September 2010

Rissho Kosei-kai Board Chair Meets Leader of Cambodian Volunteers

Mr. Yi Thon, deputy director of the Cambodia Office of the Shanti Volunteer Association (SVA), visited Rissho Kosei-kai on September 15 and conferred with Rev. Yasutaka Watanabe, chair of Rissho Kosei-kai's Board of Trustees; Rev. Kyoei Wakabayashi, the president of SVA; and SVA directors. Rev. Yuji Numata, general secretary of Rissho Kosei-kai's Donate-a-Meal Fund for Peace, was also present.

At the request of SVA and Cambodia's Ministry of Cults and Religions, Rissho Kosei-kai through its Fund for Peace helped fund construction of Cambodia's National Buddhist Institute in Phnom Penh. President Nichiko Niwano of Rissho Kosei-kai attended the completion ceremony in 2002. Rissho Kosei-kai is now promoting a joint project with SVA for the revival of Cambodian Buddhism and culture. Mr. Yi expressed his thanks for Rissho Kosei-kai's support for the project and described some of its activities, including the moral and environmental education of young clerics and leadership training for high-ranking clerics. He also expressed hope that the peoples of Japan and Cambodia, which share the tragic experience of war, will work together and learn from one another in order to help achieve world peace.

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