Our Rotary speaker on Tuesday the 27th of June was Hikaru Sato, a Japanese Rotary Global Grant Scholarship recipient.
Hikaru is currently studying for her Master’s degree in Public Health at the Australian Catholic University, Melbourne. The focus of her studies is Disease Prevention and Treatment. Hikaru’s scholarship was awarded by the Rotary Foundation, which supports graduate level course work or research, related to Rotary areas of focus.
Hikaru comes from the city of Mito, Japan, which is just north of Tokyo.
 Helena Wimpole, Tak, Hikaru Sato, President Teresa Liu, Sanae |
The Rotary club of Mito sponsored Hikaru to come to Australia to study her master’s degree, and our club is supporting her for the 2 years that she is here.Hikaru described Mito as a very peaceful town, with rich agriculture. It has many historical and architectural sites and is well known for Kairakuen, meaning “park to be enjoyed together”. This is a large, beautiful garden space for the people of Mito. Mito is also important for natto (fermented soybeans), which is a staple food in the Japanese diet.
As an undergraduate student, Hikaru went to Thailand on an exchange program for 6 months to learn more about a developing country. Here she learned about the Hill Tribe people in the north of Thailand, who had virtually no access to essential services.
After completing her exchange program in Thailand, Hikaru returned and volunteered there, helping the Hill Tribe. On discovering that the Hill Tribe were migrants, Hikaru then undertook a 10-month exchange program at the University of Sydney, where she studied issues relating to immigration and refugees.As a result of her studies and work experience, Hikaru said she has become passionate about supporting the health of disadvantaged people and stated that her career goal is to work towards the improvement of equal access to healthcare for all.
Helena Wimpole