本来は、今日、沼津市中学生英語弁論大会が沼津教育会館に於いて開催される予定でしたが、スピーチの様子を収録した映像を審査する形に変更することになりました。
愛鷹中代表の３年生の後藤さんは、自分の考えをまとめ、表現を磨いてきました。

《 後藤さんのスピーチ原稿を紹介します。》

Vanishing Future　　Tomori Goto (Ashitaka J.H.S)

Are you aware of what is happening to children around the world? Now, there are a lot of children losing their safe life, dreams, and future in the world.
Though we go to school, talk with our friends, have enough food, spend a comfortable life every day in Japan, there are a lot of children suffering because of one reason or another. I will tell you these reasons.
First, there is the fact of marriage of children under 18. There are more than three thousand underage girls who gets married a day. It means that there are more than 12 million girls who must get married with a partner that they don’t know, meaning arranged marriages. Of course the girls are usually forced against their will.
Some girls are as old as me, others are even younger than me! Some girls under 10 years old have babies. They cannot have the chance to study at school. They must give up their dreams.
Second, more than seven hundred million people fall into poverty nowadays. It means one in five children are living below the poverty line. Surprisingly, even in Japan, one in seven children don’t have enough food to eat.
There are a lot of people who are forced to live with only two dollars a day, that’s about 200 yen in Japan. Because of the financial problem, some children cannot go to school, and cannot learn. There is no chance to choose their jobs, partners and lifestyles. Some people go to the garbage pile and pick up bottles, and cans, and sell them to the recycle shops. They get only a few coins. They don’t care about the cuts and bruises they get from walking barefoot even over shards of glass. They can only think about how and where to get their next meal. That’s all they can do to survive.
Third, there are some conflicts around the world. Children must live without water, food, shelter, and so on. They need to walk for hours to find clean water. Even if they know that the water is not safe, they have no choice but drink muddy water.
I was shocked. I was shocked about the situation of the children. The fact that these young girls get married and have babies. The environment of poor areas. This has happened because of their financial problems. My heart bleeds for the poor children because the problems have never been solved for a long time. The situation is quite unbearable to me.
I want to change this fact. What can I do for them? I thought and thought and thought, but I have no idea. Is there nothing I can do?
I researched about many kinds of International organizations. Also I found that many support groups help them for their daily life. I realized that many people try to change the situation.
As a junior high school student, what can I do? Just make a donation?
I thought it is not enough. I can tell many people about this problem as much as I can. I can continue to research about them more. I can study about SDGs, especially, gender equality and reduced inequalities.
I can study how to help them. Help for their health. Help for their food. Help to get them jobs. Help them to be independent.
I can do only a few things for them. But I will try to find out what more I can do. I will try to find out how to do it.