By Jade Lawton
ARMED with Australian Postage Stamps, Wilson Zhang left for Japan late last night to help spread peace and goodwill across the Asia-Pacific region.
The 11-year-old Berwick resident is one of eight Victorian students selected to participate in the 21st Australian Pacific Children’s Convention (APCC).
About 400 children from 40 countries meet in Japan, where they learn about each other’s cultures and swap trinkets from home.
Wilson, in Grade 5 at Berwick Grammar, said the convention promoted understanding between different cultures.
“It is so you can make relationships with the rest of the world, and peace, so people can talk to each other all over the world even though they are sometimes blocked by religion or language,” he said.
For the first week the students are based in a camp, and then spend the final week of their stay with a host family in Fukuoka region.
Wilson speaks some Japanese and his host family are fluent in English. He said his family – father Jack, mother Mie and Sister Lucy – can speak six different languages between them.
He said that he might like to continue spreading the message of peace when he grew up.
“Maybe I will go back to Japan as a peace ambassador,” he said.
Wilson said he was looking forward to eating sushi but not so excited about dancing in the cultural performance his group will do near the end of his trip – a rendition of Celebration by Kylie Minogue.
