EWC graduate degree fellow, Blain Keller has been working this summer 2011 as a volunteer intern at the Japan Association for the United Nations World Food Program (JAWFP), where APLP (09-10) alumnus  Hitomi Yokote works as Executive Officer.

Blain’s Boren Fellowship and intensive Japanese language program were canceled after the earthquakes happened in Japan. After leaving Japan when the program was canceled, Blain decided to use the rest of the summer to serve as a volunteer intern in Japan. He recently provided an update, which is presented below.

Blain Keller and Hitomi Yokote at the JAWFP office in Yokohoma, Japan.

It has been about a month since I returned to Yokohama, and everything has been going great! I have been keeping busy working as a volunteer intern at the Japan Association for the United Nations World Food Program (JAWFP) office, taking online Japanese language courses, and making good progress on my master’s thesis research.

I am really enjoying my volunteer internship at JAWFP. Hitomi Yokote-san and all of the staff who I work with are very kind and passionate about their work, and the work that I have been doing so far (administrative assistance, translation work regarding the UN School Meals Programme and support programs for those affected by the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, and organizing major volunteer events) has been very rewarding.

Links:

• Visit the JAWFP website (Japanese)
• Learn more about the Boren Fellowships