David Howenstein founded Jambo International in Tokyo in January, 1996. Jambo holds regular activities to get people to more appreciate the outdoors while bettering the natural environment around them. As of this writing, he lives in Tokyo with his wife Miki, who helps in running Jambo. David continues his teaching while serving as the Director of JAMBO.
David hopes that this book will be the beginning of developing close connections with others who also envision the embodiment of the reflections herein and the “Having Fun Doing Good” concept that lies at the heart of JAMBO.
Past History
David Howenstein was born in St. Louis, MO (USA) in 1960 and grew up there until the age of 18. After some “quality floundering time,” he went on to major in Peace Studies, English, and Philosophy at Wilmington College, a small Quaker school in southwestern Ohio. His interests in spirituality and service work come largely from his Roman Catholic upbringing and the Quaker influence during his college years.
He then went to Nagasaki, Japan to work as an English teacher at the YMCA for a few years before traveling around the world to find out what he wanted to do when he “grew up,” only to discover that it’s a never-ending process. After a two-year stint at Ohio University, completing his MBA and MAIA (International Affairs) programs, he returned to Japan (Tokyo) for five years as a teacher.
His passion for nature and seeking ways to empower the disadvantaged moved him to take a two-year “sabbatical” traveling between Japan, the US and Eastern/Southern Africa, visiting over 100 organizations working with development and environmental issues. In the process, he came to realize his longing to return to Japan and set up an organization that brings people into contact with nature while supporting organizations, especially in Africa (where the need seemed greatest), which are working to improve the poor’s living conditions at the same time as preserving/restoring the natural environment. This desire led him to establish Jambo International in 1996.