Hello and welcome to the Auckland JETAA year 2014.
To briefly recap 2013, some of the highlights included: work on our new Returnees’ Pack,
which is close to completion; changes in our monthly meeting schedule and locations; the
Rotorua Ekiden for the fourth year in a row; Oceania Conference in Brisbane; and as always,
the end of year Bōnenkai. The past year also saw the Consulate General’s move of premises
from Albert Street to Shortland Street, and the farewell of Deputy Consul Maeda-san and
the welcoming of Tanaka-san in his stead.
For this year, we welcome Tim at the Consulate to our meetings as he temporarily takes over
Catherine’s duties while she is on parental leave. We also already had our planning meeting
a short while ago and have a lot in store for you this year. We hope that the variety in these
events and trips will cater to our diverse membership, and are looking forward to seeing
some familiar faces during the year, as well as some not so familiar. An events schedule is
included in this newsletter. Given that we are still in the early stages, please do get into
contact with someone on the committee or myself if you have any ideas or input on what
you would like to see this year.
Amelia Sirimanne
president@aucklandjetaa.org.nz
President – Auckland JET Alumni Association
Auckland JETAA 
I was a JET in Kumamoto from 2002-2005.I know that many JET alums are eager to return and help out, but I don’t know how many of us are acllutay trained in what will be most urgently required now or even in the recovery and reconstruction that will take place later. I think that at present untrained JET alumni in the disaster zone would simply get in the way and use precious resources best reserved for the professionals and victims. I think we should plan for projects that best use our talents and experience. In the short term, we should participate in fundraising activities, perhaps hosting them ourselves and donating the money to established relief agencies. In the long term, I think that JETAA should raise funds for the rebuilding of schools in the damaged areas-replacing textbooks, libraries, computer equipment, etc. This would be a great way to keep our association with education in Japan and to demonstrate the value of JET and JETAA to the people of Japan.