Old Biographies

Heather McLAUGHLIN, Osaka, Japan (posted May 2005)

I am a music teacher currently living and working in Japan.

The great pleasure we have in our son (now 15 years old, adopted from the Philippines) has confirmed my lifelong aim to help other children in the world who cannot live easily. We sponsor one child as a family through PLAN International (an impressive organisation), and two other sponsorships came from my idea of “Music for a Better World”. This usually means busking with a small group of children in a public place. In Melbourne in two months of 1999 we raised over $1,000 like this, playing on home-made marimbas (huge wooden xylophones) at markets and shopping centres at weekends.

As a music teacher who really wants to correct a little of the inequality in the world this is something I feel I can do which brings together fundraising and music-making. So last Sunday afternoon I played violin duets with a 10 year old Korean girl outside a nearby station for an hour, raising about $60. Next weekend I will try a marimba group.

Regarding the 5.10.5.10 philosophy, I think the money, the community actions, and the lobbying will be within my reach. However I will find the reduction of environmental impact much more difficult – firstly because our area of Japan is very advanced in recycling (ten different categories for recycling etc). Secondly because this is not an easy country to live in, and my tolerance of yet more challenges to my daily life is daunting – for example, the weather is too hot and humid for five months of the year and too cold for another five. Here I need air conditioning and heating and a car to remain sane! Thirdly a rented house means we can’t go solar, install grey-water systems, or even make compost.

But life is certainly interesting. My next ‘building community’ action will be to drive a car-load of women to visit our friend, a Hiroshima survivor with an amazing life-story, who has just moved away and is feeling socially isolated.

I value FairShare International as a connection with others who want to ‘do their bit’ to make the world a fairer place.