Voicesea Podcast BEBESEA Story

Bituin Shimada, one of the co-founders of Kakehashi, arrived in Japan about 50 years ago in the 1970s as a young student. Living as a first-generation Filipino migrant, Bituin had to navigate learning a new language and understanding the cultures to make Japan her home. While working as a professional court interpreter, she came to believe that learning the language, understanding the cultures, and having access to the right information is key for migrants to thrive, especially for the youth migrants who struggle to adapt to their new land. This is why she co-founded Kakehashi, a voluntary group that helps children and youth of Filipino and mixed heritage who migrate to Japan, together with her friends and allies who shared the vision.

Kakehashi means “bridging the links” in Japanese. Among many initiatives, they published a multi-lingual handbook “Bridging the Gap” designed to provide a practical guide to help young migrants in Japan with navigating various aspects of life in Japan. This book also illustrates real-life stories of individuals who overcame various challenges adopting in Japan. It is a product of a long collective process of the community supported by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF) in Japan, and won the 2021 Migration Advocacy and Media Award in the Philippines, for Best Book on Migration, non-fiction/guide category.

Would you like to know more about the experiences of youth migrants and how they could be guided and supported to thrive as equal members of society? In this episode, Bituin, or Tita Bi, tells us some inspiring life stories of hers that led her to work for young Filipino and mixed-heritage migrants and many youth migrants from other backgrounds, as well as about “Bridging the Gap” and Kakehashi’s work.

You can get a PDF copy of the handbook “Bridging the Gap” by completing this form (available in Tagalog, English and Japanese) https://forms.gle/eX1jBqi6bEQjLs4H6

Short videos of the “Bridging the Gap” are available inEnglish:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfWmuk4e7tUDDZqjej70zzpgr5KLyip_B

Filipino：https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfWmuk4e7tUBCzW6ZgV_jAx_XSfJ6k_Im

Japanese：https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfWmuk4e7tUD_m4J5fE163vYOHFxykkjb



You can also watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/da5RVEXeq34



Kakehashi - Bridging Cultures, Linking Lives (kakehashi-ph.jp)

This episode is supported by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation

This month marks 3 years since the military coup of February 2021 in Myanmar. There are estimated 130,000 Rohingya people and other Muslims remained in squalid camps in Rakhine State and about a million people in neighbouring Bangladesh. Being one of the most persecuted communities in the world, the Rohyinga people are victims of genocide, and continue to be denied basic human rights including access to adequate food, healthcare and education. The crucial humanitarian assistance for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and other marginalized groups in Myanmar are often obstructed, and refugee camps are under highly restrictive control of authorities.



In the dire situation, many Rohingya people have no choice but to take dangerous journeys for survival. Indonesia is one of the destinations for those who flee through the sea. However, a lack of understanding of root causes of the systemic oppressions of Rohingya people is leading to discrimination against them in their new land. Since late 2023, harmful hate narratives against Rohingya people seeking asylum have been heard increasingly in Indonesia.



In this episode, VOICESEA Podcast had an opportunity to talk with Maung Zarni, a scholar of genocide (https://maungzarni.net/en/bio-cv), who explained us the context in which Rohingya people so marginalised and vulnerable that they have no choice but to seek asylum in neighboring countries. We also explore how the coup in 2021 affected conditions faced by the Rohingya communities and changed the perspectives of people in Myanmar towards Rohingya communities. How can solidarity among people of the world advocate for the human rights of victims of genocide, people fleeing political persecution, conflicts, and other human rights violations?

Every year on 21 November, the World Fisheries Day is observed. The ocean-based economy, including fisheries, provides significant numbers of jobs in East and Southeast Asia, where more than 80% of the surface is covered by oceans, being home to more than 31.000 island economies.



In order to improve the rights protection of sea-based workers, the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) was established in 2006. To date, MLC is ratified by the majority of the UN member states with 104 state parties. However, the Convention excluded the workers in the fishing industry leaving them highly vulnerable to labour and other rights violations. To fill the gap in the said convention, Work in Fishing Convention (ILO Convention 188/ILO C188) was adopted in 2007. After 16 years since the adaptation, ILO C188 is ratified by only 21 countries worldwide. Among the countries in East and Southeast Asia, Thailand is the only country in the region that has ratified the convention.



In this episode, VOICESEA Podcast has a conversation with the Deputy Director of Stella Maris Seafarers Center in Thailand, Apinya Tajit. Apinya is one of the key actors in advocating for the rights of seafarers including those working in the fishing industry. With her, we discuss changes the ratification of ILO C188 has brought to fishers in/from Thailand, the problems that still remain, and how important it is for other countries that are not yet state parties to the convention to ratify it. In this episode, Apinya Tajit also shares some recommendations by civil societies following the adoption of the ASEAN Declaration on the Placement and Protection of Migrant Fishers in May 2023.



This episode is supported by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF).

In 2022, BEBESEA with a support from The Sasakawa Peace Foundation published a study about Strengthening Health Protection for Migrant Workers in East and Southeast Asia. The said study enabled deepening understanding on what is “on papers” about policies regarding protection of migrant workers, including insights from the perspectives of academics and practitioners, while there is a lack of perspectives from the migrant workers themselves.

Considering the said lack of perspectives, BEBESEA later developed a further Participatory Action Research to give space for migrant worker communities to share their stories and their experiences on their access to social protection, in order to have a deeper understanding on aspirations of migrant workers related to social protection and what action for changes they wish to see and take.

So, basically, what impact does the migration bring to the family left behind?
What does social protection mean to migrant worker communities? And how it really affects their lives?

VOICESEA Podcast had an opportunity to have a conversation with Sherry Wang from Serve the People Association and Razel Navalta from Kakehashi, who are both research collaborators and have worked with migrant workers communities in the said research. If you eager to know the answers of the questions above, don't miss this episode!

Special thanks to: The Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Serve the People Association, and Kakehashi.Transcript

Migrant workers have often been glorified as foreign exchange heroes because of the remittances they send to their countries of origin. The governments often say that migrants' remittances play an important role in the economic and social develoment. However, we often overlook its imoact on migrant workers as the biggest part of migrant workers' salaries are spent on remittances. Meanwhile, the remittances has not always been able to lift families out of poverty while much is spent on daily needs.

Since 2017, a research project entitled "Lives of Migrant Remittances: An Asian Comparative Study" has been conducted as a collaborative study by academic-based researchers in Canada and migrant communities in Indonesia, Hong Kong, and the Philippines. The study highlights how remittances are generated, managed and distributed. Its findings show the initial problems of sending migrant workers are not small, starting from high-cost placement fees, cheap labor wages to deep-rooted poverty, and that the remittance policies actually add to the long list of structural problems that are already stifling many migrant workers.

In this episode, VOICESEA Podcast has a conversation with Professor Denise from the Alberta University as the private investigator of this research, alongside with Eni Lestari, chairperson of International Migrants Alliance.

If you are eager to find the answers, this episode is definitely for you!

Mary Jane Veloso is a former woman migrant domestic worker from the Philippines, and has been imprisoned after sentenced to death over a decade. She is a victim of trafficking in person and was sentenced to death because she was set up to smuggle drugs to Indonesia. After 7 years since the last time her family visited Mary Jane Veloso, in the second week of June 2023, her parents and the children visited Indonesia again to reunite with her in the prison.

Commemorating the World's Day Against Trafficking in Persons, VOICESEA Podcast had a conversation with the mother and the eldest son of Mary Jane Veloso.

If you eager to know about their feelings, what they want to see in the near future, including the impacts this case bring to the family, this episode is for you!