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| Dominican
Republic |
Report |
Cultivating
the Seeds of Hope:
SGI-Dominican Republic
By Daniel
Beriguete Gomez, SGI-Dominican Republic young men's leader
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Daniel
Gomez
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The SGI movement
in the Dominican Republic was launched by Japanese immigrants
back in the 1960s. Between 1956 and 1959, 1,319 Japanese
citizens, a total of 249 families, moved to the Dominican
Republic in response to the government's appeals for
immigrants. However, many of the locations where the
immigrants settled proved infertile and incapable of
supporting life. As a result, the government decided to send
the immigrants back home, and during 1961 and 1962, 133 of the
original 249 families returned to Japan. Another 70 families
moved on to countries in South America.
Early
Years
One of the immigrants who stayed behind, farmers of the
"barren" land, was Kurato Kimura. In 1962, the fifth
year after he immigrated, as he struggled to find a way to
survive against the odds, he received a letter from his mother
in Japan, encouraging him to test the effectiveness of
chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Inspired by this, he decided to
start practicing Buddhism. Around that time he met a man
called Jun'ichi Nishio, who had started to practice Nichiren
Buddhism in Japan before emigrating, and together they
launched activities in the Dominican Republic. Mr. Nishio had
come to the Dominican Republic with his family of seven in
1956. His son, Takashi, is currently general director of SGI-Dominican
Republic.
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The
first reforestation activity by SGI-Dominican Republic
youth members in 1998
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Another early
immigrant, Norio Inuyama, started practicing in 1972 after Mr.
Kimura introduced him to Buddhism. Mr. Inuyama had come to the
Dominican Republic in 1957, and had moved to progressively
better land during his time in the country. He recalls,
"Our biggest challenge was how we could possibly improve
the environment we found ourselves in, because the land we had
was poor and every time it rained our crops were destroyed. In
the end, this struggle was the best chance to prove the
effectiveness of this religion." Now, Mr. Inuyama runs a
successful agricultural export business.
SGI-Dominican Republic now consists of 1,500 members. The
pioneer members used their faith to develop the strength to
overcome the hardships of eking out a living from the stony
fields, and in so doing helped plant the seeds of peace and
prosperity in the Dominican Republic.
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Takashi
Nishio
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In February 2002,
five hundred members gathered in the culture center in the
capital, Santo Domingo, and held a special general meeting to
commemorate the 15th anniversary of SGI President Ikeda's
visit to our country in 1987. In front of an audience made up
of people from all walks of life--teachers, lawyers, doctors,
accountants, musicians and businesspeople--Mr. Kimura called
on the youth members to take responsibility for our country's
future in the 21st century, while General Director Nishio
emphasized the importance of winning trust in society as good
citizens.
Tree-planting
Our youth activities have really taken off in recent years.
Since 1998 we have been promoting a reforestation movement. In
the Dominican Republic, deforestation has resulted in
pollution of the water supply, which has become a serious
problem. In September 1998, Hurricane George destroyed swathes
of forestland, and this inspired us to take action. We vowed
to restore the forests with our own hands. In November of that
year, 76 members planted about 2,500 pines and other trees in
a mountainous area. Since then, we have continued the
reforestation project every year on SGI Day (January 26).
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Dr.
and Mrs. Rodríguez talking with Mr. and Mrs. Ikeda in
Tokyo (February 2002)
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The number of
people participating in this project has increased each year,
and in the last five years we have planted a total of 35,000
trees. Starting this year, in parallel with the tree-planting
project, we also organized a forum under the name "Think,
Feel and Act for Reforestation" together with the
Pan-American Health Organization. The informed perspectives
offered by environmentalists and other experts promoted an
awareness of the serious problems caused by the indiscriminate
harvesting of the country's forestry resources.
The SGI's "Symbiosis and Hope: The Amazon--Its
Environment and Development" exhibition was shown in the
Dominican Republic in March and April 2001, and made a perfect
complement to the reforestation project. Some 16,000 people
visited the exhibition, which had a positive impact.
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Sustainable
development is the key concept for the 21st century. At the
World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South
Africa, the SGI has been promoting the idea that the 10 years
from 2005 be designated the international decade of education
for sustainable development. During this period, the aim is to
promote environmental education throughout the world. The
youth division of SGI-Dominican Republic is determined to
seize this chance to make a major contribution to society by
pressing ahead with our reforestation project, as we feel this
represents a meaningful form of environmental education.
In the field of education, one of the Dominican Republic's
oldest newspapers, La Información, has featured SGI
President Ikeda's activities for culture and education on many
occasions. Dr. Príamo A. Rodríguez, the founder and rector
of the Santiago Technical University (Universidad Tecnológica
de Santiago; UTESA) who is the paper's editor and proprietor,
met with SGI President Ikeda last February, visiting Soka
University and signing an academic exchange agreement.
On that occasion, President Ikeda said the following words,
which were very inspiring to us:
"We see religion and education as complementary.
Religious faith is a matter of the individual's inner state of
being, and education addresses the development of society as a
whole. If a religious organization remains closed off within
the realm of religion alone, it can become estranged from
society and easily lapse into self-righteousness. Education,
on the other hand, brings life into full flower and
illuminates the human spirit. In order to properly carry out
this kind of education, a philosophical and religious
foundation is indispensable. Because education is intended for
people, it should possess a perspective on life and humanity
that is eternal and universal."
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