Oberlin Shansiと本学とのフェローシップ交流

2020年1月は、フェロー仲間と一緒に「おせち」を囲んで迎えました。お正月休みに、荷物をまとめ真っ先に向かった京都の伏見稲荷大社は、今では想像できない程多くの観光客でにぎわっていました。コロナが急速に蔓延し始めた事を受け、至急米国に戻って来るように連絡が来たのは2月の事でした。私は、春休み期間を利用し、インド北部、ヒマラヤ付近を訪れていました。ディレクターに連絡をしながら、不安な気持ちでヒマラヤを下ったのを今でも鮮明に覚えています。

日本へ帰国した頃、桜美林大学では春学期のオンライン授業の開講に向けた準備が進められていました。フェロー仲間が米国からリモートで働く事を選んだ中、日本での滞在歴が他のフェローより長い私は、日本に残る事を決めました。通常であれば招聘教員と交流する機会も多いのですが、この年はWebsiteのコンテンツ作成・オンラインでの情報提供にも力を入れました。コロナ禍の日本でフェローとして勤めた1年間はかけがえのないもので、私を大きく成長させてくれました。異国の地に残り、フェローシップを終えたいという決断を後押ししてくれたデイレクターや教職員の方々に感謝しています。

I am Leah Aki Wood, current Returned Fellow/Grants and Fellowships Coordinator for Oberlin Shansi and 2018-2020 Shansi Fellow at J.F. Oberlin University (JFOU) in Machida, Japan, where I taught English language and supported extracurricular and study abroad programs.

In January of 2020, I rang in the new year with friends visiting from the US and one of my co-Fellows, all packed into my tiny apartment where we enjoyed traditional osechi fare and sake. We left the next day for Kyoto where we visited Fushimi Inari-taisha, a shrine famous for its thousands of tori gates. I was shocked by the crowd as we shuffled along in a river of unmasked humans––and now I can’t even remember what that was like.

I went to India in late February and visited the Lady Doak Fellow and then later the Jagori Grameen Fellow. A couple days after we’d been covered in colorful powders to celebrate Holi in Rakkar, Austin (the Jagori Fellow) and I received Shansi’s emails first indicating optional departure followed by one 24 hours later with a mandatory departure order. This reflected the close attention by Executive Director Gavin Tritt and Deputy Director Ted Samuel to the hour by hour development of Covid-19. I sent frantic WhatsApp messages to Ted and Gavin indicating that I didn’t want to go back to the US, and they responded quickly and thoughtfully, offering to discuss it further once I was back in Japan. After many cups of black tea, handfuls of cashews and dried coconut, and a long walk into the foothills of the Himalayas, Austin and I slowly came to terms with what was happening to the world and to the remainder of our Fellowships.

After returning to Japan, JFOU worked swiftly to move the spring semester online. My co-fellows were already back in the US and planned to teach remotely, but I was still resistant to the idea of going back. I’d built up a life in Japan over the last year and a half. I was confident that given my isolated living situation, that I have family in Japan, and my family in the US felt comfortable with me staying, that I would be more useful to JFOU in Machida than in Oberlin. After ensuring my safety and agreeing to regular check-ins with Ted, Shansi agreed to let me stay. For that, I am forever grateful.

Coming back to Oberlin as the Grants and Fellowships Coordinator for Shansi was unique this year since, due to the pandemic, there are no Visiting Scholars. I’ve turned my attention to updating the website and working on media projects. Past and current fellows generously sent self-recorded interviews about their experiences, and with those I constructed a short video which you can view here. I also had the honor of designing the Annual Report (please look out for it next week). Though I assembled them, neither of these projects would have been possible without the participants and all of those who support Shansi in its work to create impactful opportunities.

Being a Shansi Fellow changed my life. I can speak directly to how the Fellowship placed me in a position to develop myself both professionally and personally. I’ve found more clarity with what drives me. I know that I’m not the only one to have felt this, and I hope that I won’t be the last. With your generous support we can ensure that there will be more generations of Fellows. If you are able to donate to Shansi this year, please visit www.shansi.org/donate to give online or find instructions for mailing. It makes a difference, and for that, we can’t thank you enough.

We appreciate your time and consideration and wish you well during these trying times.

Sincerely,
Leah Aki Wood (she/her)
Oberlin Shansi Fellow 2018-2020
Grants and Fellowships Coordinator 2020-2021

• Oberlin Shansiの本学プログラム 
• 桜美林大学の外国語教育