Support for children in disaster areas in Japan

We are making a place together with local residents and volunteer groups while assisting them to manage the Koganehama Chibikko Hiroba (children’s playground). Some play tools in the playground were made by together with children, and the others were donated.

We have made those tools from the things in there, such as a wood suffered salt damage and debris carried by the tsunami.

In this time, we have built an earth oven out of a drum can, clay, mud, sand, a stone, a rock, a straw, etc.

The team consisting of first year elementary school students treaded on the material in order to mix clay with mud. “Feeling good!” they said. They seemed to like touching it, and enjoyed searching the most pleasant point. We also carried a stone and a rock with them.

We putting the mixed material including straws, and formed the oven. The inside of the drum was decorated uniquely by children.

It will go through several processes in order to be completed, and in the end of the process, the inside will be dried by burning a wood.

Because almost all materials were natural things, we could clean up with children after working.

Although people have to spend longer time and gather other people in order to make a required thing by themselves, they can get an attachment or a relation to it. People cannot buy those things, even though they can buy the materials and make it easier.

We would like to cook a pizza topped with vegetables grown in the field on the playground, by using the oven. We hope the oven promotes community relations for all people.

Links:

• HP of this project

We try to make a place for play by supporting the management of Koganehama Chibikko Hiroba (the Kid’s Plaza in Koganehama) which is maintained by the citizens and the group of volunteers located there.

There are several kinds of play equipment, and some of those were made through our work together with children, and some of those were donated.

The play equipment made from some materials, such as the wood cut down because of salt damage, waste wood scattered around, miso (bean dip) barrel washed up by Tsunami, rusty nail and so on. We were able to find out all of these materials there.

Because of shortage of hands, we always need someone to help us, and a lot of people come there every day. The master carpenter, who is 85 years old, is one of those people. He comes there every weekend and makes play equipment for children.

By undergoing the process of making space for play in this way, people was able to begin to get together again, and they have reconstructed a local relation in the area that the community was once broken off by the disaster.

Children enjoy playing heartily there. The novel way of play is created from their sense of wonder and their unfettered thought. One of those is ‘Dokan-Onigokko’, the game of tag on an earthen pipe. Children can make a way on the pipe only. Accordingly, the tag move easily.

We prompt children to create original method of play by using something in there, and that is why their sensitive is growing up.

We can do not only play but also cook in this place. There is also a farm taken care of by mothers living in neighboring areas.

We cooked pizza on that day. At first, there is not a kiln, so we needed to build it with bricks.

Then, we knead dough and stretch it out, and put ingredients on the dough, such as tomato, sausage, onion, and corns. Each shapes and toppings of baked pizzas were unique. Those were very delicious.

Links:

• HP of this project