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Special Report |
LAST UPDATE November 1, 2005
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| September 25, 2005 |
Book Project: – Open your heart with a book |
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| GET teachers organizing books to be auctioned onboard Peace Boat. |
Peace Boat participants onboard the 51st voyage demonstrated their generosity through the ‘Open your Heart with a Book’ campaign. The campaign was initiated when St George’s Elementary School in Vancouver, Canada donated hundreds of children’s books to Peace Boat. The books were auctioned to participants, who wrote messages of friendship and encouragement in them. The money raised from the auction, about 300,000 Japanese yen, as well as the books themselves, were then donated to local Kenyan partner organization, The Wema Center, as well as a local Mombasa elementary school called the Ubojo School. |
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| Skills training such as sewing helps the girls to find employment once they finish school |
The Wema Centre is an NGO based in Kenya, which provides food, shelter, clothing, medical care, skills training and counseling for girls. Founded in 1993, the Center accommodates up to 100 females aged from two to 20 years of age. Most of the girls are homeless, jobless and don't go to school. The Wema Center not only offers them a home, but also an environment in which to gain the skills needed to reintegrate into society. Some are victims of violence in the family, so counseling is also provided to help them overcome their problems. The majority of Peace Boat’s donation of books and money was applied to the furnishing of a half-way house for girls, and vocational training equipment. |
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| Kenyan youth and a Peace Boat participant communicate through art. |
When Peace Boat arrived in Kenya, many participants chose to visit the Wema Center, to meet the girls and present them with a donation and the picture books. The cultural exchange proved very successful, as children and volunteer staff from Kenya and Peace Boat participants communicated using origami, balloon art, Kenyan songs and dance, and a picture show of traditional Japanese folk stories. |
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| Smiles and fond memories – the result of cultural exchange. |
Mika Furukawa from Hokkaido, Japan said the experience was very educational for her. “Even though we didn't share the same language, we were able to communicate,” she said.
Peace Boat staff member Emilie McGlone said that despite time constraints and the language barrier, the visit was very successful “Even in a few hours you can gain so much from a visit like this, and you can also contribute a lot too - that’s the aim of cultural exchange. It has allowed the participants to interact with locals, and to learn something new as well as to share something about Japan with them,” she said. |
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| Children from the Wema Center thank St George’s School in Vancouver, Canada for donating books to their library. |
The Ubojo School, located in one of the poorest areas of Mombasa, educates about 1200 students on extremely limited resources. Around 200 of the students are from single-parent homes, and another 200 have been orphaned by HIV. The books and money donated by participants onboard the Peace Boat was used to furnish and stock a small library with shelves and desks, as well as equipment for sports activities and some refurbishing of the school buildings. Organizers of the project from Peace Boat and the school are already working on creative ideas to continue the relationship and bring more interaction between students from the school and Peace Boat participants in the future. |
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