Home > Bilateral Relations> JICA Volunteers in Palau Keiko Kitahara/Solid Waste Management

JICA Volunteers in Palau

◆Alii from Palau!

Ms. Keiko Kitahara
JICA Volunteer
Division of Solid Waste Management

Alii!
My name is Keiko Kitahara. I’m working for the Division of Solid Waste Management, Bureau of Public Works, MPIIC as a JICA Volunteer since October 2013. The big goal of our office is to reduce the waste carried into the National M-dock Landfill. I’m working with 4 office staffs and 8 Landfill staffs to achieve this goal.

3R Workshop at Meyuns Elementary School

My main task is to educate the public and conduct awareness program through the various activities about 3R. For example, we visit schools and conduct 3R workshops for students. All states of Palau are our responsibility therefore we visited not only Koror and Babeldaob but also Kayangel in the North and Peleliu in the South. The workshop consists of 3R presentation, activity games and quizzes to understand 3R more deeply. Students (in each school) are basically gentle and active, and they seem to be enjoying our workshop. When I asked them “What does 3R stand for?” all the students answered “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!!” in cheerful voices. Most of them know about 3R very well, which was a good surprise for me.

With my colleagues

In addition, we are active in having a 3R booth at every event such as Independence Day, Earth Day and PCC events and so on. We distribute the 3R brochures to encourage the public to practice 3R.

In addition to the 3R activities, we are also in charge of managing the beverage container recycling program operated by the Koror State SWM. We check and monitor the number of imported and exported beverage containers, and then make financial reports. We recently finished reporting for the 4 years period of the program.

And moreover, we started a new recycling project in collaboration with the Koror State SWM, which recycles/remolds waste glass into a glass craft named “Belau Eco Glass Craft”. I hope it will become one of the popular souvenirs made in Palau in the future.

Beautiful Ocean

Staffs of Division of Solid Waste Management are very nice and kind. Actually, when I started working, I was surprised and confused by the “Palauan style” that is quite different from that of Japan. However, now, I got used to this “Palauan style” and feel this is totally my style. I’m very glad to work with them and enjoy my work.

Sometimes on weekends, my boss takes me to a Rock Islands tour and fishing. Now I know how to fish in a Palauan way. At lunch time, we eat the fish that I just caught as BBQ and Sashimi. The tour to the Rock Islands with locals is the most precious and luxurious moment that I’ve ever had. The beautiful ocean of the Rock Islands never bores me.

My Host Family

Next I would like to introduce my host family. I’m staying with a Palauan family at Olngebang, Meketii. My family loves BBQ and they often have it when it’s somebody’s birthday or any holiday (Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year). I always enjoy the time I spend with them. They treat me very well as a family member and give me many opportunities to know the real Palauan Life. I just want to say “Thank you so much”. My experience here in Palau is too much satisfying to explain all of it. I would like to enjoy thoroughly the remaining few months of my life in Palau.