Tamy Yamamoto M.D.

Master student of Community and Global Health

Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo

Participating in the BABA 6 retreat was an incredible experience and it has been the best opportunity I have ever had to share, interact and learn with people from different countries, cultures and backgrounds.

Before going to BABA 6, I had many expectations about this retreat, as I wondered how after a 1-week long retreat we could improve our leadership skills and most importantly, how 19 people from different countries, meeting for the 1st time, were going to be able to build a strong network to work together for the betterment of Asia? After the 1st few days of the retreat, I saw how it could be possible. As our BABA 6 family grew closer together, I was certain that this bond was going to last for long time after the retreat was over.

During the retreat we had many activities, each one with its own purpose. Starting with the ice-breaking activities, lead by the Fantastic 4, which helped us to feel comfortable sharing our thoughts and feeling as a family working together towards a common goal. The presentations by the resource persons, gave us the tools to become better persons and leaders. Being able to learn from their experiences and their advices was an extraordinary opportunity. The activities lead by the Facilitators (Incredible 2), especially the Pecha Kucha Morning, was an enriching experience where we could learn what each of the participants does in their own country and how each of us is already a young leader in his/her own field/area.

I found very interesting one of the last activities we did, which was “Creating a better Me”. After learning from the resource persons about leadership and the characteristics leaders should have, in this activity we had to make introspection and come up with ways to improve ourselves as persons and as future leaders. After it we had to share it with other people, and also ask for their advice on how to improve. Although it could had seem a difficult task, the trust and friendship developed during the retreat, made this activity easy and enlightening; getting good advices which I plan to work on.

Finally, I would like to thank all the people involved in this program, for giving me the opportunity to participate and for making it an inspiring and unforgettable experience. In this retreat, I not only learned about leadership, other cultures and countries, but also about myself. I hope our BABA 6 family can meet again in the near future and that through our friendship and network, we are able to work together to build a better Asia.

By Vanthana Nolintha, BBusCom, MEcon

Researcher, National Economic Research Institute (NERI)

Vientiane, Lao PDR.

When I was first recommended by one of my senior friends to apply for the participation in the BABA retreat program, I was not sure what I will gain from and how I will get engaged with this one week get-away. I was somehow convinced that this program was designed to help building the leadership skills and I therefore applied for this program. After being one of BABA families, I realize that the decision to join this wonderful program has been one of my best decisions I have made in my life. I will next try to put some of my key thoughts about this program in the remaining of this page.

BABA 6 helps connect me with many other young leaders who share the same passion of the betterment of Asia. One of the most interesting features of this program is the opportunity to meet with many different individuals from all walks of life. Each participant, in my opinion, is the true leader in the respective field who has contributed in his or her own way to make Asia and the world a better place. This network will allow a more productive relationship and cooperation on various aspects in the future.

BABA 6 makes me realize that even one person can make a positive change to this world. Throughout the retreat, I was given opportunity to meet, listen to and interact with various resource persons from different fields. Most of them are successful leaders of the world who, in many cases, start making a difference from themselves and later involve others to join with them to create positive changes.

BABA 6 re-confirms my belief that people can be different but we can live and share with each other. Many participants are very much different in terms of cultural, academic, professional, political and religious background. We however manage to break the ice, big thanks to FANTASTIC 4 and our facilitators, and establish a very strong bond which has proved to last even after the retreat. I believe if others in the wider community share this belief, we will not see many of the terrible problems in many parts of the world where people hate each other just because they are different.

Finally, I’d like to use this opportunity to thank everyone who makes this wonderful program possible and let me be part of BABA families. For my BABA 6 families, I thank every one of you from my heart for making my BABA 6 experience a fruitful and joyful one. By meeting and connecting with you, I discover another part in me that want to do something “out of the box” for the betterment of myself, my family, my society and the world at large. I believe we all will meet in many more occasions in the years to come. Let the end of the retreat mark the beginning of our life long relationship and join our hands for the betterment of Asia and the world.

Mohammad Afzal Hossain Akand

from Bangladesh, is an Assistant Director of the Central Bank of Bangladesh. He completed his BBA course at Shahjalal University of Science & Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh and enrolled in MBA program in North South University, Bangladesh. He obtained a scholarship twice from the Bangladesh Scholarship Council in 2004 & 2006, financed by The Nippon Foundation. He has been the General Secretary of BSC Alumni Association, Dhaka Center from 2008. He is very active in organizational work all through his educational career. He was the Associate General Secretary of Notre Dame Science Club in 2000, Organizing-Secretary of the Association of Business Administration Department from 2002 to 2004 and Treasurer of the graduation festival of the 11th Batch of SUST in 2006. He is a Life Time Member of RIM Band, SUST. He is interested in current issues as well as issues related to Development, Human Rights, Human Skill Development and Agricultural Development.

Ky Bun Heang

from Cambodia, and had completed her high school in 1998. In 2008 she has completed a short course of Facilitation Skill at SILIKA organization that supported by JICA, and at the same time has completed short course of accounting at ICS. At presently she has been studying at Build Bright University major of Accounting and Finance. For her experience, she worked as a Computer Operation with Ritexim Company Co., Ltd. in 1999, and in 2000 worked for Overseas Courier Service Company as a Customer Service. In June 2002 she has worked as Director of Computer School of Simply Help Organization that provides computer skill and tailoring skill to poor people who are living in rural area at provinces by free of charge. At present she is working as Administration and Finance officer in the Educational Supporting Center “KIZUNA” which was supported by the Nippon Foundation, and having a very valuable experience of opening NGO international in her country.

LI BINGZHONG

is a lecturer in History and Civilization at Shaanxi Normal University and was born in Shanxi Province on 9th Oct., 1975. He graduated from the History Department of Tianjin Normal University in 2005 and got his Master’s degree in historiography and graduated from the History Department of Nanjing University in 2008 and got his PH.D in historiography. He went to Bristol University as a visiting scholar in 2007. Currently, he is teaching world history in Shaanxi Normal University, and his research focuses on identity and identification. His main published articles are, “Turkey’s Basic Standpoint on the EU Membership”(European Studies, No.3, 2008); “About the Kurdish Issue in Turkey”(World Ethno-National Studies, No.3, 2008), “Reflections on Turkey’s Entry of the EU”(Journal of Nanjing University, No.4,2007), “The corporate structure of Medieval universities”(the Economic and Social History Review, No.3, 2007), “Some Reflections on the Welfare Institution Building in China”(Jinyang Journal, No.5, 2007) and “Medieval European Universities in the context of Rights”(Journal of Comparative Education Review, No.7, 2006).

Zhang Xueqiong

from China, is presently pursuing her PhD at Yunnan University, majoring in the History of International Relations of the Middle East. She was supported by Fellows’ Mobility Program (FMP) to collect relevant materials for her dissertation, “The Kurdish Question in the Contemporary Middle East” at Uppsala University, Sweden, 2007. In 1996/1997, she led a team to work on a Ryoichi Sasakawa Peace Foundation Joint-Research/Exchange Program (SYLFF/JREX). The final paper submitted to SYLFF committee, “The Influence of Cross-Border Tourism on Regional Economic Development and Cooperation between China’s Yunnan Province and Southeast Asian Areas” was evaluated as one of the four best projects and published by the Foundation in 1998. Ms. Zhang also has some other international exchange experience. In 2005, she was invited to join the world life-culture forum (WLCF) held in Gyeonggi Province, Republic of Korea. The theme of the forum was “A New Renaissance of Life and Peace in East Asia.” In 2006, she participated in the training course “Women’s Entrepreneurship and Microenterprise Development” held in the Gold Meir Mount Carmel International Training Center, Haifa, Israel. Currently she works for the government as Director of the Research Section at Kunming Social Sciences Association.

Sanjeev Kumar

was born & brought up in Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh- India), a small town between Lumbini, Nepal & Kushinagar, India. He started his career in the pharmaceutical sector but soon realized his real interest lay in the development sector. At the first opportunity he shifted to an NGO devoted to the education of female children. Since then there has been no looking back. While working in the development sector he did his MBA and a post graduate course in Rural Development along with several other training in Monitoring & Evaluation, Microfinance, and other similar courses so as to get a methodological understanding of the development sector. While working on projects of both national and international NGO’s in the last nine years, he gained extensive ground level experience on various issues such as Livelihoods, Basic/Vocational Education, Information and Communication for Development, HIV, Gender, Migration and Health associated Stigma. Currently he is coordinating the Livelihood Projects for leprosy affected people and their families in India, for Sasakawa India Leprosy Foundation, New Delhi. Apart from project management, he has remarkable coordination skills on participatory research activities. In the course of these assignments he has learned about the realities on the ground in the rural, semi-urban and urban sector in India. These have both humbled him as well as opened his eyes to the tremendous amount of work needed to ensure equal social and economic opportunities to all. He is keen on mobilising youth to become leaders by being a role model for them. Some day he hopes to return to his parental village and mobilize the local youth to work for constructive change within their community.

Bartoven Vivit Nurdin

was born in Padang, West Sumatera, Indonesia. She and her husband Irsan have a daughter. She is a lecturer in Lampung University, at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Sociology Department. She holds a doctorate in Anthropology, specializing in ethnicity, cultural change, environment and politics. She graduated from the University of Indonesia, Anthropology Department, Faculty of Social and Political Science with a Doctor of Philosophy (2006) and a Master of Science (2001). She is head of Lampung Culture Research Center, Lampung University, Indonesia. Her publications include “Budaya Makan Ibu Hamil Penderita Gizi Buruk” (Sains and Technology National Conference, Lampung University, 2007), “Ritual-Ritual dalam Tradisi Ngumo: Kearifan Lokal Masyarakat Adat Lampung Pepadun dalam Memelihara Hutan” (International Simposium Journal Anthropology Indonesia, Lambung Mangkurat University, Banjarmasin, Kalimantan Selatan, Indonesia, July 2008), “Perempuan dalam Mitos Matrilineal” (3rd International Symposium of the Journal Anthropology Indonesia, Udayana University, Bali, Indonesia 2002), and “Makanan dalam multikulturalisme: Kajian Foklore tentang makanan rakyat” (3rd International Symposiumof the Journal Anthropology Indonesia, Udayana University, Bali, Indonesia, 2002). She is currently doing reaseach in the Ethnography of Lampung Food, Ethnography of the “padi ladang” system of Lampung and the Dictionary of the Lampung-Indonesia dialect.

Husnur Esthiwahyu

is from Indonesia and is working at the United Nations Office of the Recovery Coordinator (UNORC) in Aceh and Nias, Indonesia. As a Kabupaten Recovery Forum Facilitation Officer she provides ideas, initiatives, and technical assistance for the local government in Aceh Province, Indonesia and coordinates with stakeholders in the district to enhance and ensure local development in the context of community driven recovery and reconstruction. She was involved in severa; humanitarian operations in Indonesia during the emergency response as well as recovery and reconstruction phase with different international organizations namely the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations. Ms. Esthiwahyu graduated from the United Nations mandated University for Peace under the Dual Campus International Peace Studies Program funded by Nippon Foundation where her research focused on humanitarian assistance in the combined situation of complex emergency and natural disaster.

Kardison Lumban Batu

is from Indonesia, is presently on his way to obtain his Phd at Gadjah Mada University (Indonesia) and Griffith University (Australia) and Jilin University (China). He worked as a lecturer of Business Administration at Pontianak State Polytechnic. He has conducted research on the implementation of total quality management and product quality performance to sustain competitive advantage in large size enterprises that have obtained ISO certification for firms in Indonesia and Australia. He was able to do this research under the Fellows Mobility Programme of Sasakawa Foundation and the Young Leaders Fellowship Fund of the Tokyo Foundation. He was awarded the Gadjah Mada University Young Leaders Fellowship under the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (SYLFF) of The Nippon Foundation and Tokyo Foundation in 2006. He is currently researching the implementation of TQM and TQS in higher education.

Najiyah Martiam

is from Indonesia, and is presently working as an assistant researcher at the Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS), Gadjah Mada University. She is also program coordinator of the Family Supporting Group (FSG) Tunas Bangsa, which is a non-profit organization supporting pediatric patients with leukemia, thalassemia and hemophilia at Dr. Sardjito Hospital, Yogyakarta. She is the personal assistant to the Regional Manager of Nippon Foundation and CEO INA Frontier. She is preparing to publish her book about Sufism which is inspired by her journey to Turkey under the Fellows Mobility Program of the Nippon Foundation. She was awarded the Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowships Fund (SYLFF) in 2007 to pursue her Masters at the Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies, Gadjah Mada University. She has worked as the producer of television talk show in TVRI (Television of Republic of Indonesia) on religious issues, as a coordinator of Media and Training Development in Planned Parenthood Association, an organization concerned with reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention, and as a religion tour guide at Via Via Café Jogjakarta. She also has experience in documentary film making.

Katsuaki Takahashi

from Japan, is presently working as economic cooperation attaché at Embassy of Japan in Lebanon as well as he is in charge of small grant mainly for local non-profit organization and aid partnership with U.N. agency as donor side. He worked as Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer (JOCV) and senior officer at Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Syria for five years, and then he studied Masters of Arts Dual Campus Program in International Peace Studies at University for Peace in collaboration with Ateneo de Manila University under the Fellows of Nippon Foundation.

Ryuhei Sano

from Japan, is presently working at the Asia-Pacific Development Center on Disability (APCD) located in Bangkok, Thailand. Participation in two youth activities mainly motivated him to work in Asia. One was his participation in a youth exchange program in ASEAN as a youth representative from Japan. The other was his stay with 4 young persons with intellectual and psychiatric disabilities at a welfare facility called “Group Home” in a rural community through the youth development program. Then he became the chief of international relations at the Japan Association of Community Workshops for Persons with Disabilities, and got engaged development projects in various countries. Since selected as the youth leader and invited to the international conference by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), he served IDB as a program officer in charge of youth and disability programs. One turning point in his life was when he became a monk in a rural Buddhist community in Northern Thailand. After that, he has been around many Asian countries to document good practices as the expert on knowledge management at APCD from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), particularly focusing on tacit knowledge which persons with disabilities in Asia uniquely accumulate.

Tamy Yamamoto Kohatsu

from Peru, is presently pursuing her Master Degree in Community and Global Health at Tokyo University. She worked as a research fellow in the Institute of Tropical Medicine “Alexander von Humboldt” (Peru), in research studies to develop new diagnostic methods for tuberculosis and clinical research in skin infections and HIV. In 2007, she received The Nikkei Scholarship from Nippon Foundation to study a Master and PhD Degree in Japan. In 2008, she participated as a research assistant in the project “G8 and strengthening of Health System: Follow up to the Toyako Summit – Opportunities for Overcoming the Health Workforce Crisis”. Currently, she is working on her master thesis entitled Risk Factors for Developing Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Diabetic Patients in Peru.

Sung-Woo Hong

is presently working as a lecturer and senior research fellow of the Institute for Public Affairs at Kyung Hee university, Seoul, Korea. He has got a Ph. D. from Kyung Hee university and a master degree from Ball State university, U.S.A. in the field of public administration and government. He has worked for the Institute of Human Society (IHS) of Kyung Hee University as a research fellow from 2000 to 2002. He had an internship in mayor’s office, city of Muncie, Indiana, U.S. in 2004 for two months. He also worked for the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies(CAPS) as a research fellow in coordinating the program on “Human Resources Development for Myanmar Civil Servants” funded by Sasakawa Peace Foundation and he made a presentation in the workshop on “City Planning for Social Harmony” organized by CAPS & VIAP sponsored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Japan in 2008.

Vanthana NOLINTHA

from Laos, is currently a Researcher at the Macroeconomic Research Department under Lao PDR’s National Economic Research Institute (NERI), the country’s leading think-thank. He served as a Research Coordinator for Strengthening Economic Research and Monitoring in Lao PDR project supported by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation from 2005-2007. The project produced three research papers and contributed significantly to the capacity development for NERI’s researchers. He graduated with a Master of International and Development Economics from the Australian National University in 2008 under the Australian IMF program and with a Bachelor of Business and Commerce in 2003 from Monash University (Australia) supported by the Australian Development Scholarship Program. His research interests are the roles of FDI and trade for economic development; resource, and border trade. Some of his recent research papers include the roles of border trade for local livelihood; the prospects of border trade under the AFTA scheme; the saving behavior of Lao households; and an evaluation of the FDI-led growth and Export-led growth policies in the CLMV sub-region.

BATBAYAR Ulziidelger

from Mongolia, has a Bachelor of Business Administration in computer science and management from the Mongolian Technical University. He is presently involved in the project of promoting traditional medicine in Mongolia. He has worked as an Executive Director in Vansamberuu Mongolia NGO, under the Nippon Foundation, Japan since 2003. He is also the owner and director of the BAT Tour Travel Agency in Ulaanbaatar. He was elected as the 2007 Local President of Ulaanbaatar Chapter of the JCI Mongolia and became a Lifetime Member in 2007 and was elected the 2009 National President of JCI Mongolia . He successfully completed the 21st JCI Academy held in Tachikawa, Japan in July, 2008. He also worked as a Director of Kids AU Mongolia.

Sadia Khan

from Pakistan, is presently serving as an Executive Director in her family-owned business, while serving as an independent director on the boards of four financial sector companies, as an honorary committee member of the Pakistan-France Business Alliance, the President of the INSEAD Alumni Association of Pakistan and the Chairperson of the Alliance Française of Karachi. She is also a member of the external faculty of the Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance. She started her career with Lehman Brothers in New York. Since then she has worked with various international institutions and local regulatory authorities, including the Asian Development Bank in the Philippines, the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan and the State Bank of Pakistan. Her focus more recently in her career has been on corporate governance, previously as a financial sector regulator and now as an educator and practitioner. She obtained her B.A (Hons.) in Economics from Cambridge University, UK in 1988 followed by an M.A in Economics from Yale University, USA in 1991 and an M.B.A from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France in 1995. She received a SYLFF Scholarship while studying at INSEAD and has subsequently participated in the Joint Research Exchange Program of the Tokyo Foundation.

Nirosion Perera

from Sri Lanka, is presently completing his post-graduate diploma in Tourism, Economic Travel and Hotel Management at the University of Colombo. He graduated from the National Institute of Social Development in Sri Lanka with a two-year professional diploma in Social Work in 2002. In 2003, he received a one year internship with several grassroots level organizations in India where he received exposure to India’s different cultural, social and economic practices and gained professional experience at the Academy of Development Science in Mumbai, the Deccan Development Society in Ahamadabadh and Coorg Organization for Rural Development in Kushalnagar, Karnataka. Nirosion is a founding member of a social work organization called Members of Young Social Work in Sri Lanka and is currently responsible for all projects in the peace programme unit at Sewalanka Foundation where he works as the project coordinator of the Community Peace Building Unit.

Pham Kim Ngoc

from Vietnam, is currently pursuing her Master of Business Administration at Troy University in collaboration with College of Economics, Vietnam National University. She has been working as an Administration and Finance Officer for Helen Keller International Vietnam (HKI-VN) office for more than 5 years. Her main duties are but not limited to handle all financial and administration related tasks, managing and monitoring HKI Vietnam office budgeting. She is also in charge of coordinating and liaison with local authorities to make sure the smooth running of the office. Ngoc holds a Bachelor Degree of Art, major in English at Vietnam National University, College of Foreign Languages and another BA in International Economics at the Vietnam Institute of International Relations. Before joining Helen Keller International, she worked as an Interpreter for The World Conservation Union (IUCN) on the Non-Timber Forest Products Project. Ngoc also worked as a volunteer for the International Marinelife Alliance, a US NGO working on marine conservation, for more than a year after graduation from Hanoi National University in 2001.

Tran Quang Tuan

34 years old, is from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Tuan has had a decade of work experiences as a development worker since he graduated from university. He has experience in management, project implementation, advocacy, poverty reduction, natural resources management and awareness communication campaigns. Applying participatory and right based approaches to motivate and facilitate the involvements of different stakeholders and communities into his development work, the ensuring of gender mainstreaming is one of principles in all of his work. He worked as a rural planner and a savings-credit officer in the center of Vietnam for nearly six years. Then he worked as a project manager for CARE International in Vietnam for more than four years in the south of Vietnam. He realizes there is always a big gap between local farmers and government officials and that a top down approach exists and is applied everywhere in his country. He connected with other NGOs working in Vietnam to do advocacy, where community-based groups are provided with a space in order to raise their voice toward their government officers and request that the formation and operation of such groups should be recognized and legally accepted. Those groups have then been able to get into formal contracts; borrowing loans from bank, doing marketing, trading activities and receiving other relevant policy supports so that they can improve their livelihoods. Tuan completed a dual campus master’s program in international peace study academic years 08-09 in Costa Rica and the Philippines.

Akira Uchimura

is a Japanese-Chilean living in Yokohama, Japan. Master in Public Administration, graduated from the International Christian University. Now he works as a coordinator for the Nippon Foundation Nikkei Scholarship. He is also a television commentator for a television show on Tokyo MX Television, and has been a Spanish-Japanese-English interpreter and coordinator for the NGO called Peace Boat, a cruise ship that travels around the world 3 times a year, stopping in more than 30 ports doing social action and tourism with 1000 Japanese passengers. His other passion is Internet Technology. He blogs in Japanese (http://blog.canpan.info/akira) and in English (http://www.nikkeiportal.com/akira), and also administers more than 20 nikkei related sites in the Nikkeiportal.com domain. Thanks to BABA05, he has become an apt twitter (twitter.com/akirau) as well. He also loves photography, video recording, and editing of both so he will be filming you a lot and making the visual part of the BABA retreat something special.

Rina Shahriyani Shahrullah

is from Indonesia and finished her Bachelor of Laws in 1992 from Faculty of Law, Universitas Hasanuddin, Makassar, Indonesia. She completed her Masters in Comparative Law in 1997 at the TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland, Australia. Her comparative law study dealt with the legal system of Australia and Indonesia, including the Islamic legal system in Indonesia. Her comparative legal seminars and essays focused on the aspects of commercial laws under the Civil Law, Common Law and Islamic Law. From 2000 – 2004, she conducted a research on international commercial arbitration including the area of Islamic arbitration at the TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland, Australia. In 2005, she was awarded a Ph.D of Law from the University of Queensland, Australia. In 2008, she taught Islam in the Master Degree Program at Ateneo de Manila University, the Philippines. Currently, she is the Head of Postgraduate Study, Faculty of Law, Universitas Internasional Batam, Indonesia. She also holds a position as the Head of Quality Assurance Center in the university. She was a fellow of the Asian Public Intellectuals (API) and the Ateneo Center for Asian Studies (ACAS) in the Philippines from July 2007-July 2008. She was a participant of the 5th BABA Retreat in Puri, India in 2009. She has done research and presented papers on various legal issues, particularly Islamic contract, insurance, arbitration and Islamic gender approaches in Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan. Malaysia and India. In addition to her academic career, she currently manages an NGO which focuses on gender, reproductive health/HIV-AIDS and human trafficking issues.