Individuals and organizations outside the College who
have expressed support for CCSF include the Acad. Senate of CCC, American Assn.
of Univ. Professors, (nat’l) American Fed. of Teachers, Asm. Tom Ammiano, SF
Sup. John Avalos, Walter G. Bumphus of AACC, California Fed. of Teachers, CCC
Board of Governors, CSU Faculty Assn. (CFA), SF Sup. David Campos, Chinese for
Affirmative Action, College of Marin Acad. Senate, Comm. Coll. of Pennsylvania
Faculty & Staff AFT 2026, Council of U.C. Faculty Assns., Faculty Assn. of CA Comm. Colleges, CCC Chancellor Brice Harris, CUNY
Professional Staff Congress, L.A. TImes Editorial Board, S.F. Labor Council,
Sup. Jane Kim, Mayor Ed Lee, San Mateo Fed. of Teachers, Sen. Mark Leno, Sup.
Eric Mar, Peralta Fed. of Teachers, Asm. Phil Ting, UC Student Workers Union
UAW 2865, United College Employees of Fashion Institute of Tech., United
Faculty Contra Costa CCD, United Faculty Miami Dade College, United Professors
of Marin AFT 1610, SF Sup. Scott Wiener, and Sen. Leland Yee.
Before going back to campus, I wanted to respond to a letter from Yoshiko, a former student when I was at John Adams somewhere between 1986 and 1988. She's Japanese and sent some posters thanking people outside of Japan for helping at the time of the 2011 tsunami. I shared her posters with my students and put their pictures online.
https://sites.google.com/a/mail.ccsf.edu/tina-n-martin/
I told her about the Tonga-Japan connection, which I learned about from a posting online honoring ‘Ana Taufe’ulungaki, Tonga's Minister of Education and Training. I explained that 'Ana is the person who hosted me when I went back to
Tonga in 2008. She and I started
teaching in the same village the same year, and her father was a teacher at the
school where I taught. All her brothers
died early in life, so hers was a family of all girls, and all the girls were
outstanding leaders in education, but they died young—just not as young as
their brothers. ...She’s a really kind, good person who’s turned
into a “strong woman” after being a gentle, shy young woman. She definitely does not like the limelight,
but she loves Tonga, so she “dutifully” accepts the positions and the
awards. She never married, but she
adopted one of her sister’s sons and brought him up—something fairly common in
Tonga.
When I was in Tonga, I don’t remember a single Japanese person
there. I wrote to 'Ana to congratulate her on her award, and she wrote back
that Japan has done a lot to help Tonga.
There are only a few Japanese living in Tonga but they now have an
Embassy there, and over 30 Japanese volunteers are working in the schools in
various areas but mainly in Soroban (What's that?) and in the Japanese
language. But she says the Japanese are also in other Ministries, at Vaiola
Hospital (where her daughter-in-law practices medicine), agriculture especially
in fisheries, IT, and renewable energy.
There are also some Japanese restaurants, which weren't there when I was
there. The Japanese government provides a great deal of assistance in various
areas but especially in Education and Health. Vava'u and 'Eua High Schools
(outer islands) were funded by the Japanese as were many primary schools. She
says the Tongans are hoping they will fund Tonga College. Our new Vaiola
hospital was also funded by them.
Japan has really
made a contribution to my former (1970 & 1971) home! Tomorrow I'll tell you more about Yoshiko.
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