computer room, and activity hall on the orphanage premises and opened these facilities to the community from the donations raised. This effectively promoted interaction between the community and the orphanage children and decreased discrimination against the children over time.
To ensure the sustainability of the orphanage, Miwa started a social enterprise beginning with the establishment of a handicraft workshop to train women from the community to produce handicrafts for sale. She also built guest houses on the compound for tourist rental (https://hoshihana-village.com/en/), open a restaurant in the city, and taught the children how to draw, make pottery, and cloth dyeing. Miwa targeted Japanese consumers to secure a market for children’s art and handicrafts. She opened a shop in Kamakura, operated an online shop, and set up counters in big Japanese department stores. During the interview, she returned to Japan once every six months to accept interviews and encourage people in Japan to help support the cause.
It was not unusual to learn of volunteer engagements among the Japanese women – both old and young – living in Southeast Asia during our research. Miwa is extraordinary for her determination and leadership in Ban Rom Sai; many more may consider their contributions as ‘small acts,’ but still playing a role towards building a better community through their local volunteering efforts. At the same time, some have found a sense of purpose and meaning through these acts – big or small.
In your next travel to Southeast Asia, perhaps you will chance upon some giving opportunities that will make a difference to the lives of others and yourself.
Thang Leng Leng
Associate Professor Thang Leng Leng is an anthropologist at the Department of Japanese Studies, National University of Singapore. A former Head of the Department, she is concurrently the co-Director of Next Age Institute (NUS) and co-leads the Purposeful Longevity workstream of Health District@Queesntown initiative. A column writer in Zaobao, she has published her collection of essays from 零距离 in her book titled 莫忘我.
Please refer to the following Chinese publication as one of the sites that this essay has cited and referenced from: Thang, L.L. 莫忘我 （Mo-wang-wo -Forget-me-not), Global Publisher, 2015 and Science Publisher (Beijing), 2020.
