Small amounts as contributions to peace
Providing support for people in the world
 Children eating fortified "Ready-to-Use-Food" at a clinic run by Medecins sans Frontiers. (Photo by Alain Frilet/MSF, 2001) |
According to "The state of the World's Children 2007" published by United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), in Sierra Leone, 165 of every 1,000 babies die before they reach their first birthday. In Mali, 73% of men and 88% of women older than 15 years of age cannot read or write; the same is true of 28% of the people of Afghanistan. And in Bangladesh, 36% of the entire population must live on an income of less than a dollar a day.
We thought about what we might be able to do to help such situations. So we looked into the activities of various groups and learned how we can have an impact on people's lives at a very small cost to us.
Of course, we realize it's impossible for us to help everyone in the world. Still, with a desire to support the most needy, the junior writers took part in the relief activities of some organizations that are involved in delivering aid. Perhaps you can get involved in activities of this kind, too.
Three lunches for 100 yen |
A variety of ways to offer support |
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We spoke with the staff of different NGOs and NPOs and learned that there are many kinds of contributions. Below are a few examples. | |||
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Donations | |||
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Medicine |
In Burkina Faso, 4000 yen can provide medicine to treat malaria in 40 people. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), malaria is the third-leading cause of death in this country. | ||
Food |
In Cambodia, 100 yen is enough to buy three meals for someone in the hospital. And in South Africa, 1000 yen can enable a child to eat for three days. | ||
Education |
In Afghanistan, 1800 yen can buy one school bag. In Bangladesh, four teachers can receive training in literacy. As education is so important, we hope it will be supported more widely. | ||
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Things you can do for free | |||
There are even things you can do that don't require any money, such as collecting used postcards or ink cartridges. In fact, by collecting 34 postcards and sending them to an organization in Tokyo called the Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning (JOICFP), they will provide a recycled bicycle to the people of a developing country. Kurose Junior High School in the city of Higashi-Hiroshima is engaged in collecting stationery, clothes, and sports equipment that can be resold in the Philippines. An NGO involved in planting trees there can use the proceeds to buy saplings. (Masahiro Mikoshi,15,and Aoi Otomo,13)
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Contributions made by junior writers 
Holding an exhibition in Hiroshima An NPO in Kyoto, Terra Renaissance, will lend out a set of 25 photos, with images from Cambodia, for 10 days at a cost of 4000 yen (for students, 3000 yen). We decided to rent the photos to hold an exhibition in Hiroshima that showed people's lives in Cambodia in connection with the landmines still buried in that country. We wanted visitors to understand the destruction caused by war, including the fact that people are killed and injured by landmines, and think about possible ways to provide support. We spent 4160 yen to hold this exhibition. The exhibition was held from March 10-16 in Hiroshima and we collected visitors' impressions in a notebook. For more details on the set of photos we used for our exhibition, please contact Terra Renaissance at 075-645-1802. (Yuki Sakata,14) |
For 1,000 yen, we can provide a family in Afghanistan with water to drink for one month. We met with Hiroshi Kunita, 39, a representative of Peace Winds Japan, an NGO, and donated 3,000 yen. Afghanistan is a dry, landlocked country with little rainfall. When drought develops, children must walk for hours to collect water from springs. Peace Winds Japan delivers tanks of water by truck to villages and refugee camps. In 2006, they provided water to 6590 families. This project to supply drinking water in Afghanistan is part of Peace Winds Japan's work in seven countries, including Japan. Mr. Kunita told us, "Our aim is not merely to provide aid; we seek to support the local people to become self-sufficient." The telephone number for Peace Winds Japan is 03-5304-7490. (Shiori Kosaka,12)
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For malnourished children, special food that has been fortified can help provide proper nutrition. This food, called "Ready-to-Use-Food" (RUF), is a paste made from peanuts and other ingredients and has been enriched with vitamins. Medicines sans Frontiers Japan told us it takes one or two months to treat a severely-malnourished child so we donated 6,200 yen. RUF is individually wrapped and is more nutritious than other forms of food aid. It can be stored and does not need to be cooked so the possibility of contamination from tainted water can be prevented. By means of RUF, Medicines sans Frontiers treated more than 150,000 severely-malnourished children in 22 countries in Africa and Asia in 2006. Medicines sans Frontiers cannot accept donations with a specific request for use, but a portion of any donations will be designated for RUF. To contact Medicines sans Frontiers, please call 0120-999-199. (Ryota Matsuda,14) |
With a donation of 2,000 yen, the Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning (JOICFP) will purchase a blackboard for an elementary school in Afghanistan. Many Afghan schools were destroyed during a war that lasted 23 years. Even now, children in the countryside often have no school buildings and must study in tents or under the open sky. And if classrooms exist, they lack blackboards. We hope the children of Afghanistan will be able to study with proper school facilities. For more information, call JOICFP at 03-3268-5875. (Aoi Otomo) |
For 3,000 yen, five farmers can take part in a two-day technical training to improve their skills in breeding cattle. By learning about better feeding techniques, they can sell their cattle at higher prices and earn more income. An NPO in Tokyo, Shaplaneer, coordinates this training program with a local NGO in Bangladesh. Shaplaneer is engaged in other programs, too, involving education, public health, and business. For example, for 3,000 yen, literacy materials can be provided to 60 adults who cannot read. More information on these programs is available by calling Shaplaneer at 03-3202-7863. (Risa Kushioka,16) |
Donations weren't difficult to do
In January, we received a special award from the Japan Newspaper Workers' Union and we used a portion of this prize money to make our donations and to hold the photo exhibition. At first, we were thinking that a donation of food or medicine would be best, but in the long run, assistance that must be given again and again is perhaps not the most helpful form of aid.
And so we decided to do such things as contributing a blackboard to support education efforts and organizing a photo exhibition to raise awareness.
We had imagined that making donations would be complicated, but we found the activities we undertook weren't really so difficult.
Through our research into making these donations, we discovered something important about Hiroshima's history, too. After the bombing, the International Committee of the Red Cross provided medical relief to the sufferers and many lives were saved. As citizens of Japan, who were blessed to receive this support, we can naturally find meaning in offering our own support to a world in need. (Rikako Okada,17)
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