Asian Pacific Children's Convention in Fukuoka - Japan
The Asian Pacific Children's Convention (APCC) is a non-profit making
organization established in 1989, in city of Fukuoka, Japan to celebrate
Fukuoka City's 100th anniversary. With the slogan of "We are the BRIDGE:
We connect dreams around the world," this is among the largest
conventions in the world which are organized for the children.
Main objectives of APCC:-
* To carry out a project encouraging exchange between children from
the Asia-Pacific region.
* To generate appreciation for the cultures of other nations and
regions, with the aim of promoting mutual understanding and friendship.
* To realize world peace and co-existence through cultural and
educational exchange activities.
Since 1989, the APCC is held annually in the city of Fukuoka with the
participation of over 500 children from around 50 countries in the
Asian-Pacific region. From Sri Lanka, eight students who obtain the best
results in the Grade five Scholarship examination get the opportunity to
participate in this convention.
These children, known as "Junior Ambassadors (JA)", get to take part
in various events such as Exchange Camps (where all the JAs have inter
cultural activities), home stay program (where each child spends a week
with a Japanese family), school visits and many more.
The other main project of the APCC is the 'Mission Project' where
teams of Japanese children travel to the countries, which take part in
the APCC and experience their different cultures. Sri Lanka hosted for
two Mission Projects in the year 2005 and 2006.
From 1998 onwards, selected former Junior Ambassadors are also
invited to the convention as "Peace Ambassadors" (PA) who also join in
various activities. To establish a worldwide network of APCC
participants, "BRIDGE Club" (BC) Project was formed in the same year.
BRIDGE Club Japan is the main BC and the immediate next BC to form was
BRIDGE Club Sri Lanka (BCSL) then followed by some more countries.
Main objectives of a bridge club:-
* To foster leaders with a global perspective who will shape the
world in the future.
* To build a network of "Global Citizens" free from religious,
political and economic restrictions.
* To expand this network across the world, establish a circle of
friendship and work towards creating a peaceful society.
BCSL consist of all the participants of Sri Lanka to APCC since 1989.
This is a club operated under the guidance of Ministry of Education, Sri
Lanka and has organized a vast number of projects such as:-
* Lectures/seminars on peace/educational
* Donations to the poor
* Awareness programs
* Blood Donation campaigns
* Free medical clinics
* Environmental Protection
APCC together with all the BRIDGE Clubs is a wide network of such
social services that enables and encourage children to participate in
volunteer work, broaden international relations and thus spread the
message of 'Peace and Co-existence' throughout the world. To expand the
APCC's service further, BRIDGE CLUB International Organization was
formed at the event of 20th Anniversary of the APCC in last year.
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