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	<< Back "DAWN" Newsletter of The DAWN CENTER Kansai Area Womens Organizations with Asian Ties Asian Women Empowerment Project(AWEP) As the number of Asian women with Japanese partners has increased, so has the need for services for them. Many Asian women meet their partners while staying in Japan as migrant workers or while the Japanese men are visiting their countries. Every year, a number of these Asian women become single mothers because of either agreed upon separation from or the disappearance of their Japanese partners. AWEP, in cooperation with DAWN, a Manila-based support group,provides assistance for those women who return home as single mothers. Women back in their country learn how to sew and make handicrafts and clothes which AWEP buys to sell in Japan. The group also plans to begin purchasing products made by Thai and Nepalese women. AWEP also holds seminars, arranges trips to learn more about Asia, and publishes a newsletter. Every Wednesday, telephone consultation services are provided in English, Tagalog, and Portuguese from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 3-3-8 Kaiun-cho, Nagata-ku, Kobe, 655 tel/fax: 81-78-735-6131 Representative: Taeko Inada Asian Child Fund (ACF) When Michio Inagaki learned about trafficking in girls and the prostitution businesses using them during her stay in Bangkok, she and her Thai friends decided to take action to stop it. They began by persuading Thai parents who were going to sell their daughters not to do so. Then, with the assistance of teachers in Thailand, she initiated a program call "Development and Education Programs for Daughters and the Community (DEPDC)," which provides financial support for school education or vocational training to girls who might be victimized by the trafficking. This lead to the creation of the "Asian Child Fund" in Japan eight years ago to support DEPDC in Thailand. Currently, DEPDC also receives financial assistance from UNICEF, the ILO, and NGOs in Switzerland and Denmark. Saeda Apartment, 2-7-15 Nishi-mikuni, Yodogawa-ku, Osaka 543 tel: 81-6-350-2570 Representative: Yasuyo Tomita Asia Network Asia Network was formed by women's groups concerned with women's and labor issues, and female lawyers working with court cases involving Asian residents of Japan. Activities of the group include: exposure trips to Asia; seminars on the issues of ODA, the environment, trafficking in girls, and "military comfort women"; cooking classes for different Asian foods; and the publication of a newsletter in Japanese. During the period from April, 1991 to December, 1996, the group operated "Sama-Sama Japanese school" for foreign residents, including students from the Philippines, Vietnam, China, Australia, the U.S.A., Brazil, Peru, and Iran, as well as other countries. Sama-sama is a Filipino word meaning "everybody together."With the decrease in students since the collapse of the bubble economy in Japan, the school has been closed. c/o Minshu Horitsu Kyokai (Democratic Legal Association) Dowa-Iryo Bldg., 1-3-15 Minami-morimachi, Kita-ku, Osaka 530 Page Top Copyright (C) DawnCenter. All Rights Reserved.